The sight of the young children at the church on Christmas Eve was all Brian Robertson needed to remember why he was joining the Army.

“It was at that moment when I realized ‘this is why I enlisted: I fight so they don’t have to’,” he said.

Robertson, a Port Huron senior at Central Michigan University, is a Private First Class soldier and a member of the ROTC at CMU. He made the decision to join in December 2008, and officially enlisted in January 2009.

According to Robertson, less than 1 percent of the U.S. population can join the military, and only one of every 20 people makes it completely through the rigorous training. For Robertson, the training schedule usually consisted of 12-hour days with a 20-minute break for lunch.

“You’re the elite,” he said. “[The training] takes you from the civilian mindset and physically unfit to a soldier mindset and physically fit…we do more before noon than any civilian normally does during their whole day.”

Robertson spent his summer doing 16 weeks of basic and advanced training in Oklahoma. During the advanced training, he was trained as a multiple launching rocket system crewmember.

Despite all of his training, for Robertson, the best part is the people.

“In college, normal friends can become family, but soldiers with you learn and know you better than anyone else ever could,” he said. “Our conversations get the most interesting because we put aside rank and just chill. Old guys share stories with the younger guys, and the younger guys give the older ones crap for still being enlisted.”

College friends always bring interesting conversations, but the conversations are no comparison to those with army comrades which lead to closer friendships, Robertson said.

“They see you at your best, and they see you at your worst,” he said.

After his upcoming graduation in August, Robertson will be deployed to Kuwait.

For his mother and grandmother, accepting his departure was hard, but they are more accepting now, he said.

“It took Mom several months. Now she’s very supportive but extremely anti-war, especially with me deploying,” he said.

Robertson has done a lot of thinking about being deployed. “I got really nervous and scared because you don’t know what’s going to happen but after that you’re fine with it,” he said.

“Civilians let their fear overwhelm them, but soldiers take their fear and control it… it’s not that we’re crazy superhuman; we may be terrified but we’re not going to let it lock us up. Our mission comes before any fear.”

One of the reasons Robertson, a recreation major and leadership minor, enlisted into the Army was because the government helps to fund a soldier’s education.

“They want you to be educated. They give you money to do it, so they want you to improve yourself,” he said.

When enlisting in the Army, a certain number of college credits can get the applicant a higher rank. Robertson had over 45 credits, so he was immediately made a Private First Class. After graduation in August, he will be promoted to a specialist.

Robertson’s advice to anyone wanting to join the military is to keep all paperwork organized and have everything in writing.

“Keep track of anything: if you’re told you’ll get something from them, get it in writing so you have documentation,” he said. “That’s really the way of life.”

Courtesy Photo

By Alana Goeringer