SOUTH WAYNE - Veterans Day might have had a little more meaning to four Black Hawk High School seniors Wednesday.
As the audience rose during Veterans Day ceremonies at the school, Grant Roper, James Rufenacht, Blake Wand and Isaac Sigafus, dressed in military fatigues, carried in the U.S. flag.
The seniors are members of the United States Army National Guard. All four joined the National Guard within the past year.
"I was proud to be in the color guard," Rufenacht said.
He couldn't put into words the feeling of watching veterans and students salute the flag as he carried it into the gymnasium full of spectators - a sentiment echoed by Roper.
"To hold the flag in your hands makes you feel really good," Roper said.
Joining the National Guard was something all of them wanted to do, they said.
Roper, Wand and Sigafus have relatives who served in the military, and Rufenacht and his dad talked about it a lot before he made his decision to enlist.
"From the time I was little I wanted to be in the Army," Wand said.
They are excited about what the Army can offer them. They have the opportunity to travel to other countries and to use the skills they learn in the military to help them when they retire from the service.
Most importantly, for each of them, is the opportunity to serve their country, even if it means going overseas to fight, they said.
"I don't want my training to go to waste," Roper said. "It's something that's got to be done."
They aren't scared about the possibility they could see combat. With the enthusiasm of youth, they understand the dangers, but they don't dwell on it.
"Death would be the last thing I would think about," Roper said. "I would think about my mission and the others with me. You can't think about it."
Roper and Rufenacht completed a portion of their training at Fort Benning, Ga., last summer. The other soldiers in their training units were their age, they said.
They didn't know what to expect as they left home.
"My mom was teary-eyed," Roper said.
Rufenacht said leaving was hard for him.
"I didn't think I'd miss my mom as much as I did," he said. "I thought about my parents when I got to the reception center (at the base)."
There wasn't a lot of time to think of much, other than training, they said. Each day, the seniors were awake by 4 a.m. and spent the day performing drills until it was time to sleep at 9 p.m.
Roper and Rufenacht said the people who had good attitudes toward what they had to do had an easier time at Fort Benning.
Roper said they were so busy there wasn't enough time to get to know his fellow soldiers for the first few weeks. It wasn't until seven weeks into his training last summer that he learned one of his fellow soldiers was from Albany, he said.
"I was talking about how I had worked at Swiss Colony and one guy said he worked at Swiss Colony, too," Roper said. "I asked him which Swiss Colony he worked at and he told me Monroe."
Roper was surprised to learn the soldier was Riley Whitehead from Albany.
"That was really weird," he said, with a laugh.
Sigafus and Wand will go to basic training this summer. From Roper and Rufenacht, they have an idea of what to expect. They'll be in basic training for 14 weeks, unlike Roper and Rufenacht, who were in basic training for nine weeks. Rufenacht and Roper will finish their training this summer.
All four want to make a career of the military, but none of them want to be officers, they said.
"I wouldn't want to sit around all day," Roper said, laughing.
As the audience rose during Veterans Day ceremonies at the school, Grant Roper, James Rufenacht, Blake Wand and Isaac Sigafus, dressed in military fatigues, carried in the U.S. flag.
The seniors are members of the United States Army National Guard. All four joined the National Guard within the past year.
"I was proud to be in the color guard," Rufenacht said.
He couldn't put into words the feeling of watching veterans and students salute the flag as he carried it into the gymnasium full of spectators - a sentiment echoed by Roper.
"To hold the flag in your hands makes you feel really good," Roper said.
Joining the National Guard was something all of them wanted to do, they said.
Roper, Wand and Sigafus have relatives who served in the military, and Rufenacht and his dad talked about it a lot before he made his decision to enlist.
"From the time I was little I wanted to be in the Army," Wand said.
They are excited about what the Army can offer them. They have the opportunity to travel to other countries and to use the skills they learn in the military to help them when they retire from the service.
Most importantly, for each of them, is the opportunity to serve their country, even if it means going overseas to fight, they said.
"I don't want my training to go to waste," Roper said. "It's something that's got to be done."
They aren't scared about the possibility they could see combat. With the enthusiasm of youth, they understand the dangers, but they don't dwell on it.
"Death would be the last thing I would think about," Roper said. "I would think about my mission and the others with me. You can't think about it."
Roper and Rufenacht completed a portion of their training at Fort Benning, Ga., last summer. The other soldiers in their training units were their age, they said.
They didn't know what to expect as they left home.
"My mom was teary-eyed," Roper said.
Rufenacht said leaving was hard for him.
"I didn't think I'd miss my mom as much as I did," he said. "I thought about my parents when I got to the reception center (at the base)."
There wasn't a lot of time to think of much, other than training, they said. Each day, the seniors were awake by 4 a.m. and spent the day performing drills until it was time to sleep at 9 p.m.
Roper and Rufenacht said the people who had good attitudes toward what they had to do had an easier time at Fort Benning.
Roper said they were so busy there wasn't enough time to get to know his fellow soldiers for the first few weeks. It wasn't until seven weeks into his training last summer that he learned one of his fellow soldiers was from Albany, he said.
"I was talking about how I had worked at Swiss Colony and one guy said he worked at Swiss Colony, too," Roper said. "I asked him which Swiss Colony he worked at and he told me Monroe."
Roper was surprised to learn the soldier was Riley Whitehead from Albany.
"That was really weird," he said, with a laugh.
Sigafus and Wand will go to basic training this summer. From Roper and Rufenacht, they have an idea of what to expect. They'll be in basic training for 14 weeks, unlike Roper and Rufenacht, who were in basic training for nine weeks. Rufenacht and Roper will finish their training this summer.
All four want to make a career of the military, but none of them want to be officers, they said.
"I wouldn't want to sit around all day," Roper said, laughing.