You Don’t Need A Driver’s License To Drive A Tank; Army Recruiter Visits EWMS

October 17, 2009

ewing-ewms-18.jpg

You don’t need a driver’s license to drive an Army tank, and drill sergeants don’t really yell at recruits.

Those were just a couple of the interesting answers to equally interesting questions Friday afternoon from sixth grade students at Ernest Ward Middle School. The answers were from SFC Bobby Ewing, U.S. Army recruiter. Ewing met with each of the three grade levels at the school on Friday to encourage them to work hard, get a good eduction and have a plan for the future — whether or not that plan includes a career a in the military.

For more photos from the event, click here.

“If you are a drill sergeant, that gives you the right to yell at people?” one student asked. “We don’t yell at people, we just speak in a very loud voice,” Ewing responded, drawing a laugh from many of the students.

Students asked dozens of other candid questions about Ewing, ROTC and the military.

“Do you need a driver’s license to drive a tank?” a sixth grader asked. “No, but you do need training he replied.”

Ewing explained ROTC and military careers to the students, pointing out that ROTC provides an opportunity to enter the Army or other service branch at a higher pay grade.

He answered other questions that ranged from personal to almost top secret.

“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” That answer involved taking his wife to the wrong restaurant for her birthday.

ewing-ewms-15.jpg“When you join the Army, do they tell you about Area 51?,” a student asked. He looked disappointed at the answer, while the rest of the students laughed. “All I know about Area 51 is what I saw in the Will Smith movie Independence Day.”

For Ewing, a 1997 graduate of Northview High School, those down to earth questions provide the opportunity to bring the military seem real for the students.

“Have any of your good friends been killed in action?”

His answer was a little slower and more thought out than most during his visit with the students.

“Yes, three of them….one, she was blown up.”

Prior to the question and answer session, Ewing focused on motivating the students to do their best in school and concentrate on their eduction for their future careers. When speaking later in the afternoon to EWMS eighth grade students, he also focused on choices and opportunities available to them as they attend Northview High next year.

“He is great,” Ernest Ward Principal Nancy Gindl-Perry said. “He really, really gets them going and encourages them.”

Like Ewing, many of the EWMS students were dressed in camouflage Friday because it was “Camo Day” at Ernest Ward as the school celebrated the last day of EWMS Spirit week.

For more photos from the event, click here. 

Pictured top: Ernest Ward students, dressed in camouflage  as part of the school’s spirit week, list to SFC Bobby Ewing Friday afternoon. Pictured inset: Ewing, an Army recruiter, explains the military to the students. NortEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

2 Responses to “You Don’t Need A Driver’s License To Drive A Tank; Army Recruiter Visits EWMS”

  1. SFC Ewing on October 17th, 2009 8:52 am

    To NHS NJROTC Parent. You are more than welcome and thank you for your kind words. It is truly an honor and a pleasure to have been able to give back to our great community.

  2. NHS NJROTC Parent on October 17th, 2009 8:24 am

    SFC Bobby Ewing,

    We are proud of the man you have become! Pleased with the efforts you are taking to be an active part of our community. You are a wonderful role model, an asset to our military and to our local schools. Continue to let the Lord lead you where he feels you are needed and the rest will take care of itself.

    Thank you!

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