2008 Woodie Awards
Army Enrollment Up Despite Wartime
Carl Etter
Issue date: 5/3/06 Section: Features
This is the second installment of a two-part series.
William Addison, of Brick, joined the Army National Guard in 1999 to help pay for college. Finnbar McCallion, of Red Bank, enlisted in 2000 as a right of passage and out of a sense of civic duty. Despite their different reasons for enlisting, they are still serving, and in the same unit. Both are still in school, Addison at William Paterson, McCallion at Hunter College in New York.
Since the Guard is a reserve force, a guardsman is required to put in one weekend of training each month, and two full weeks each summer, with the knowledge that he or she can be called to active duty when circumstances require it. But before recruits settle into that routine, they must undergo basic training.
Addison thought he was ready for basic training. He had been a boy scout, and had experience marching and following orders, but one hot summer in Fort Jackson, S.C., he learned exactly how rough it was.
"It's exactly everything you heard."
Basic training is designed to prepare soldiers for combat situations. It teaches them the skills they need, trains their bodies, and gets them ready in the case they are called upon to fight.
"Nothing will prepare you for combat," Addison says. "Nothing."
So the concept, he adds, is to put the soldiers at the highest level of stress possible without physical endangerment. A person learns how to react under that kind of stress.
Addison recalls being surprised at some of the people he encountered in basic. Several new recruits were vocal in their complaints about being told what to do. He remembers wondering what they had expected when they joined the Army. But despite their outcries, most of them stayed.
The Army National Guard makes recruits earn their benefits, but for some, the exchange is worth it. The Guard will provide assistance in paying college tuition, and, in some colleges, will cover the entire tuition bill, leaving the soldiers only having to pay for room, board, books, and fees. William Paterson is one of the schools that is fully covered, and that is where Addison decided to go.
William Addison, of Brick, joined the Army National Guard in 1999 to help pay for college. Finnbar McCallion, of Red Bank, enlisted in 2000 as a right of passage and out of a sense of civic duty. Despite their different reasons for enlisting, they are still serving, and in the same unit. Both are still in school, Addison at William Paterson, McCallion at Hunter College in New York.
Since the Guard is a reserve force, a guardsman is required to put in one weekend of training each month, and two full weeks each summer, with the knowledge that he or she can be called to active duty when circumstances require it. But before recruits settle into that routine, they must undergo basic training.
Addison thought he was ready for basic training. He had been a boy scout, and had experience marching and following orders, but one hot summer in Fort Jackson, S.C., he learned exactly how rough it was.
"It's exactly everything you heard."
Basic training is designed to prepare soldiers for combat situations. It teaches them the skills they need, trains their bodies, and gets them ready in the case they are called upon to fight.
"Nothing will prepare you for combat," Addison says. "Nothing."
So the concept, he adds, is to put the soldiers at the highest level of stress possible without physical endangerment. A person learns how to react under that kind of stress.
Addison recalls being surprised at some of the people he encountered in basic. Several new recruits were vocal in their complaints about being told what to do. He remembers wondering what they had expected when they joined the Army. But despite their outcries, most of them stayed.
The Army National Guard makes recruits earn their benefits, but for some, the exchange is worth it. The Guard will provide assistance in paying college tuition, and, in some colleges, will cover the entire tuition bill, leaving the soldiers only having to pay for room, board, books, and fees. William Paterson is one of the schools that is fully covered, and that is where Addison decided to go.
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