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Life After High School: The Military

Life After High School: The Military

By Laura Chavez

        In  seven months, Tuscarora’s senior class of 2014 will graduate. After four years of honors and AP classes, RISE Read, and weekly advisory, the seniors will leave all of that behind. Following graduation, many students plan on attending community college/university, studying abroad, taking a year off of school, etc., but there are still the select few, who, in an effort to serve their country, choose to join the military.

        Hunter Sobel is a senior who has decided to join the Marines. He describes himself as a young man who likes “drawing, drumming, skating, and long walks on the beach.” He attributes his interest in the Marines to his mother’s part of the family, as his uncle and grandfather were Marines. In preparation for the military, he has joined the Army Cadets, a program similar to the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC), so he can “work out and stay healthy.”

Sobel justified his interest in the Marines by explaining, “I’m just not made for a desk job. I’ve always had a link of adrenaline. Long boarding, shooting, and skydiving are hobbies of mine. I chose the Marines because I want to be the best, and who’s better than the Marines? Since I was six, my goal has been to join the Marines, get into force recon [Marine special forces], and become a sniper. I’m willing to push myself to the limit to accomplish that.”

Another senior, Colby Evans, plans to join the Army as a linguist, someone who is able to translate and communicate in different languages. Like Sobel, his interest in the military is also primarily due to his family’s history in the service. He is very proud of his family accomplishments, so much that he soon will “change [his] last name to Degraw,” his grandfather’s last name.

“Being a linguist is one of the most difficult jobs to get into, because not everyone’s mind is built to learn a new language,” said Evans.

Joining the military, whatever branch it may be, always involves a danger/risk factor that oftentimes becomes a raw reality, especially in times of political distress or war. However, Sobel and Evans are not afraid of being deployed. “[Possible violence] is all part of the contract I signed. If it means I have a better future, so be it,” said Evans.

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