 "Photo: The Hilltop")
 "Photo: The Hilltop")
On a typical day I can be found walking around campus in a pair of pointed-toe flats, dark jeans, a collared shirt and a sweater cardigan. My hair is normally brushed to show a little effort, and occasionally I’ll wear a thin layer of make-up. That is the typical Jessie Young most people see -- student at Mars Hill College, senior who will graduate in May with a business administration degree. A typical girl. But on other days, I’ll be found wearing a set of Army ACUs (Army Combat Uniform), hair pulled tight into a neat bun and a pair of five pound, $110 desert tan combat boots. Let’s say, I’m not your typical Army girl, but an Army girl I am.
I joined the U.S. Army in May of 2007, and my life took a complete turn. I was lucky enough to realize exactly what I wanted from life as a sophomore in college, and I’ve been working ever since to get it.
My story at Mars Hill College starts as many others do. I happily received a scholarship to be on the Bailey Mountain Clogging Team my freshman year. I had a typical freshman experience, meeting new friends, becoming active on campus and doing well in classes. However, in my classes I became restless. My boredom with the classroom was no fault of the professors; I simply wasn’t ready for another year of sitting in classes day after day. I mentally couldn’t handle it; I had already experienced a long senior year of high school, commuting more than an hour to school and enduring lots of family stress.
So I started looking for outlets. I prayed for God to give me the patience and wisdom for the decisions that I needed to make in my future. I really couldn’t afford the high costs of college and the stresses of my loans, work, and classroom conformity. I was starting to break under the pressure.
Then a friend on campus and I were talking about his carpentry job in the Army and about how much he loved it. He said the Army paid for his schooling, gave him job security and provided an outlet for his bundled energy. Maybe this idea of being in the US Army was for me? I knew some people, specifically my family, wouldn’t understand, and I knew that I would make one funny soldier. One day, I seriously asked my Army friend, “Do you think I could ever be in the Army?” He laughed it off. The next day I went to see a recruiter.
Within a week, I was picking a Military Occupational Skill (MOS) to carry on after the initial Army training. In the Army, training is broken down into many parts. There’s the Soldier Training known as Basic Combat Training (BCT). Everyone’s first and most important job is to be a soldier and, if needed, to carry out basic soldier skills. The second job is your civilian occupation, known as your MOS. Mine was a Human Resource Specialist. I was to maintain all the paperwork on all soldiers in my company. I was ready to be shipped to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, to begin BCT; my only problem was that I hadn’t told my parents. They were in the dark for two weeks.
My mom and I are best friends, and breaking the news to her was pretty extreme! I decided to do it on my birthday, figuring they couldn’t be too mad at me. It was MY birthday! I was wrong. My mom didn’t talk to me for a week. But it all worked out. When I graduated from BCT she carried my 8X10 Army photo around to show everyone in Hot Springs, VA – Population: 300 – because she didn’t order any wallet sizes.
Getting through BCT was interesting! When most people hear the words Army Basic Combat Training, they think weeks of Hell, torture and physical pain. Most think, “No way, I couldn’t do it.” For me, it was a different experience. I got through nine weeks of BCT ending October 2007 and later became the number one graduate in my MOS class. I wasn’t the fastest at BCT or the strongest physically, but the times were fun, and I honestly felt like it was the BEST TIME OF MY LIFE.
For me, BCT was a time not to over think, not to analysis and not to stress. I understood that because I was in a training environment, the drill sergeants couldn’t do anything to put my life in danger. Please understand that the Army assesses risk at a very detailed level. For instance, breathing and walking outside is considered a potential danger. The U.S. Government says the Army is not allowed to place recruits in life-threatening situations during training.
Nevertheless, I prepared mentally for this experience. I went into training with the attitude that the drill sergeants were going to yell, a lot, but as long as I did what I what told, I knew it wasn’t personal. We would all get yelled at for the mistakes of a few; thankfully, that only lasted a couple of weeks.
I also found that I had a support system that was better than anyone’s in the platoon. I was lucky that my once-horrified family supported me 100% while I was away. My mom was shocked that I didn’t tell her about my decision, but she supported me so much that it spilled over to the rest of the platoon. In training, mail cannot be withhold; so mail was a big morale booster, and every day I received something. My mom wrote me from work each day; my church wrote me, and my extended family wrote me. Although mail was never withheld, my superiors could demand a performance for its delivery. In my platoon, we had to do 20 pushups for each item of mail. One day, I sweated out 200 pushups for my mail. My platoon buddies could help me so I wouldn’t have to do them all, and sometimes I would switch to sit-ups. It still felt like a lot of work.
I got packages once every two weeks, but I couldn’t eat any of the cookies, candies or other treats in them because it was forbade by the rules. Everything that I considered wonderful about life, I was not allowed to do. Reading materials were regulated, besides religious items; even having paper puzzles, like word search or Sudoku, were banned. What people could put into packages was very limited. My favorite package contained “blank inside” cards and colored pens. Colored pens -- who would have known they would have made me the happiest person in the world! You know that you’re in a tough situation when colored pens make you happy!
Be the first to comment on this article!