As a student, one thing dominates your life, and that’s school. Eight hours a day, five days a week, studying and learning. But the big question that plagues high schoolers and recent graduates is what comes next. For many, it’s college. Others choose a trade school. However, some students choose a path that few even consider. They chose to enlist in one of our nation’s armed forces. 

Nearly 4 percent of the AHS 2025 graduating class chose to commit their future to our armed forces, according to school counselor Kelly Andrews. They join branches like the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard, and even the Marines right after high school. AHS is not alone in this either. Tens of thousands of high schoolers join the armed forces each year. Some join to continue a family legacy. Some join for the benefits offered. Some join for a sense of camaraderie, for a purpose, for a sense of duty.

“I am enlisted as a 68 whiskey, so a combat medic specialist, and I enlisted to serve my country and help the people that I can, and have some pretty great benefits too,” senior and Army enlistee Brooklyn Stember said. “Both my brothers are in the National Guard, and after they took that path, I just kind of decided that I wanted to pursue something along the same lines. I really enjoy working out and kind of the fitness side, so having a job with that is also really good, and it aligns with all my interests.”

The path from student to serve is not easy. You can’t just walk into the recruiter’s office one day and walk out as a member of the armed forces. The first step, once a student decides to enlist, is to talk to a recruiter. This helps them decide if the military is right for them, and if it is, how they will serve.

“If I have students who said, ‘you know, hey, I’m really considering the military,’ then my number one goal for them is to talk to every single branch and almost interview them,” AHS counselor Kelly Andrews said. 

Students can meet with recruiters from every branch at school and learn about the different opportunities available in the military. They can weigh the pros and cons of the different branches of the military to decide if enlisting is the right pathway for them. However, enlisting in the military doesn’t lock you onto that pathway for the rest of your life. 

“If you are interested in pursuing a four-year college right away, some students also can utilize an ROTC program within college, depending on what branch you are in, and depending on their [college] campus,” Andrews said. 

ROTC, or Reserve Officer Training Corps, offers students a balance of military and college, giving students a traditional college experience while also training them to serve as officers in our military. The National Guard is another option for balancing civilian and military life, allowing you to serve part-time.

“The difference between [national] guard and enlisting is that when you enlist in the guard, you are committing to drill once a month. And then it’s like two weeks out of the year in particular. That allows a lot of flexibility. There are also a lot of perks and benefits to that, whether that’s the GI Bill, to pay for schooling, and other things. So, yeah, lots of different options that you have when you’re in the guard, versus maybe enlisting full-time,” Andrews said.

A lot of these benefits also extend to active duty positions of the military, which is a full-time job. Active duty is a higher commitment, requiring a strong resolve and dedication to the service, while having a higher variety of opportunities and positions for enlistees. 

“Health care is covered for you, and education is covered. If you wanted to enlist, you could take college classes while you’re in, and theoretically, you could leave your first contract with a bachelor’s degree, just depending on what college you choose, through either online, self-paced classes, which would really help you out. Then, on top of that, when you do get out, you have the GI Bill, the post 911 GI Bill, where it’s a full-ride scholarship,” Marine Sergeant and recruiter Rawen Antonio said.

Once they meet with a recruiter and make their decision, the next step is processing to determine if they are even eligible for military service. There are physical requirements, medical exams, and tests that must be passed in order to enlist. Then there’s the paperwork, dozens of pages of documents that must be filled out to run background and medical history checks. 

“I missed a few days just to be there to get all my paperwork done and medical stuff,” Stember said. “It [the process of enlisting] was a little rough while also maintaining going to school and being focused on school with something that big ahead of me. But I’d say once I got enlisted, it wasn’t that bad.”

Then, if an applicant is cleared for duty, they get to pick their job, which is called their Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) in the Army. This is the area they will be specifically trained for. The different military branches offer hundreds of different MOSs, with different openings in different regions, and these jobs range far beyond traditional combat roles.  

“They say something along the lines of, ‘Oh, I want to get into trade jobs. I want to be a firefighter. I want to get into computers.’ And then I’m just sitting there, like, ‘Well, crazy story. What if I told you that we have those same jobs here in the military,” Antonio said. 

While some jobs may be a bit more traditional, other jobs are only available through the military, sending Americans directly into harm’s way and onto the front lines. 

“My goal is to be a line medic, so to be with the infantry units in the front and help people where it’s really needed, where it’s a little bit harder to help because of the stress and the requirements, stuff like that. I want to push myself to be able to just be there for people, where a lot of people don’t usually put themselves in that spot. I want to fill that spot,” Stember said.

The benefits and diversity of opportunities of the United States military are undeniable, but it isn’t easy. While it offers a career to thousands of students after high school, it’s not for everyone. Students who choose to serve our country aren’t always faced with a positive response from family and friends. 

“Almost everybody I know doesn’t want me to join, or a lot of my friends have things to say,” Stember said. “My teachers were pretty confused about why I was enlisting, and had lots of questions.”

Furthermore, there are many challenges during service. Tough physical and mental requirements, reduced freedoms, and judgment from others are just some of the challenges faced by service members. 

“It’s gonna be hard being a woman in the military, because there’s always gonna be sexism, which is just a normal thing, but that might be a little rough to deal with at first,” Stember stated.

Regardless of these challenges, Ankeny High School has students enlisting every year. In fact, there are currently several high school students who are enlisted in various branches of the military. And for these students, they only have one thing to do before they ship out to basic training.

“[Student enlistees] just finish the rest of high school. So they essentially wait a whole year just to go to boot camp, finish high school, get their diploma, don’t get in trouble, don’t do drugs, nothing,” Antonio said. 

As with any pathway after high school, the armed forces of America offer a long list of pros and cons. A long list of college monetary benefits may outweigh the fear of deployment for some, while others may appreciate a more traditional approach to life. However, talking to a recruiter simply to learn about this pathway could help students find a career and open their eyes to a new world of opportunity.

“The military is something that everybody should at least learn about,” Stember said. “They don’t have to enlist, but just to figure [it] out at least.”