While most other 16 and 17-year-olds are enjoying their summer break from school with fun days at the lake, camp-outs, or maybe working a few hours a week for a bit of spending money, two Callaway High School students have opted for a different route. Brady Brestel and Dylan Handley have decided to answer the call to serve their country, and the two young men are spending the summer before their senior year of high school at, of all places…basic training.

Handley is 17-years-old and has joined the Army National Guard. “My uncle kind of convinced me it was a good thing to go into,” Handley answered when asked what prompted his decision. “There are a lot of benefits.”

Handley’s uncle currently serves in the military, and his nephew has chosen to take the same path in the military police field. After returning from a summer of basic training, Handley and Brestel will both complete their senior year of high school while participating in weekend RSP (Recruitment Sustainment Program) training. 

“I think just the self-discipline that comes with the training will be a big benefit for me. I’ll be able to apply myself to my studies more and be able to get things done,” said Handley.

He is still unsure about the career path he wants to pursue in adulthood. “I plan to attend college eventually. It may not be right after high school, but that is my plan,” he said.

Both of the guys explained that typically recruits don’t join as early as they did, and go directly from basic training to AIT (Advanced Individual Training). However, since they are still in high school, Handley and Brestel will have their senior school year between the two training programs, and go directly to AIT after graduation next spring.

“My mom wasn’t too thrilled at first when I told her, but the idea kind of grew on her,” said Handley. “Now she’s ok with it. My dad was excited.”

Handley, who has one younger brother, said he hopes to set a good example for his brother and other younger kids. In high school, he participates in wrestling and golf. 

He admitted that most of his friends didn’t really believe him when he first told them of his plans. “A few of them were interested, not in joining, but in how it worked. Then they just started asking me and Brady a lot of questions,” Handley said. 

Handley is at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for basic training this summer, and will head back to that base for AIT next summer. 

For Brestel, joining the military just seemed like a rite of passage. “My great-grandpa, my grandpa, and my dad all served. So I always felt that it was like an heirloom that I had to pass on,” Brestel explained. “And I felt like the earlier I could start, the better, so I enlisted at 17 instead of right out of high school.”

He has also joined the Army National Guard but will take a slightly different path than his friend and classmate. This summer Brestel headed to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for his basic training. 

“The military can’t interfere with any high school activities, like sports or prom, or any of that. So I”m doing what is called a split-op, where I go to basic training this summer and AIT next summer,” Brestel explained. “Between those two I will have drill one weekend out of every month through my whole senior year.”

While Brestel admitted there is no major benefit to joining before high school graduation, it just gives him a little earlier start. “It’s kind of like taking extra time to study for a test. It gives you more time to think and comprehend,” he shared.

The enlistees do get to choose what field they go into; however, those options are more limited when do the slip-op, Brestel said. He is going to be a truck driver. “If I would have joined right after high school I would have had a lot more options, so I guess that’s the disadvantage.”

“Some of the benefits that led me to join are the free health care and dental care, and the college benefits,” Brestel continued. “My contract is for eight years, six years active and two years inactive. I keep telling people that after these eight years I’m done, but my mind will probably change.” 

Brestel said that his military service won’t be like most ordinary jobs which allow you just to call in sick or take the day off. “After AIT that is when they can send me anywhere, anytime, and I have to go. If I don’t, I’ll go to jail. So I kind of have to wake up and go to work - I can’t just skip work,” he added with somewhat of a smile.

He is all business when he talks about his upcoming military career, and said that he has always been a pretty self-disciplined individual. “With my dad being in the military - he retired in 2018 - that’s where the military attitude comes from,” Brestel explained. 

He shared that the additional discipline of the military is something he looks forward to, along with the new friends and experiences he will have. 

“They seemed kind of surprised at first,” Brestel answered when asked how his friends reacted to his decision to join the military during his junior year. “I don’t think they thought that was something I really wanted to go into, but I had never really shared that with them. I’m just really anxious to go and do stuff, just to get out of Nebraska.”

Brestel said that even though his dad is retired military, he did not pressure him in any way to join. “He waited for me to make the decision on my own. My mom is really nervous though.”

While in high school Brestel participates in athletics and attends youth group every Wednesday. He is also involved in TeamMates. 

Both of these young men display a strong sense of commitment and values that is evident in their conversations. It is that commitment to make the world better and keep their country safe that led them to the decision as 17-year-olds that will shape the rest of their lives. And they show all of us that our future really is in good hands.