For some graduates, it’s a given to throw up their caps and settle down their lives in the brave new world of college; for others, a more beckoning, absolute opportunity awaits. As many West seniors prepare for their final wave of exams and prepare for the futures ahead of them, a few will prepare for a different rigor and rhythm. Whether it be with the reserve forces of the Army or with the active duty pool of the Marine Corps, Seniors at West have begun to integrate into their respective roles in the United States military. 

  For most, a general requirement of graduation prevents immediate service, meaning they have taken an oath to defend and serve their nation, but have not experienced basic training, or in other words, the daunting task of completing boot camp. Being perhaps the only Senior at West to complete basic training and earn a formal rank in the military, Private First Class Gage Allen-Bint of the Army National Guard now carries a storied weight on his shoulders and offers his intentions and aspirations for serving in the Army:

  “I joined for fun and the fact that service runs in my family. I would also say that it was a decision partially for the benefits but mostly just for fun and family history. I think I would like to do 20 years with it and retire. I would like to go on deployments and be ranked up as highly as I can,” Allen-Bint said.

  For others, military service offers an opportunity for enrichment and experience in their future work interests. Throughout the six branches of the military, nearly every job imaginable is available for capable servicemembers, from the essential structure of the Food Service Specialist—which is the fancy way of saying cook or chef—to the specialized, abstruse Cyber Command occupations. West-CTC student and United States Marine Corps Poolee Thomas Hoang is seizing the chance to realize his fervor in aviation engineering by joining the Corps.  

  “I’ve wanted to join since I was a kid…I want to become an aviation maintenance technician working on fighter jets. I plan on commissioning to an officer and hopefully becoming a pilot whether it be a fighter pilot or otherwise, and plan on going to college for aerospace engineering,” Hoang said.

  For few, the decision to enlist is a hesitant one. However, with the current political and diplomatic instability of the world, as seen in the encroachment of war throughout the Middle East in Iran and Israel and in the insurgencies of Africa, fear and moral vacancy has defined the modern era of American militarism and feelings in the public. Corporal Jonathan Kroese, one of two local recruiters of the Marine Corps in Traverse City, reflects on the values of the military and how the public has interpreted its actions in recent memory.

  “We, as the Marine Corps, accept everyone and anyone who is willing to take the challenge… The Marine Corps has stayed pretty consistent in its generations of Marines. Over the last five years, the Marine Corps has generated about 6,000 Marines. It hasn’t fluctuated too much… The biggest change in, at least regards to that [modern warfare, support], has been the media coverage and presentation of events, whereas fifty years ago, the media was a piece of paper you paid a nickel for, and now it’s at our fingertips and we can choose whether we prefer CNN or Fox’s point of view, on what kind of info we want to process,” Kroese said.