When we think of summer break we tend to think about vacations, sleeping, or spending the day poolside. But senior Peyton Douglas spent her summer running, sweating, and enduring the elements at basic training in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for ten weeks. She left on May 30, only six days after school had let out.
“I enlisted into the army as of Feb. 20,2018 through the split training program,” Douglas said. “This means I go to basic training over the summer in between junior and senior year and then once I graduate senior year I have to go back for training.” This six year program is called AIT (Advanced Individual Training). The program is split in half between two years to allow 17-year-olds the chance to enlist and get their career started early. Plus it’s a long program so it makes it more convenient to split.

“The reason I decided to enlist was because I’ve always wanted to be military police in the national guard,” Douglas said. “But also because after you finish AIT, the Missouri National Guard will pay for college 100 percent, provide an additional $20,000 bonus, and I’m guaranteed a job in the end.” Douglas plans to go to college as a pre-med student in hopes that she can go to medical school through the military. They will also pay for her medical school as long as she goes active as an army medic.
“I’m completely happy doing so,“ Douglas said. “That’s what I wanted to do all along. This is what I want for the next 20 years. I want to retire through the Army. My Mom has a lot of friends in the National Guard and they’ve always been my role models, and seeing them with all their success and happiness made me positive that this is what I want to do.”

Life on an Army training camp is far different from normal living. Douglas woke up at 3 a.m. every morning and was required to do push-ups along with countless other exercises and she was expected to stay awake until 10:30 p.m. And then repeat. She even had specialized times for when they were allowed to eat. For the first four weeks of training, drill sergeants would scream and bang things to wake them up. If they weren’t getting out of bed they’d have to start doing push-ups.
“When I got there it was a major culture shock,” Douglas said. “Anytime anything, even little things happened, we’d be on the ground doing push-ups. Every single time. I also had to pull a ACG shift (waking up one hour in the middle of the night every night). Everyone had their own shift. You keep guard, do a head count, and when I was in basic, I did a weapons count and clean.”

It wasn’t all smooth sailing though, Douglas experienced a setback when someone dropped her from an 8 foot wall fracturing her tailbone and her spine in two separate places.
“I had drill sergeants in my face telling me I was going home and that I couldn’t make it,” Douglas said. “I believed them for a little bit but as it started to heal I could move around more and I began to push myself. I thought about how proud I would make my family and how much I needed the benefits so I pushed through. I did everything they asked of me I even ran on my own so I could pass the PT test so I could graduate.”

Not everything there was just about being in shape and doing exercises. Douglas learned to throw live grenades, and also how to shoot m249 and m320 guns. Members of her squad were expected to be carrying these weapons at all times. Douglas herself carried an M4 which is an assault rifle. She had it everywhere she went, and was held responsible for cleaning it every night.
“At one point we stayed out in the woods for 7 days and we basically stimulated war,” Douglas said. “We learned different tactics like how to handle indirect fire and we had to carry our battle buddies with the different types of drags and carries that you would use in an actual casualty. Every morning stimulated smoke grenades would go off in front of our tents. We would also have random blanks being fired around us and we had to shoot back.”

Douglas participated in a rock march which consisted of carrying a backpack that weighed around 50-60 pounds and marching for miles and miles at a time. The most she ever accomplished was a 20k which was the final graduation requirement. “My main goal is to prove to myself and others that I am capable of doing whatever I set my mind to,” Douglas said. “For awhile after I enlisted, I felt like I couldn’t do it because it’s hard and a grown-up job. It’s not something a lot of kids do. But after going to basic, I felt a lot more confident in my ability to do it.”
People told Douglas she couldn’t do it because they believed she wasn’t in shape, because she was going to get deployed and they even said she just wasn’t strong enough to make it through training.

“People had all these excuses for me,” Douglas said. “I gave into it for a little bit but then I realized that I can do this. And I did it. I’m here now telling my experience.”
When Douglas graduated she was very proud. A lot of doubt was put on her and people were expecting her not to graduate. “They thought I was going home,” Douglas said. “I did it. I made it.”
Douglas still continues to workout every day. She starts each day by waking up at 4:30 a.m. and going for a run, sometimes even the gym. She is staying fit and eating healthy.
“I really feel like I made the right choice,” Douglas said.