Teens Lives Filled with Adventures
Teen Talk with Braiden Eilers
Alison Edwards seems to be a pretty normal senior at Inglemoor High School.
But how many seniors can say they have been to boot camp.
This 17 -year-old went to Army Reserve Basic Training in South Carolina for nine weeks this last summer. I talked to her to see what her experience was really like.
‘It was something that other people haven’t done, it was an adventure,” Edwards said. “And …you get something to fall back on when you enter the adult world. It also doesn’t hurt that you get paid to do it!”
Her typical day was getting up at about 4:45 a.m. sometimes 4:30 to do drill, followed by an hour of running, sit-ups, and pushups. Next was breakfast, and then an all-day trip, which was basically marching with weapons and ruck-sacks.
You have lunch outside, standing up, and it was not very appetizing.
It could be hot dogs, or chicken soup, and it would all taste the same,” she said.” After going home, you shower then do more exercises/training review the day, and the go to bed at about 9:30 to 1O:30pm.
Her best memory of boot camp was coming home. She grew up during this experience, and she earned respect and how to give it. One the downside, Alison’s worst experience was having to go through the gas chamber.
In the gas chamber you learn what it is like to be the enemy. “All your pores just open up, your skin burns, it’s hard to breathe, and your nose runs, “she explained with a shudder.
When asked if she would go through it again, se said she would, but if it was a choice, definitely not.
Basic training made a big impact on her life as you can see. It also gave her stability for civilian jobs, and she got to earn all about computers while she was there.
She still trains once a month – on the first weekend of each month at Fort Lewis. Also, twice a year she and the other reserves are tested on how fast they can run two miles, and how many sit-ups and push ups-they can do.
Are you someone who is interested in the adventure Alison took?
If you are 18 and up , go and sign up! If you are 17, you have to get a guardian’s consent. Then in the summer, between your junior and senior years, you go train like Alison did. Then next summer you go to advanced individual training for 12 weeks in the south.
Are you up to it!
Note: Teen Talk was my daughter Braiden. She was in High School, and I had a column, Overdone and Undercooked.
Today Braiden is an Emergency Doctor.