Navy Daze Military Gives Teen Bright Options For The Future

Imagine this: You are a senior in high school. You have no idea what you want to become after all of your schooling, so you don’t worry about scholarships and such. You enjoy your homecoming, you have a blast at senior prom, and then, all of a sudden, graduation is here. You scramble to find a scholarship for higher education, but of course, they are all gone. What do you do?

Have you ever thought about signing up for the military? It is a smart choice, and you don’t have to worry about life after high school.

As a 17-year-old female senior at Medical Lake High school, not many avenues are open to me. I don’t want to go to college quite yet, but I know I wanted out of Medical Lake.

It hit me that the military was a good option for me. I already had some experience with the service; my mom was in the U.S. Army and I have been a member of the ROTC precision drill team for three years.

At the end of my junior year, I thought about a delayed enlistment program (DEP) that the military provided. Basically, it means you agree to join a branch of the military long before you actually leave for basic training. It sounded like something I wanted to do, so I went and talked to some recruiters here in Spokane. I found one military branch that appealed to me.

So, right now, I am enlisted “DEPer” for the U.S. Navy. I’ll be a CTI, Cryptologic Technician Interpreter, meaning my job is to translate from one language to the next. Since I’m in my third year of studying Spanish, that will be my emphasis. When I master that language, the Navy can request that I learn another.

My recruiter, Petty Officer Mary Mark, was the one who answered all my questions about the military. The Navy liaison at the federal building in Spokane helped me choose my job.

Signing up for the DEP program has its benefits. For the next four or five years, your career is set out and planned for you. In choosing your career, you need to consider if it will transfer over to a civilian job. Most training programs will give you a chance at further schooling after the military, like the Montgomery G.I. Bill.

And I’ll get to travel. Basic training is in Great Lakes, Ill., and my tech school is in Monterey, Calif.

There are other benefits. Primarily, because I signed up a year in advance, I have the advantage in job selection and admission over other teens who sign up their senior year. I don’t compete with the rest of the enlistees and I have more of a chance getting in than they do.

It’s a huge relief to know I don’t have to sit around and worry about my future, or rush to get college applications in.

The only thing I’m really worried about is being able to get myself into physical condition before I leave for basic training on July 1. I look at the criticism heaped on Shannon Faulkner for dropping out of the Citadel and I know that’s not something that will happen to me.

Being a “DEPer,” a lot of stress is taken off of me. I have no worries, except trying to get myself into shape to pass boot camp. Basically, my senior year will be worry free, and all I have to do is go to DEP meetings throughout the year and check in with my recruiter every Monday.

So, if you have no idea what to do after high school and the military sounds like something you’d want to do, go for it. For we, the class of ‘96, are part of the future.