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Since Kerry Gruber &ldquo;always wanted to serve my country, and to see the world,&rdquo; enlisting in the U.S. Navy seemed to be an ideal way to realize both of those goals.
				The only problem was, when the 21-year-old Nanticoke woman first visited the local recruiting station in January, her weight was too high to meet the 167 maximum standard for her 5-foot-7 frame.
				&ldquo;I was super out of shape,&rdquo; she admitted candidly. &ldquo;Food was like my comfort zone and stress used to break me down. I didn&rsquo;t want to do anything.&rdquo;
				But Gruber, who had been studying criminal justice at Luzerne County Community College, wasn&rsquo;t about to let food and inertia get the best of her.
				She&rsquo;d been a competive swimmer as a little girl, and throughout her high school years at Greater Nanticoke Area, so she knew the benefits of exercise.
				Focusing on &ldquo;passion and drive,&rdquo; she started swimming again, and running, and doing cardio workouts with squats and push-ups and sit-ups.
				Exercising four or five hours a day became routine, as did reaching for lean proteins instead of carbohydrates.
				&ldquo;Now I can do an easy 5-mile run without dying,&rdquo; she said with a laugh.
				Gruber, who once tipped the scales at 230, is down to a healthy 165, feeling great, and best of all, about to embark on her Naval career. She&rsquo;s leaving for MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station ) in Harrisburg on Monday.
				Her recruiter, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Bravyak from the recruiting station in Wilkes-Barre Township, said he&rsquo;s proud of her.
				&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Some people come in and say they&rsquo;ll work out, but she was one of the ones who really took it to heart. We hold workouts here a few times a week and she&rsquo;s been at every single one of them.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;She is taking a leadership role, helping out other future sailors,&rdquo; Bravyak said, adding her dedication and hard work are examples of the kind of qualities he looks for in prospective sailors.
				In recent years Gruber had been studying criminal justice at Luzerne County Community College, but she recalls &ldquo;I felt like I was stuck in life.&rdquo;
				She missed her father, Mark Gruber, who died six years ago this weekend, when she was 15; she missed her grandmother, Joan Fisher, who died last year; she also missed a childhood friend who had died when she was in eighth grade.
				But now, she said, she&rsquo;s learned she can take any kind of stress or sadness she feels about those losses and &ldquo;turn it into the fuel to do whatever I want to get done.&rdquo;
				She&rsquo;ll dedicate her hard work and service to the people she lost, she said, and she believes that will all work out for good.
				Her best friend since preschool, Leandra Ramos, another 2017 Greater Nanticoke Area graduate, has been appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and encouraged Gruber to join the Navy.
				&ldquo;She said, Kerry, just do it. Just join already,&rdquo; Gruber said, remembering a conversation that took place around the time of her New Year&rsquo;s Eve birthday.
				Soon she&rsquo;ll be off, getting sworn in to the Navy, quarantining &mdash; because of the coronavirus &mdash; at Ft. McCoy Army Base, then going to Great Lakes, Ill., for boot camp.
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll turn 22 in boot camp,&rdquo; she said.
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not the kind of person to get homesick,&rdquo; she said, explaining she&rsquo;s looking forward to a new adventure and she&rsquo;s grateful that her mom, Patty Gruber, supports her decision.
				As for anyone who thought maybe she couldn&rsquo;t lose that extra weight, or maybe she wasn&rsquo;t cut out for military service, she said &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a quote I love to live by: Don&rsquo;t kill people with kindness. Torture them with success.&rdquo;

‘Don’t kill people with kindness; torture them with success’