Militia Read Online Free Page B

catching crayfish. His father enjoyed hunting and fishing and brought Mike with him as often as he could to share his knowledge of these American pastimes with his only son. Soon Mike was an expert with a fishing pole, various hunting rifles, and even a bow and arrow, which only increased his love and respect for nature.
    By the time Mike started high school he was a confident woodsman. On a more regular basis than not, Mike would blow off the routine high school parties to spend his weekends in the woods camping. While most of his classmates considered camping to be a large tent, big fires, and a cooler full of beer with enough food to grill the whole time, Mike choose to make his own shelter, and hunt small game to cook over a small fire. Most of his friends thought of this as “roughing it” but Mike saw it as a weekend relaxing and living as man was intended to.
    Most of the shops that the Northwestern Pennsylvania community had depended on for many generations had disappeared by the time Mike was seventeen and entering his junior year of high school. Colleges were becoming increasingly more expensive with each year and Mike knew that his parents were not going to be able to afford his tuition. The shop that his parents had worked at his entire life had not closed but had cut back on their workforce enough that his mother had been one of the many to be laid off. His father was one of the few lucky ones to still have employment but with only one income his parents had exhausted what was left of their savings to make sure they did not lose their home. While Mike was a standout in football he had not dedicated himself quite enough to be thinking about getting any scholarships.
    After a long day of school in September, Mike drove his old Ford truck to the town’s local Army recruiting station. The recruiter told Mike everything that he had hoped to hear. The Army could offer him things like a good salary, health benefits, and most importantly money for college. Finally it looked like he had another option other than struggling to put him self through school and then hoping to find a job afterwards so that he could pay back an enormous loan. When he returned home Mike sat his parents down and informed them of his intention to drop out of school, take his GED test, and enlist in the Army.
    At first both of his parents were opposed to it, much as he had expected. As soon as Mike started his father said that he was not going to allow it. He wanted what all fathers want, to see his son finish school and have a high school diploma before starting his life as an adult. On top of that both of his parents understood the dangers that came with being a soldier during war time. Mike, being very convincing with words, soon had both of his parents convinced that during these hard economic times it was in his best interest to take the military route as soon as possible. He promised them that he would only serve four years and after his contract ended would return home and get a college education. After a couple more hours discussing the Army life with his father both of his parents agreed that if he could pass his GED test they would sign the papers and allow him to join the Army before his eighteenth birthday.
    The next day Mike came into school after his first period class had already started and to the surprise of all of his teachers went straight to the office and officially dropped out. He headed straight from school to the town library and began studying for his GED. Taking the GED test didn’t require Mike to do much in the way of studying but he knew that it would show his parents he was taking the proper initiative. A week after withdrawing himself from school Mike passed the GED test and was back at the recruiting station signing papers and picking a date to take his test and physical.
    His recruiter drove him to Pittsburgh where Mike quickly passed both the Army’s initial entry exam and their physical with flying colors.