“This is a new adventure, a new chapter, and I’m excited to see where it takes me. Right now, I’m in college majoring in criminal justice, and I want to go into the FBI later down the road; but I also wanted to put in time to serve. The Guard is an opportunity to get some police-type experience.
I think it’s important I have a military background, but I also have four older brothers in the military so I just wanted to follow in their footsteps. I think it’s something everyone should do at some point because it’s good to serve the country you live in -- even if it’s just for a few years.
I’m really looking forward to being Security Forces in the VaANG because of all the awesome training they do. I want to go through difficult training and prove to myself I can do it. But also, for me, deep down, is an instinct for protecting. It feels right to me that it’s my job to protect this base and its people.” -- John Rivers, VaANG Student Flight trainee