Approximately 6 percent of high schoolers join the military after high school. This year’s class at Yutan is right on trend, with 2 of the 29 members going into the military: Clark Cogdill and Ian Dunn.

Cogdill plans to enlist in the Army and will undergo an airborne squad in Fort Benning, Ga., but already has many plans for his next steps after basic training.

“What I’m going to do is I’m going through an infantry route, which is boots on the ground, your average rifleman. And then I’m gonna go through the airborne squad for that. So I learn how to jump out of planes for three weeks,” Cogdill said. “Then I’ll go through the Ranger Assessment Selection Program (RASP), which is the training routine to become a ranger. It’s just pure torture, getting bullied and like two hours of sleep. Then I go through to the regiment, and if I pass that, then I would go to Ranger School, which is a 63-day leadership course.”

Cogdill has a really good idea of what to expect for training because of his three brothers  who are currently serving in the military and his dad who is retired from army service, which is a big reason he is choosing this path.

“I chose to do it because it’s always been a passion of mine, ever since I was super young. It’s also a family legacy too, from my great-grandpa all the way down to now. And it’s just really been inspiring seeing all my brothers out there doing it, and also I feel called to do it,” Cogdill said.

Cogdill’s commitment, along with Dunn’s dad, inspired Dunn, who will be entering the Air Force.

“I’m planning on doing computer technology. So in the Air Force, you get your jobs through a list that you put down, and they choose what they need. So my top one is programming, and I’ll do a lot of programming for basically all military systems in the Air Force,” Dunn said. 

Dunn will get sent off for training around August 11th.

“I’ll do basic training in Texas, but then after that, I’ll get sent to a random base, but I get preferences, so I guess we’ll just see,” Dunn said. “If I’m staying in the lower 48 states, I’d rather be somewhere near my family, but I wouldn’t mind going up to Alaska or going to a different country for a while.”

The actual enlistment process is not just as simple as signing a piece of paper, however; there’s a lot more tests involved. 

“I went through the Army recruiting station in Millard, and I went to the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). To pass the general technical science score, you had to have a score of 105 or above, but I studied and got a 116,” Cogdill said. “I was then put through the Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) to see if anything physically looked wrong. I failed the first time, but then it got approved.”

Dunn has similar testing but more specified for the Air Force.

“At the beginning of the school year, I went in and did a standard doctors visit, I took a drug test and they took my blood. Then I went to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). Two to three weeks after that, I took the Electronic Data Processing Test (EDPT) which helps me bump up in jobs in the air force,” Dunn said.

The challenges don’t stop with testing and training, as there will also be expectations for new people joining.

“Definitely adapting to all the standards they need to meet, such as if I get into Ranger Regiment after since I’d be a really new guy, and I’d be really young currently for my training program; it will just be really hard to adapt to the culture,” Cogdill said. 

Dunn thinks that staying fluid will be most difficult for him.

“I feel like the most challenging part is going to be the constant changes, like going into basic training, scenario change and then leaving, going into advanced training and then leaving and then going to wherever I go,” Dunn said.

Despite the changes, both are excited for the experience. 

“The dad lore, the life skills and the fun moments. This is something I wanted to do for a while. I’m super nervous but super excited at the same time. But it should be fun in general,” Cogdill said.

“Just getting into something, getting something started in my life, I don’t have a particular thing that I’m excited about, but just kind of the whole thing,” Dunn said.