Kathleen Engle, 16, from Fairfield, California, said she had looked into the Peace Corps and other options but decided on the military. 'I was in fifth grade when 9/11 happened and that's when I decided the best thing I could do for my country was this,' she said, playing a video game called 'America's Army'.
'I guess it's going to be hard to kill someone, but if that's your job and that's what our commander tells us we need to do, I'm going to do that in order to protect my country.'
Mario Vazquez, 17, from El Paso, Texas, hopes to be a neurosurgeon but first he says he has a duty to America. 'My Mom is actually the one that found out about it,' he said of the West Point summer program. 'My mother is from Mexico ... she said it's a good place to get discipline.'
'I owe a lot to this country because of what it's given me, because of what it's given my family, but I also have fears because it's a lot of sacrifice,' he said. 'You put your country before yourself and you sacrifice your family and a lot of other privileges.'
Austin Fullmer, 17, from Las Cruces, New Mexico, said he was attracted by the prospect of moving around the world and seeing new places, and although he would be nervous about deploying to a combat zone, 'it's just another adventure.'
'I didn't quite realize there were this many kids like me,' he said, grinning as he sat in the doorway of Blackhawk helicopter parked in a field..... |