Emily Burgett on Mount Monadnock just before enlisting
Eleven years ago, I wrote a lot of articles with the general title "Who Fights Our Wars?" Now I am years away from serving and a friend who I met while volunteering at an ESL ministry is in training to be a Combat Medic.
On Tuesday, March 17, four days after borders began closing all over the world, I got a flight back from Paris to Kennedy Airport. Emily and I had talked and messaged a few times while I was in Israel and Europe and she told me she decided to enlist. By the time I landed that day, Army Specialist Emily Ann Burgett was flying to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to begin what was to be the last Army Basic Training for a while.
Emily thought about enlisting for a long time. She thought about becoming a pilot. She finally settled on Combat Medic. Right now she is in medic training at Fort Sam Houston. I occasionally get a text from her about medic training and Army life then don't hear from her for a week or two.
At 28, Emily is a decade older than most basic trainees. She lived in both California and Massachusetts with her family, lived in Lancaster, Pa., as an undergraduate and after getting a masters degree. She earned that masters degree in history at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. While there she studied Arabic and plans someday to work with refugees. She has traveled to China with her family. The family business is making pianos sold in America and Asia. She has been across Europe and in Central America.
Emily is an avid rock climber and an adventure tourist so the Army travel will continue the adventure. Last week, one of the messages I got from Emily was about the explosion in Beirut. Her class had just learned a new life-saving procedure. She said it reminded her why she joined.
She will complete medic training next month and join her unit in Massachusetts.
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