After graduation, many seniors will go on trips, buy dorm furniture or get a job. However, some students will practice bear crawls, complete combat training and prepare their military uniforms.
With the dream to serve their country, a few seniors are following their passions to various fields in the military.
Senior Jaden Souvanhnalath said soon after school ends, he will train to become a medic for soldiers who are injured in battle.
“I enlisted as a combat medic specialist in the U.S. Army,” he said. “I’m getting shipped off on June 11.”
Souvanhnalath explained the process of becoming a combat medic specialist includes many different steps. Once he leaves, he will complete three months of basic training at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, and then he’ll do Advanced Individual Training in San Antonio, Texas, he explained.
“I’ll be going to Fort Sam Houston to study there,” he added. “It’s where most of the combat medical training occurs.”
Souvanhnalath said he wishes to join an elite light infantry group called the 75th Ranger Regiment, which completes special military operations. In order to join, he explained he will go through the Ranger Assessment Selection Program in the following years.
“It’s a long three months just to get through selection, and then you also have to go through ranger school, which is another three months of grueling hard work,” Souvanhnalath said.
Even after basic training, advanced training, selection and ranger school, there’s still a fifth step before becoming a combat medic specialist, he explained.
“I have to go through Special Operations Combat Medic,” he said. “It’s a medical program where they teach me optometry, veterinary techniques, public sanitization and more advanced medical techniques.”
Souvanhnalath explained as a part of the nine month program, he will get hands-on experience in a hospital.
“There’s an instructing part in practice, and there’s a portion where you end up working in a hospital in the emergency room as an EMT,” he explained.
Once he’s graduated from the program, he will be part of the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, Souvanhnalath added.
Although he wants to pursue his career in the Army, he said he is planning on taking online college courses during his days off so he can get his degree.
“There’s some time you have to yourself, so I could be studying then,” Souvanhnalath said. “By the time I’m possibly done training in four years, I could be done with my college as well.”
Senior Kyra Duffee said she is also planning to complete college and military training. She explained she will attend The Ohio State University for four years and complete the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, ROTC, program while she’s there.
“You do your Navy training along with attending that college, and after that, you’re committed to five years in the Navy,” Duffee explained.
She added the boot camp she’s doing before she leaves will help her prepare for the experience.
“This summer, I’ll be at the Great Lakes for three weeks for training,” Duffee explained. “It’s trying to get you on schedule for the future, so I’ll be waking up at five in the morning.”
Duffee added the ROTC program will be somewhat similar to boot camp, since she’ll have to wake up early most days and do physical training as well as take classes like Naval History. She said it will be difficult but rewarding.
“I think it will be hard to balance, but once I adjust to it, I’ll be stronger because of it,” she said.
Duffee explained the ROTC program is paying for her tuition, and by completing her training during college, she’ll graduate with an entry-level rank.
“After you graduate, you commission as either an ensign, which is an 0-1 rank, or a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps,” she added. “You start as an officer in the military as opposed to enlisted.”
Likewise, senior Alicia Lucas said she will complete the ROTC program, but she has a different future in mind.
“I want to go into the National Guard and be an engineer and a MP, which is military policing,” she explained.
She said the job would focus on the engineering aspect of the military, so she won’t be in combat.
“For non-active duty, I’m staying on the base,” Lucas explained. “I’ll be modeling things and building everything.”
Once she graduates from high school, Lucas said she will go to boot camp to train before starting college at Ohio University. Lucas added she will be doubling up by doing engineering practice as well as physical training.
The ROTC program she does during college will be similar to the boot camp, Lucas explained.
“It depends on what job you’re doing, but even though you’re out of boot camp, you still have to do physical training,” she added.
Lucas said the idea to serve in the military came to her when she first went to Eastland Career Center, and military officers visited and spoke about service. She explained she is currently going to school there, which includes learning a variety of skills.
“We do our academics, and then we go into our lab period, which is hands-on forensics, policing and psychology,” Lucas said.
Initially, she had a different idea of what she wanted to pursue a career in but feels confident with her decision, she explained.
“At first I wanted to do cosmetology, but I already know how to do hair,” she said. “I want to do something bigger for myself than just cosmetology.”
Like Lucas, Duffee is passionate about the military, but she explained she has had the goal in mind since middle school, when she was inspired by members of her family who served.
“I’ve always known I wanted to serve,” Duffee explained. “I want to be a part of something greater than just myself.”
Souvanhnalath said he has also wanted to join the military for a long time, but books were what encouraged him the most.
“I read a lot of stories on being able to help others when your life is at risk,” he explained. “I was a bookworm when I was growing up, so it was all books.”
He added the story of Desmond Doss, a combat medic specialist in World War II, is what started him on his own journey. Souvanhnalath said he was inspired to pursue a career as a military medic because Doss saved many lives without even picking up a rifle.
“This is my purpose,” he said. “I feel like this is what I resonate with.”
However, nothing comes without challenges, Lucas said. Fear doesn’t deter her from her dream, but if she becomes a military police officer, danger is inevitable, she explained.
“You have to watch your back at all times, and your partner’s, too,” she said.
Lucas also explained it’s important to stay true to yourself, which is what allowed her to make the decision to enlist.
“Don’t listen to your mind, because your mind will change,” she said. “You have to listen to your heart.”
