Becoming Part of the United States Armed Forces
High school graduation! Just another milestone like so many others! Sixteen and a driver’s license. The Junior Prom with all its pageantry and—sometimes—high drama. Her first true love, and she is finally going steady! His first car, probably a jalopy that needs a lot of work—but he OWNS it, paid for from his paper route. Then suddenly they find themselves seniors! Arrived at last.
Milestones have fled past so rapidly that these future world leaders have trouble fitting into their new role as school leaders. The class government. The year book committee. To whom will their memento be dedicated? Will it be the beloved English teacher who through the years pushed her students to greater respect for classical literature? Or perhaps the football coach who tried to turn out championship teams—but just never had the right players? Maybe the chemistry teacher who got so excited when his experiment demonstrations worked just as he had described them? Then suddenly the Senior Prom with all its splendor is upon them.
Watching them walk rapidly from class to class, showing their acceptance to the challenge to adulthood makes you proud.
Then graduation ceremony is over! Hats thrown high into the air! They are no longer students. They are young adults with their future ahead of them. What now? Will their path take them into college to study for the law, medicine, business? Some have long ago made their decision. College for some. Technical school for others. Entry level jobs for some. Still others have set their sights higher—much higher!
Some of these young men and women will turn in to their local Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Air Force recruiter. They will discuss what is required; they will ask questions and the recruiter will try to answer honestly. They will walk away and talk with their parents of the possibility of joining some branch of the armed forces. Parents will meet with the recruiter, either in his office or in their home. More questions and answers will follow. If the answers satisfy, the recruiter will present the young person with a contract. This is the first step in the long process of becoming a member of the United States Armed Forces.
Then off to the induction center where a very thorough physical examination is conducted—much more in depth than anything they had experienced before. But the doctor finally pronounces the applicant physically and mentally fit for service. The recruits are then guided into ranks, the lines are straightened, and an officer marches to a position in front of the formation. He looks left, then right. He lets his gaze fall on every one of those young people standing in front of him, then he speaks.
“Raise your right hand and repeat after me. Say I, state your name, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
A new adventure has begun. One that will overshadow everything that went before. One that will make the individual a member of the best Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Air Force in the world. This is a profession every one of them can take pride in. This is a profession without bounds, except those the individual places in his or her own way!
Rev. Dr. Gene Fish
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