Bandy
Shawn Bandy, freshmen political science major, has known that he wanted to be in the military for a long time. When he was a junior in high school, he signed a contract to start the Delayed Entry Program for the U.S. Navy.
“I jumped the gun and signed my contract,” he said. “I was supposed to take my oath for active duty in August. But I told them I was going to go to college.”
When he graduated high school, Bandy decided to come to Emporia State to get his degree. While he has no obligation to return to the military when he finishes, he will because that is what he has always planned for his life.
“My goal is to get my bachelor’s degree and join the Air Force as an officer,” Bandy said. “That is the plan. I’ve lived (the air force) my whole life. My dad has been in the Air Force for 24 years. The military is the only life I know.”
As a member of the Navy, Bandy would have been a Hospital Corpsman, which he said is the equivalent of a nurse.
“What makes a corpsman so valuable is that they supply the medics for the marine corps,” Bandy said. “I plan to go into dentistry or medical.”
Bandy’s drive to go into the military comes from his feeling of purpose in life.
“I feel like my life is no bigger than any other man,” he said. “(If there is) any way that I can help my country and my fellow people (I want to do it). The military is the best way for me to do that.”
While Bandy understands that the entire country does not agree with the goals of the military, he thinks that people should support the government anyway.
“Regardless of who is running our government, I believe you should support it,” Bandy said.
He also feels that people who protest the military and the war are unpatriotic.
“(Protestors) are very unpatriotic,” Bandy said. “Your family could be over there fighting and you’re basically telling them that they are wasting their lives trying to fight for something that isn’t going to change. Soldiers are fighting so that they can protest. They don’t realize that. The stuff that they get to do is because what soldiers do. Anybody who does protest is very unpatriotic.”
And while Bandy knows that being in the military is dangerous, he’s not scared.
“I knew that I was going to see people being killed but that comes with the job,” he said. “A lot of the corpsmen that I’ve talked to said that they’ve seen a lot of stuff. They have taken lives but it’s also to save lives. It’s not an easy job but it’s really rewarding. No matter what job you do in the military, it’s all dangerous.”
He also said he’s not scared of dying.
“I know that I’m doing the right thing and if I was to die, I’d die for the right cause,” Bandy said. “I know I’m making a difference in someone else’s life.”
For Bandy, the military is the best plan for his life.
“The military is the only life I plan to live,” he said. “There are civilian jobs that I can make a difference in but I feel like the military is the best place that I can succeed in. I know how it works. I’ve been around it my whole life. I know what it takes to be proficient in the military.”
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