Summer With Janessa

Janessa Abma, senior here at Wellington-Napoleon, had a very eventful summer. Janessa spent her summer in Army Basic Combat Training that lasted 10 weeks. She learned all sorts of things such as basic marksmanship, the soldier's creed, the Army song, and the basics of land navigation. She also learned basic military medicine such as applying a tourniquet, stuffing a bullet wound to stop the bleeding and multiple ways to carry someone if you are by yourself or have someone to help. Some of the major events that she was a part of were the gas chamber, Treadwell Tower, the Hammer, the Anvil, The Forge, and qualifying on her rifle. During this training, they were all in high spirits supporting and hyping each other up. “It was the best feeling of camaraderie ever,” she says. 

As far as the food most days she went to “D-Fac”, which in her opinion had pretty good food. Where she ate was set up like a cafeteria, but way bigger. The main courses for her were like school food, but a little better. During her stay, they wanted to make sure they had as much food as possible so there was no passing out or overheating. Like most people know, MRE’s were used while she was there, just not as much. They would have at least one MRE a day and were not as terrible as most people would have thought.

After her 10 week stay there was a soldiers ceremony where they were finally able to put on their soldier patches, berets, and drink the grog. The grog is a drink they have with all the different drinks in the MRE’s mixed together. Overall, her experience was tough and she really enjoyed being able to meet new people, make new friends, and learn new things. Good luck in all future endeavors, Janessa!

Story By Maddison Smith