It’s a win-win situation.
You can serve your country while receiving money to further your education or pay off existing student loans.
One of the biggest benefits of the U.S. Army, they say, is money for college – up to $81,756 for soldiers with the Montgomery GI Bill and Army College Fund.
And with their College Loan Repayment Program, full-time soldiers can receive up to $65,000, while the Army Reserve Benefit gives you up to $20,000 to pay back student debt.
Drawn by money for college – as well as unparalleled career opportunities and the ability to rise in the ranks — the following five enlisted, and now help others achieve their dreams.
Sergeant Michael Bell
Bell, 28, enlisted in February 1999 as a senior in high school.
He just wanted to continue his education, he said.
“My parents didn’t have enough money to send me to a four-year school,” said Bell. “I spoke with a Recruiter and I liked what he had to say.”
His first duty station was Ft. Lewis, Washington, from 2000 to 2002.
The following year he went to Korea, and in 2003, the Unit Supply Specialist was deployed to Iraq.
His job, he said, was to ensure that his unit received all the supplies they needed – from food to weapons to ammunition.
“Over there, you get to build a better cohesion with your team,” Bell noted.
Though he never saw combat, he said, “there were times our base would be attacked by mortars.”
Bell was then stationed at Fort Benning, GA from March 2005 through October 2007, and learned that he had been selected a Recruiter.
He got to New York right after Thanksgiving in 2007, and has been recruiting since then.
“When I try to talk to people about the Army, I try to talk to them about life too,” said Bell. “It’s all about helping people to achieve their goals and about being a mentor, helping people be successful.”
This philosophy is far-reaching.
Bell remembers a 19-year-old from Long Island who wanted to enlist, but was overweight.
After helping him work out and shed the weight, the man was able to sign up for duty.
“I know I helped him get there, helped give him the motivation,” said Bell. “It took me full circle.”
Staff Sergeant Travis Jones
Jones knew he wanted to serve from a young age, but a national tragedy compelled him to enlist.
“It was something I always wanted to do since I was a kid,” he said.
His mother, who had divorced, he said, struggled to raise three children.
He remembers his ROTC instructor as being extremely caring, like a second father, and Jones counts this as a formative experience.
He had completed a year of college and was working as a corrections officer when 9/11 happened.
A month later, he called an Army Recruiter.
“I wanted to do something different with my life – something with meaning,” said Jones.
He trained as a combat soldier and was stationed in Georgia before being deployed to Kuwait. He had just turned 20 at the time.
Jones went as far as Baghdad and spent 13 months in Iraq.
“When you go to places like that, you appreciate things more,” he said. “[War] makes you appreciate life.”
In 2005, Jones went back for a year, during which time he helped to rebuild Sadr City, Iraq.
But right before he left, his daughter was born.
“When I came back, she was already a year old.”
Upon his return, Jones was tapped to be a Recruiter, at which he excels.
He joined the Eagle Academy, a mentoring program, and was awarded a gold badge after only three or four months, and a Recruiter ring after two years.
“I feel more fulfillment [as a Recruiter],” he said. “I feel like I’m helping my country and my community.
“If I’m able to help you get on the right track, it’s a good thing. This is the quickest route for people to get [where they want to go in life]. I would tell anyone to come in, sit down for an interview – we’ll tell you all about the opportunities,” Jones affirmed.
Sergeant Desiree Twarog
Originally from Manhattan, the 25-year-old, whose mother is in the Dominican Republic and whose father is an architect in Spain, had been attending Fordham University in the Bronx – and paying for it herself.
“I wanted to stay here to be on my own,” she said.
When an Army recruiter visited her dorm-mate – and bet Twarog to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) – she jumped at the chance, and scored a 70 (a score of 31 to 50 is considered passing).
The two then discussed how to pay for her education, and in 2005, Twarog, who is fluent in Spanish, had graduated with a degree in criminal law and a minor in international relations.
In January 2006, she was deployed to Afghanistan.
“I would give everything to go back tomorrow,” she said. “I loved it.”
While there, Twarog focused on humanitarian aid, worked with people of varying nationalities, including Korean, Egyptian, Polish and French, and even taught Salsa and organized an event for Spanish Heritage Month.
“For what we could do and whom we could touch, they were appreciative,” she said.
Twarog, who now resides in Jamaica Estates, returned to the U.S. in December 2007 and applied to become an Army Recruiter. After completing the required schooling, she is now recruiting full time, and often participates in community outreach and mentoring programs.
“The Army has allowed me to do more than I might have been able to do [otherwise],” she said. “It has definitely been a family for me – through everything.”
Now, thanks to the opportunities the Army has afforded her, Twarog said she is not concerned about her future, or even about continuing her education.
Under the GI Bill, she said she plans to pursue a master’s degree at Columbia University, which also participates in the Yellow Ribbon Program, “an initiative authorized by the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act that allows educational institutions to provide eligible student veterans with a tuition waiver or grant that is matched by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs,” according to www.columbia.edu/cu/gs/military/yrp/.
Sergeant Raymond Jones
Jones, 31, has been in the Army for 12 years, and his reasons for signing up had everything to do with his family.
The eldest of three children, Jones said he was “basically trying to help my family.”
There are quite a few Army and Navy veterans, too, on his father’s side.
Jones, who was enrolled in Air Force ROTC during high school, was greatly influenced by an Army Recruiter he had met while in West Craven High School in North Carolina.
“I talked to [him] a lot of times,” said Jones.
Another impetus, he said, was his family.
After signing up and training, Jones was stationed in Texas, where he had family. He was then reassigned to units in Korea and Georgia.
When he was 23 – and just one week after he married – Jones was deployed to Iraq for six months.
“It was scary at first,” he admitted, because the war had just started.
He was deployed again in 2006 for a year.
“It [Iraq] had changed a lot,” said Jones. “They had buildings for us to live in, facilities to shop, eat, and recreation. I worked out at the gym a lot.”
After returning to U.S. soil, Jones, who loves to cook and hopes to open up his own soul food restaurant, was stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC for a year, where he was a member of the Ft. Bragg Culinary Team that won the highest honors in a cooking competition at Ft. Lee, VA in 2008.
In September of that year, he went to school to become a Recruiter; a week before Thanksgiving, he was reassigned to New York, where, he says, he can “change people’s lives.”
“Every time I’m able to help change someone’s life, it puts a smile on my face,” he said.
His family is very proud of him, he said, as he plans to attain a degree in culinary arts.
What’s his advice to those considering enlisting?
“Look at your life today and then look ahead five years – do you think another job will give you [such] security?”
First Class Sergeant Ronald Glasgow
“I felt like I needed job security,” said Glasgow, 32, originally from Barbados.
The then-19-year-old was living in Syracuse, N.Y. after high school and working in senior care. He had a one-year-old daughter and was attending community college when he saw a TV commercial for the Army.
“I thought, ‘This is definitely a career to give me opportunities and give me security for me and my child. It stood for everything I was looking for.’”
He joined in 1998, and after training was stationed in Germany, which he says to this day was his best duty assignment.
“I got to see almost every place in Europe. It was a great experience,” he said.
He was there for four years and left a Staff Sergeant. After only two years, however, he attained the rank of Sergeant because, as he said, “I liked it so much, I extended [my stay].”
Glasgow, who is goal-oriented and ambitious, said that his Army superiors taught him to “try to be the best at what I do.”
He then went to Central Texas College, Maryland and finally Columbia University to study criminal justice.
His next mission was to train a new crop of enlistees.
“It gave me the opportunity to showcase what I learned and to give back to my branch,” he said. “In the military you become a leader, and there is diversity, flexibility, advancement and equal opportunity.”
Afterward, he was stationed in Missouri, at a chemical defense training facility, where his specialties included chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense.
In May of 2005, the Army took a look at his records, he said, and selected him as a Recruiter.
“I knew there was a war going on, and I knew it was going to be a challenge,” he noted.
Never one to back down, Glasgow began working out of the recruiting station in Jamaica where, even today, he says, “I share my experiences with people; I am honest with them.
“I help them to understand that the Army will train you in a specialty, that you will be equipped with the skills and knowledge [for a career and a lifetime],” he concluded.
So what’s your reason for joining?
To learn more about the U.S. Army, contact Captain Hany S. Noureddine at 718-747-2308/2309 or email Hany.Noureddine@usarec.army.mil.
