By Daniel Tokar
In the Gravley family, serving our country is a time-tested tradition,
Senior Jimmy Gravley’s older brother, Kaleb, served in the Marines for five years. His father served in the Marines for more than 20 years. His grandfather served in the Army for 30 years.
“So I am just following the footsteps at this point,” Gravley said.
Gravley plans to go to the Air Force or the Marines in the following winter.
His plan is to serve for four years and see how much he likes it. If not, he would like to become a policeman or a K9 officer.
The thing that inspired Jimmy to join the military is the free education that it offers.
“I like the free education and the free benefits that come along with it, mainly those things,” he said.
But even if Jimmy won’t like serving in the military he would be honored to serve his country.
“I like the fact that I’ll get to serve the country I love,” he said.
Another senior who is in a similar position as Gravley is Camaya Murry.
Her mother, father, and grandfather served in the Marine Corps over the years serving our country.
“I want to be able to just uphold a legacy and just give my family something to be proud of, especially when it comes to the military.” Camaya said.
Instead of serving in the Marine Corps like others in her family did, she is deciding to switch things up and serve in the Air Force instead.
“It’s one of the easiest branches mentally, especially compared to the Marine Corps, and is a lot less harsh,” Camaya said.
Camaya likes to travel, so the most interesting thing for her is to travel and get stationed around the world.
She is looking forward to doing something with marine science or any other aspect of science during or after service.
“I feel like it’s something fun and interesting, and I can learn something new every single day with it,” Camaya said.
Clay Batio, a senior, is planning to join the Air Force ROTC program, aka the Reserve Officer Training Corps, at Trine University, in hopes of becoming an officer in the Air Force.
For those who are not familiar with the program, it prepares and educates young adults to become an officer in the U.S. Military in four years in the course of attending a college or university.
Since the first two years of attending the ROTC program is not a commitment, it is not risky to take it, and the first two years helps to have more time to think if it’s the right thing for them.
What inspired Clay the most is the benefits and the opportunities that the Air Force offers, such as traveling and learning how to fight.
Another thing that impacted Clay’s decision is his grandfather. His grandfather served as a medic in the Air Force in Vietnam.
Clay is interested in engineering, so if he makes a career out of it in the Air Force it is likely that he would stay.
Like many other seniors, Cale Finney is still deciding whether to join the military or go right away to school.
Finney has been working on his pilot license for the last couple of years in hopes of becoming an airline pilot in the future.
He believes that joining the Air Force could help him get enough education to help him to fulfill his dream.
One of the main things that inspired him to become a pilot is his grandfather, who served as a pilot in the Army during the Vietnam conflict.
Serving in the military will include sacrifices that have to be made. Those sacrifices include time and being away from home, family, and friends.
