This year, Suffield senior Emily Greene enlisted into the CT National Guard. While she continues to finish out her final year of high school, she is well aware that her life will change pretty quickly after graduation. With basic training on the horizon this July, where she will be put through a rigorous and structured program that is specifically designed to transform and teach new recruits fundamental combat skills, physical fitness, discipline, teamwork and mental resilience. But, what truly inspires people to take on this life changing challenge?
For Mr. Huppe, a math teacher at Suffield High School, who was part of the United States Air Force for 6 years, his inspiration for joining the military was different from others. When I talked to him, he mentioned how he wasn’t ready for college. Not on the academic level, but with a social standpoint. During our interview he said,
“I had such a good time in High School but my cup was overfilling. If I had gone to college I would have done the same stuff that I had already done in High School. I didn’t want four more years of High School. I was done with the High School shenanigans.”
Mr. Huppe also mentioned how his High School life was like two movies, ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ and ‘Animal House.’ Based on what I could find, people described these movies as very funny, filled with energy, uncontrolled, and messy.
On the other side of things, Emily’s inspiration to join the military sparked from her family. Her dad, brother and sister are all actively serving in the Air Force. On the plus side her college will be paid for, health insurance, benefits for the rest of her life on top of her family’s lives and early retirement. But she’s driven mainly by the support and backbone from her family.
With all this family support, I asked Emily what her feelings were come graduation,
“I’m really excited for basic training come the summer,” she said, “I’m excited to get my life situated but a little sad because I’m leaving a lot of her friends and family which will be hard.”
Mr. Huppe gave me some insight into his experiences, looking back at his first year and even the first time he was caught off guard with a loaded rifle in his hand. I asked him about a highlight experience, and the first thing that sparked his mind was,
“The first year I was stationed in Oklahoma, although it was great and had many positives, I was getting bored, so I applied for special forces and was accepted. I was then in a highly mobile unit in Germany 6 kilometers from Russia. And I was really happy that I got that assignment.”
Emily’s plan is to contract for active duty for 6 years and 2 years reserve. Although she’s thinking about doing 25 years active duty in order to be able to retire early and receive a good pension. While she’s on active duty she’ll be taking classes at either Uconn Storrs or Southern CT University. There, she’ll be in the nursing program, getting her BSN, a bachelors of science in Nursing. In order for her to work towards her goals she’s been preparing herself in many different ways,
“Staying active and fit, I’ve been doing the stairmaster for about 45 minutes five times a week and occasionally adding a weight vest to simulate equipment. I’ve also been staying independent trying to get used to being away from the people I love and learn how to keep myself busy.”
Mr. Huppe gave me some advice for new recruits. He mentioned how there were moments that he hated, but there’s not a thing that he’d change about his experience. He also mentioned how the military teaches you that you might be working with someone that you don’t like and they might not like you. But at the end of day, when you’re working together you have to put the differences aside and be there for each other. You’ll never know when there might be a day that they might be covering your back and you’re covering theirs. It is an important life skill going into college or even a job, whatever you do it comes down to being professional and doing your job.
Mr. Huppe is a father, a son, a teacher, and grandfather,
“Which those are all super special experiences in my life, but, the best experience of my life was the military.”
The military will teach many things, not just combat skills and discipline, but most importantly you’ll learn critical life skills, like giving your absolute best effort with everything you do, being honest with yourself, showing up and doing your job. You’ll also take on experiences that will resonate with you for the rest of your life and meet people that become family to you. People join the military for many reasons, whether that’s family, the challenge, the experience, the benefits or to simply serve your country.
And yes, Emily Greene did in fact pass Mr. Huppe’s Statistics class.