Future Soldier Kelsey Evan

Evan, Kelsey a photo by Official Army Future Soldier Center on Flickr.

Hi my name is Kelsey Evans and this is my journey to enlistment. I went to college in the fall of 2005 knowing what I wanted to do. I wanted to become a Photojournalist and play lacrosse in college. I think at some point during my junior year of college, when I was finally taking actual photojournalism classes, I realized that I didn’t really have the passion for it that I thought I would. So instead of wasting more money and switching majors I stuck it out, finished my lacrosse career, which was my real passion and got my degree.

When I graduated college I also thought I knew what I wanted to do and became a part-time college lacrosse coach and worked full-time in retail to supplement my income. I did love coaching those girls, but the office work side of it was not for me. All I knew was that I loved being part of a team, I loved working hard and being hands on with my job.

It had been 1 ½ years since I was a college lacrosse goalie so I was out of shape. I decided in January of this year to start doing Crossfit. I headed to my local box (their term for gym) and took beginner’s classes for a month until I was able to do the real classes. I spent that time around ex-military and current military personnel who loved the Armed Forces and their jobs. I got the opportunity to work out with them and get to know them and it really shifted my perspective on what I wanted to do with my life.

On February 28th of this year I walked into a recruiter’s office and told him I wanted to join the Army and go to OCS and so began the LONG journey of me joining the Army. I had to lose weight so I continued doing Crossfit and started running and started doing the Paleo diet strictly. I lost 9 pounds of fat in about 3 months and went to MEPS on May 18th and 19th for my ASVAB and medical exam. Unfortunately for me the Officer Review Board (interview before three officers) was canceled in June. I had to wait until mid-July. I was nervous out of my mind for the hours they had us waiting to go before the board, which is funny now because it went so well and it was pretty laid back and kind of fun. All three of the officers highly recommended me as an Officer Candidate, which means that I could become a Reserve Officer Candidate if I wanted. I wanted active so they sent all my paperwork and their recommendations to the Paper Review Board. They took 31 of 85 candidates that month I believe. I wasn’t accepted as an Active Duty Officer Candidate.

I already knew that I wanted active more than I wanted officer and had plenty of time leading up to this day to make my decision. The day I got turned down I went to my recruiter’s office in late July and picked my MOS of 35M Human Intelligence Collector. On August 4th I FINALLY enlisted in the Army. I got what I wanted and the 7-month wait in the DEP began. I’ve decided since then that I want to try to become a HUMINT Warrant Officer anyways knowing how I love hands on work.

I went from not being able to do one military pushup in March to being able to do 50 in 2 minutes by May. I went from not being able to do more than 30 sit-ups without being exhausted and completely slowing down to doing 76 in 2 minutes now. And my running…When I was a freshman in high school and decided to play lacrosse I couldn’t jog a lap around the track because of exhaustion and lack of mental toughness. By my senior year of high school I could run a mile in 8:04. I now run a mile in 7:26 and my 2 miles is 16:05.

If you want something and are willing to work for it, you will get it. There is no question. It just may take a long time. Next step is Basic Training in February. I know it will be hard, but I’ll handle that too. I can’t wait to be SPC Evans.