The Rocket

Issue date: 10/21/05 Section: Life

Media Credit: NATHAN COLLINS/THE ROCKET Ty Kegarise will head into military training next semester.

Kegarise, a sophomore criminology major, won't be attending SRU after the conclusion of the fall 2005 semester. Instead, he'll be headed for Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., for a grueling 19 weeks of military training. He is scheduled to leave on Dec. 28, his 20th birthday, no less.

"There's a chance that I die. It's always been in the back of my mind," he said. "Naturally, it's something I try not to think about at all, but I know it comes along with my job. I wouldn't say I'm afraid for myself; I'm more afraid of the affect it will have on my friends and family."

While the things on the average college student's mind nearing the end of school are internships, interviews and résumés, the things on Kegarise's mind will be a bit different, a bit more significant: al-Qaeda, nuclear weapons, Iraq.

Following the 19 weeks of training, eight weeks of basic training, 11 weeks of advanced individual training, Kegarise, who will join the military police, will return home for a brief stay. Kegarise, who hopes to become a U.S. Army Ranger at some point, can then decide where he would like to go. His decision may not matter, however. He knows this.

"If there is a certain need in an area, I'll be shipped there instead," he said. "There's a significant chance of (going to Iraq), especially if I become a Ranger because they're fighting terrorism there constantly."

While on active duty, Kegarise must serve three years in Europe and two in the United States. When deciding what type of work he would undertake when in the Army, he said the job of military police officer was the best fit.

"Military police officers perform basic police functions," Kegarise said, detailing the aspects of the job better than any recruitment brochure ever could. "They cover anything from patrolling bases, protecting convoys, dealing with prisoners of war, basic investigating and also the guarding of nuclear weapons."

Kegarise said he hopes his military background will be an experience that allows him to achieve his post-Army career goal: becoming an FBI agent.

Aside from the more heralded aspects of being a soldier, Kegarise knows the work isn't all glamorous. In fact, hardly any of it is.

"It seems like the war is nagging on and soldiers keep dying every day," Kegarise said. "I think the United States is sticking around too long in Iraq. As for the war on terror, I believe it is something that needs to be fought and that's why the military's most elite soldiers are defending that. It's essential for this country to be safe from another violent attack like 9/11."

Continued...

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