Scrolling through an endless list of different opportunities available to graduating high school students can be overwhelming. Countless emails from universities, private and public, internships and the military provide endless possibilities. The Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy and Coast Guard all have many subdivided roles within themselves, covering every possible position one can serve while enlisted. 

Senior Dylan Gambert plans to enter the Air Force after graduating from Revere High School.

“My job in particular is going to be security forces, which is essentially military and police,” Gambert said.

Gambert plans on going to Lackland Air Force base in Texas for about six to eight months. Every person who plans to join the Active Duty Air Force receives basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base.

“They’ll train [me] on military training, police training, and then from there I will be assigned a position and a post,” Gambert said.

Gambert chose to enter the military for a variety of different reasons. 

“Military has many benefits—college, financial, and it’s something new to do, you get something different every day. I chose the military because of the benefits and the honor that you will hold,” Gambert said.

Senior Zack Coffey plans to attend The United States Naval Academy to become a member of the Navy or a Marine. 

“I’ve always wanted to go serve. It’s an honor [to serve],” Coffey said.

Coffey would serve a minimum of five years, but it would take twenty to fully retire from his branch of choice. He wants to be a pilot and train at a flight school.

Senior Daniel Fritz plans on entering the Air Force at Dyess in Texas after graduating.

“College is expensive, and the military gives good benefits after you retire,” Fritz said. 

The Air Force has many different MOS (Military Occupation Specialty) options that a person can choose to specialize in. A MOS serves to explain what a person’s primary job will be and requires specialized training referred to as MOSQ (military occupation specialty qualification). Not all MOS positions are strictly combat-based, however, as anyone from Musicians to the Dental Corps also have a designation in the MOS classification.

“The MOS I’m going into is a drone operator,” Fritz said.

Informally referred to as a drone, a drone pilot falls under the MOS of an RPA (remotely piloted aircraft) pilot and can perform both reconnaissance, attack and sensor operational actions.

“I see myself sitting in an air-conditioned trailer with a bag of chips, meanwhile, I have three monitors in front of me and an XBOX controller, and [I’m] calling in drone strikes,” Fritz said.

Fritz plans to attend college after doing service in the Air Force. After serving in the military, veterans are entitled to a number of different benefits–including financial assistance for college.

“[I decided I wanted to do this] this year. Over the summer, I was looking into various college programs for engineering at Akron, and I was looking at how much it cost, and I was looking at how well I would have to do in school, and I decided that was way too much work for me,” Fritz said.

Senior Greg Aebischer will join the Navy after graduating. Once Aebischer serves for six years, he plans to attend college. The Navy’s system of MOS’s works similarly to the Air Force’s and performs the same task of detailing a specific duty one will perform while enlisted. 

“I want to become a Cryptologic Technician Technical, or basically a CTT,” Aebischer said.

CTTs perform a wide variety of tasks, all dealing with communication, radar, and sonars. They often act as the first line of defense for alerting other positions of detected threats, as well as providing guidance. 

“Basically, a CTT works with radars and sonars, and they can also work with communications,” Aebischer said.

Preet Labana plans to enter the Air Force after graduating. 

“I will be going to Texas. It’s like a boot camp, and then after the boot camp they will give me a job and the job will decide where I’ll actually go,” Labana said.

Labana plans to stay in the Air Force for a minimum of four years, or six if she chooses to take time off from training.

Finally, after a period of scrolling through different options, one may find MOS in a branch that appeals to their specific tastes. From the Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Army and Marines, a variety of different options exist. 

(Please note: names of graduates who will be entering the armed services were provided to Lantern by the guidance office, as reported to them by the students themselves.  Thank you to Mr. DePompei, Mrs. Long, Mrs. Rion and Mrs. Reinhold for their help with this article.)