{"id":9050,"date":"2022-05-22T22:07:01","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T03:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/?p=9050"},"modified":"2022-05-18T21:03:43","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T02:03:43","slug":"call-of-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/?p=9050","title":{"rendered":"Call of Duty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone has a call to a certain future. Whatever that call may be, most strive to make the most out of it. They want to make sure that they fulfill each day to the best they can. That is no exception for those whose future is in the military.<\/span><\/p>\n

Three seniors at this school have decided to take the next step in their lives in the military. Whether they enlist in the military out of high school or attend a military academy, these seniors want to continue to push, work, and grow as an individual and with others.<\/span><\/p>\n

For many, it is a lifelong decision that they have always desired. \u201cBeing in the military is something I\u2019ve always wanted to do for a while,\u201d said senior Michael Reynolds, who is enlisting in the Marine Corps. \u201cIn June of 2021, me and my brother were at Bass Pro [Shop], and a Marine recruiter came up to me. He said \u2018Have you ever thought about joining the Marines before?\u2019 I said \u2018I had given it some thought.\u2019 He gave me his number, and we went from there.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn September, I\u2019m signing papers at MEPS (Military Entrance Preparatory Station),\u201d said Reynolds. \u201cI got my shipment date, my job posting, and everything else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Some people decide very early in their life that they want to join the military. \u201c[The idea of enlisting] started at a very young age for me,\u201d said senior Miguel Fuentevilla, who is enlisting in the Arkansas Air National Guard. \u201cI started looking at the career path I want to do now, which is law enforcement, and I found out most of them were military. So I\u2019ve always had an interest in the military, but it wasn\u2019t until last year that it truly took effect and actually start trying to enlist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Besides enlisting, another way to join the military is through a military academy. Senior Cade Altom decided to take this path by applying to the United States Air Force Academy. \u201cMy dad first told me to consider applying for an Air Force ROTC scholarship. After doing more research, I decided that I would rather apply to the Air Force Academy. However, I still applied for and received an ROTC scholarship.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The process of enlisting in the military can be long and arduous. \u201cI enlisted when I was 17,\u201d said Reynolds. \u201cI had to get both parents to sign off on it. After I signed and got their approval with those papers, I went to MEPS, and there you take the ASVAB (Armed Service Vocational Aptitude Battery) which is the equivalent of an IQ test. The next day, you go through a lot of medical procedures.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The process to get into a military academy is more stressful. \u201cYou start by submitting a pre-candidate questionnaire, where you give some information and they basically tell you if it\u2019s worth your time to apply,\u201d said Altom. \u201cI did that in March of 2021, the day that it opened. They gave me \u2018candidate\u2019 status the next day, but I couldn\u2019t continue applying until July 1 when the remainder of the application opened. It was unlike any other application I filled out. It was more rigorous, which I think benefited me because I then had the ability to really express the kind of person I am.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn top of that,\u201d said Altom. \u201cI had to pass a fitness test, go through the process of applying for and receiving a Congressional nomination, and go to scheduled medical appointments. The medical aspect was the worst part: everyone has to go to two examinations, medical and eyesight, but I had to go through the waiver process due to a past injury and medicine I was taking. I think I went to a total of five examinations before receiving my waiver.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The most important thing to do if one is deciding whether or not to enlist in the military is to educate oneself about it and decided if it is a serious possibility. \u201cDo some research and see what it\u2019s going to be like,\u201d said Fuentevilla. \u201cKnow what [military] branch you want to do because every branch is going to be different on their expectations. Just know what you are getting into.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Everyone has a call to a certain future. Whatever that call may be, most strive to make the most out of it. They want to make sure that they fulfill each day to the best they can. That is no exception for those whose future is in the military. Three seniors at this school have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":9111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/liftoffnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Cade-Altom.jpeg?fit=2348%2C1605&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3xfZw-2lY","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9050"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9050"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9112,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9050\/revisions\/9112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}