Axel V Madison
Mr. Brian Edwards
English 101
January 27, 2014
The Prestige-Like Life of a Field Artillery Man A whistle nears in the distance, the rush of adrenaline resulting from a steel casing full of explosives, BOOM!! That day the rest of my life was no longer just a son and brother, but something far more was changing like wildfire. Not all United States citizens can qualify for such a prideful commitment, but I know if you do qualify, you won’t regret it. The experience I am speaking of is joining the United States Army Artillery Division. I was just 17 years old and was keeping a big secret from my parents. Most kids my age were keeping secrets along the lines of small things, grades, speed tickets, girlfriends, etc. My secret, however, was a life changing decision and I thought it was something best to decipher on my own. The military had always been a big dream of mine, but something this large couldn’t be just walked into without a lot of thought. At 17 years old, I felt like I had matured far past a lot of my class and I was ready to make that decision to help shape my future. Two days after my 17th birthday in November, 2008, I told my parents I had been seeing an Army National Guard recruiter in Marion for the past 4 months. They, to my surprise were extremely proud and very supportive of any decision I had made. From then on, I knew this dream was going to be a huge possibility since my parents were so onboard with the idea. Overjoyed, I signed the contract for a 6 year enlistment in the Illinois Army National Guard on February 8th, 2008. Words cannot describe the feelings I had knowing I had made one of the smartest decisions for my future. I chose, the fire support specialist as my job specialty, which is a large part of the field artillery in the Army. I also had some incentive to choose this job; a $20,000 bonus! Benefits such as life and health insurance for a fraction of the cost than on the civilian side and tuition coverage for twenty-eight months at any Illinois 4 year university was a deal breaker also. Preparing for basic training was a great experience and kept me always conditioning. Joining in February left me about 4 months of training and conditioning time before I shipped to basic training in June. I thankfully was already in shape from sports all of my life and the fact that my dad and I loved to mountain bike on any trail in our free time. After 10 weeks of basic training, I transitioned home to begin my senior year of high school. Basic training had taught me lots of basic skills such as loyalty, integrity, leadership, honesty, among many others that I may have not used as much before I enlisted. As my