When asked why he chose to be in the National Guard, his response was that his whole life he had wanted to be in the military. Ever since he was a little kid he knew that’s what he wanted to do. And he wanted to be able to do something for his country. So in his senior year he joined.
This is apart of the story to one of my close friends. This is the story of how he spent his summer. While most of us we’re enjoying the summer off, having just graduated high school, and getting ready for college, Ryan spent his entire summer at basic training for the National Guard/Army.
On the first day he found himself on a bus meant to carry forty to fifty people on it, there were eighty people. Everybody had with them a backpack and their rucksack. The equipment weighing about eighty pounds. There was absolutely no room. People were on top of each other. Nearing his destination, the place he would spend his whole summer, the sound of M-16’s and grenades erupted. The bus stops and he and the others are forced out. There are people yelling at him. People around him are being pushed and hit. There is still gunfire and grenades going off. Even smoke grenades were present. He then had to line up. Everyone was put into a formation of six rows. Fifteen people in each row. Then while standing there he had to hold the bags he had with him over his head for two hours. The drill sergeants then did role call, and proceeded to divide the group up into platoons. There were four platoons all addressed by their respected number. Ryan was in the fourth, so he was one of the ones that had to stand, with his bag, for the duration of the separation process. He then had to run to the area his platoon was designated to go. On the way there he was hit by a drill sergeant. Once he got to his designated area he along with the rest of his platoon had to do push ups for an hour. He then had to head up to the sleeping bay. After putting his bags into the lockers, again along with his platoon, he had to do push ups in the bay for two hours. He went to lunch next. He had thirty seconds to eat. After lunch he did more exercises and was yelled at some more. he and his platoon went to bed at nine. At eleven they were woken up, yelled at, and continued with exercises. This went on all night.
Ryan did say that things did lighten up. At the beginning of the fourth week his platoon moved from red phase to white phase. They had a little more freedom. He was allowed to walk to church on his own. But then because of some trouble Ryan’s platoon got into they were moved back into red phase. There was a search of the lockers and a lot of contraband items were found. Also on Sunday there was only one drill sergeant with the platoon and he held an illegal pizza party. Ryan’s platoon was punished for this. This sergeant was also found having been paying one of the lunch ladies for certain favors. He was dealt with by the military appropriately.
Other things Ryan experienced in basic was constant hunger and he always had to wear the same clothes. Everything was scheduled. He went to bed at nine and woke up at three thirty. There were a lot of parts of basic training he enjoyed such as using the different weapons like grenades. He also enjoyed the team building exercise like having to cross water with rope and a board.
Coming home for him was “awesome.” He had freedoms he had not had for months. There are still some things that still affect him from having gone through basic. He cannot drink from a cup if it has ice in it unless he uses a straw because all through basic he could not have ice. Also while in basic he had to march in step the majority of the time so sometimes when he is walking with a group of people without realizing it he will try to match their steps. For three months he had not seen a girl, except the lunch ladies, and they don’t count, so seeing a girl was strange.
I went to Ryan’s graduation from basic, he was graduating with two other guys I knew from high school, and my boyfriend is best friends with all of them so I went down to see them. Hearing there stories about everything they went through are amazing. They had no idea what had been going on with the world. They didn’t know what was going on with sports or what music was in. there is no way any person on the outside could really understand what Ryan and the others went through. And the thing is he chose to do this. He chose to spend his summer training for the military. He wasn’t one of those guys who didn’t so well in high school and felt like he had no other option. He graduated with honors and was active in school through out his high school career and nobody forced him to join. The other two guys from our high school were like him honor students who stayed active in school. After college Ryan plans on pursuing a career in the military. He is doing this because it is what he wants to do, it’s what he believes in.
Ryan could go to Iraq next summer he would prefer to go after college though. And event though he could be sent to Iraq next summer he still believes it necessary to be in Iraq. The main reason he gave being that because of the situation over there if the U.S leaves now the government will not sustain and there problems will be worse than before.
When I talked to him about the upcoming election he said that Obama is not a bad choice but he will vote for McCain because Obama would more than likely cut military spending which would hurt equipment supplies and quality which would cause the same problems it did at the end of the Vietnam War.
After college Ryan plans on pursuing a career in the military. He is doing this because it is what he wants to do; it’s what he believes in.
