The strongest and most will-powered people join a great cause to protect the nation that we have become fond of today.
Watching family leave for the military is simultaneously one of the most sad and proud moments one can experience.
Hundreds to thousands of seniors who are graduating high school end up deciding to join the military. John Cornish, Roan Reilly and so many more, are examples of some Lakeland graduates who have followed this path.
The preparation for this decision is not as complicated as one might assume; although there are plenty of steps, it can be as easy as signing documents and packing a bag to leave.
“Preparing wasn’t something that I did a ton of, mostly I just worked out and started studying some of the golden rules,” Gracie Kahoetek, a Lakeland graduate of 2024, said.
In the military there are a set of rules that each soldier/recruit must follow and these include, integrity, respect and safety.
Other than mental and physical preparation, the military offers many opportunities for future recruits to come in and expand their knowledge on what is to come.
“I attended PT at my recruiting station every Tuesday and Thursday,” Aspen Belezos, a Lakeland graduate of 2023, said. ”Mentally though I began to set into a ‘recruit’ mindset.”
A student’s high school graduation is much more than just a regular graduation when they are joining the military, they are not going off to college, they are just beginning a complicated journey that is full of ups and downs.
Signing up for the military is not the only step to getting in, there is a portion right after a recruit graduates highschool of training for the military that is called ‘Basic Training’. People usually spend about five months in basic training then move onto the next step which is Advanced Individual Training (AIT).
However, in many ways basic training is just another form of torture.
It is difficult and soul crushing work that the recruits have to be ready for. Many people experience health issues after basic training, which they may or may not have obtained from dreaded gas chamber.
“Basic training for me, personally, was awful,” Kahoutek said. “There are definitely things that you won’t be able to prepare for. For example, the gas chamber. I am also still undergoing some health issues that I got during basic training.”
Basic training is a very difficult step of training for the military. They put recruits through real life simulations to prepare them for what is to come. It pushes people past what they originally thought was humanly possible.
It is common that ten percent of recruits drop out after basic training, leaving 90 percent to push on to the end.
Many agree that once through basic training, everything begins to feel so rewarding, the outcome of all their hard work begins to be realized. After making it through basic training the recruits are sent into a more specialized training, which means they choose their specific field of work.
This part of training fascinates many of the recruits since they get to spend more time doing something that they are actually interested in.
Throughout the six branches of the military, there are more than 800 different jobs for a recruit to choose from. The options can be medical related like an EMT or nurse, mechanically related like plane maintenance or electrician, or something more social like language specialist or lawyer.
The options only expand from there, one could even choose to train dogs in the military. Each job has high value and is required for the base to be in smooth operation.
There are many Lakeland graduates that have already gone through the process of basic training and have successfully moved into field work and AIT.
Many of them began to realise all of the rewards that come with being in the military both because of benefits and a sense of pride and accomplishment.
“I kind of surprised myself when I joined, but I’m so glad that I did,” Kahoutek said.”I hope to make my family proud and be able to help people everyday.”
Not only does the work become incredibly rewarding at this point, but it also allows people to begin to perform to a higher level of themselves. They are forced to work harder and develop a strong work ethic.
“I feel like I am a part of something bigger than myself,” Belezos said. “The marines to my left and right are like my brothers and they’re constantly uplifting me and others in the workspace.”
While our friends and family are away protecting the country, it begins to take a toll on many of us as their loved ones and family, as well. We begin to remember all of the times that we had fun with them, and only wish that they could come back and be there again.
“It was challenging, I had grown up with her my whole life, so when she was so far away it was like losing a part of myself,” Stormy Lawson, Belezos’s little sister, said. “But I knew she was off to do and continue to do amazing things because nothing has ever stopped her, and she’s never done anything less.”
Although life in the military begins to smooth out, the path to get there was long and treacherous. While they are out working hard in the field whether they are in another country or stationed in the US, they are protecting our great nation from “sea to shining sea”.
