September 2, 2004

Knowing risks, grad is proud to serve

Jansen Adkins, a 2004 YSHS graduate, left for basic training at the U.S. Army’s Fort Sill in Oklahoma this week. Adkins is wearing the dog tags of his grandfather Eugene Adkins, who served in Korea, and is standing in front of a flag his grandfather gave him.

By Robert Mihalek

Jansen Adkins knows there’s a chance he could be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, but he said he’s not scared or nervous about fighting in a war. For Adkins, who’s reporting to the Army this week, serving overseas would be an honor.

“If I have to go to Iraq or Afghanistan, I’ll be proud to serve my country over there,” said Adkins, who turns 19 later this month.

“The people overseas are the real heroes,” he said during an interview at his house on Monday. “They’re doing something that is completely non-selfish.”

On Tuesday, nearly three months after he graduated from Yellow Springs High School, Adkins left the village for Fort Sill in Lawton, Okla. He’ll spend his first 10 days in what’s called “reception,” in which new recruits go through an orientation process. On Sept. 10, Adkins starts nine weeks of basic training.

After basic training, Adkins will go through five weeks of advanced individual training, in which he will receive training for his job as a field artillery tactical data systems specialist. Adkins said that he would be responsible for establishing target points for multiple launch rocket systems.

Adkins will serve in the Army for two years, giving him a chance to save money for college, which he plans to attend after the Army. He’s considering Bowling Green State University and wants to study criminal justice. In addition to making a regular salary, Adkins will receive $30,000 from the Army to help pay for tuition.

He has a long list of reasons why he joined the military.

The Army, Adkins said, will give him a “good opportunity to actually mean something to my country and get my life straightened out and in good order and get a good base.” He also said he was not “really hyped about going to college” right out of high school, and the Army will help him financially when he’s ready to go back to school. He called his decision a “really good step” in his life, and said that the Army will “make me a better man, a better person as a whole.”

Serving in the military, he said, also gives him a chance to help people, especially if he does go to Iraq or Afghanistan.

When asked his opinion about the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Adkins said it was “good we took some action,” and noted that since Sept. 11, 2001, there has not been another terrorist attack inside the U.S. While no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, Adkins pointed out that Saddam Hussein is no longer in power.

The United States needs to “finish what we started” in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said. He believes that the U.S. military will be in Iraq for a couple of more years. “We’re definitely working to stabilize the country,” he said.

Since he enlisted in January, Adkins said, the thought that he may go to war has not affected his decision. He understands that casualties are a part of war. He knows a lot of people are praying for him, he said. “God will be watching over me,” he said.

In June, Adkins’s mother, Andi Adkins, wrote a letter to the News in which she described how her surprise about her son’s decision turned to pride.

“Jansen is being true to who he is…. Tell him you’re proud of him. Thank him for caring deeply about his country and about freedom,” she wrote to the community.

It feels good “whenever someone has something like that to say, to say how proud they are, or to say this means a lot,” said Jansen.

Spending just an hour with Adkins makes it clear that he has thought a lot about his decision to join the Army. He talks of reading about the accomplishments and good things happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s always been interested in the news, he said, but since he enlisted, he has been paying more attention, especially to the war on terror. He regularly reads the newspapers, is reading Courage, by John McCain, and has seen Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, which he called “one-sided.”

Each YSHS senior must write a hero essay, one of many projects seniors must complete as they prepare to graduate. Last year, Adkins wrote his essay on Pat Tillman, the football player who left the NFL after 9/11 to join the Army and was killed in Afghanistan last spring. “He’s a true hero,” Adkins said.

Adkins said that “a lot of people” are asking him who he plans to vote for in the November presidential election. However, he is not sure whom he will support, explaining that he likes some things about both President Bush and Senator John Kerry.

Adkins has lived in Yellow Springs since the second grade. At YSHS, Adkins played football and baseball, as well as hockey for the Junior Dayton Bombers. He worked at Tom’s Market, Sunrise Cafe and KFC/Taco Bell, and he attends Byron Church.

He is leaving at home many friends and family members, including his parents, Andi Adkins and Jan Wambaugh, two brothers, Alex and Doug Wambaugh, and his girlfriend, Heather Semler, a junior at YSHS.

“I’ve tried to make it clear to them to stay strong,” he said. “It will be hard for all of us when I leave.”