CAMP ALAMO, Afghanistan – “I’m gonna be a medic: Doc Brewer,” said Pfc. Stephen Brewer, a Lodi, N.Y., native, now an infantryman announcing his potential title.
Other soldiers, mostly infantrymen, shared their ambitions in the lighthearted yet gravely serious tone common among soldiers talking about their futures. One said he wanted be a Special Forces soldier, another a diver, and another a special agent with the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division.
Sgt. Presley Lewis, 42, a team leader, said he wants to change his job because, “It’s getting hard to keep up with these young guys.”
All nine soldiers in the 3rd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team conference room here Sept. 16, had a common goal; more options.
Soldiers with Task Force Warrior turned to their leaders for development as they faced redeployment to Baumholder, Germany after nearly a year mentoring Afghan National Army trainers.
Before joining the military, applicants take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB. The battery was designed to assist recruiters and career counselors in finding a specific occupation for service members. The military requires a minimum score on the battery for entrance into the service and perquisite scores to enter certain career fields.
But most soldiers in the conference room took the test during their sophomore year in high school. A soldier is only permitted to take the ASVAB three times while serving, making each attempt more crucial to a soldier’s career than the last.
Capt. Johnathan Taylor, an Augusta, Ga., native, now the A Company, 3-4 Infantry commander, allotted time for soldiers here to take the military’s Functional Academic Skills Training, commonly known as the “fast class.”
Fast classes are usually taught by civilian instructors at education centers and are available to soldiers while deployed to larger bases like Bagram Air Field and Camp Eggers in Kabul. But for soldiers at smaller camps like Alamo, leaders like Taylor fill the void.
“I’m just like you. I started out as an enlisted soldier,” said Taylor, who took a version of the class when he was a private first class.
He told his soldiers it took him 16 years to earn his bachelor’s degree. He recalled taking college classes as a drill sergeant and “steadily chipping away” at his degree while serving.
“When you make yourselves better, you make the unit better,” Taylor said.
Most soldiers are attending Taylor’s 8-week fast class to improve their scores on the ASVAB and voluntarily change occupations. Others, like Spc. Eric Jordan, a Greensburg, Pa., native, now a signal support systems specialist, have no choice as their career fields are overstaffed throughout the Army.
“A lot of people who are staying to make the army a career, aren’t staying because of a particular job,” said Sgt. 1st Class Darin L. Kennedy, the battalion’s career counselor.
Kennedy said occupations occasionally close to re-enlistment either due to the overall cap on the armed forces by Congress, or realignment within the Army, which may lead to fewer soldiers in certain career fields.
The battery “doesn’t determine whether you are smart or not.” It is a guide to determine where a service member would perform best, Kennedy said.
A test soldiers took during 10th grade can become a hurdle a few years into their careers. A hurdle Taylor said he intends to help his soldiers get over before the unit redeploys in December.
“Everyone has their own background or story, but the common denominator is a lack of opportunity.” Taylor said during the first class. “And that’s what this is, an opportunity.”
Date Taken: | 09.24.2011 |
Date Posted: | 09.24.2011 11:23 |
Story ID: | 77527 |
Location: | KABUL, AF |
Web Views: | 254 |
Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Warrior soldiers hit the books, by SFC Christopher Klutts, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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