MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Five Morgantown High School students have officially signed up for military service post-graduation. The students signed their letters of intent in a ceremony at Morgantown High School Wednesday, with three branches of the military receiving commitments.
“It means the world for young folks to volunteer, put self behind, and put country first,” said West Virginia Air National Guard Command Sargent Major (CSM) Joshua Miller, who represented their branch at the ceremony.
Four of the commitments will be to the West Virginia National Guard. Sean Begley, Josh McDonald, and Cole Herald each signed up for service, and they join two fellow classmates who will join the United States Marine Corps and the Air National Guard.
“It really makes me feel good, it’s positive seeing this generation volunteering and joining,” said CSM Miller. “I hope to see many more at the next one,” he said.
Brandon Petak is the soon-to-be graduate who will join the Marines. His decision was made after observing the other branches of the military, despite a potential deployment overseas.
“I was looking through the branches, and the Marine Corps seemed to be the most practical of them all, and it’s something that I want to be a part of,” said Petak, explaining what prompted him to join.
Abigail Coleman will join the Air National Guard as their lone recruit from Morgantown High School. Recruitment for every branch of the military has been considered low, according to McDonald, due to COVID and other circumstances. As numbers work to improve, each branch is grateful for every recruit who’s willing to serve their country.
“It is definitely a challenging recruiting environment currently,” said Miller. “Especially coming out of COVID, we’re really trying to get momentum again, we just saw five today, but they made that decision, they raised their hand, and they joined,” he said.
