WEBVTT 00:00.910 --> 00:02.990 My name is Natalie Clap . I'm from 00:03.000 --> 00:05.056 Worthington , Pennsylvania . I am 18 00:05.056 --> 00:07.000 years old and I graduated from 00:07.010 --> 00:09.121 Armstrong junior senior high school . 00:10.000 --> 00:11.889 Hey , I'm master sergeant , Brian 00:11.889 --> 00:13.722 Hoover from the Pennsylvania Air 00:13.722 --> 00:15.889 National Guard . I'm sitting down with 00:15.889 --> 00:15.399 uh Natalie here . We're gonna talk a 00:15.409 --> 00:17.631 little bit about how she was this close 00:17.631 --> 00:19.798 to joining the army and switch over to 00:19.798 --> 00:21.909 the air . What is your job in the Air 00:21.909 --> 00:24.242 Force ? And why did you choose that job ? 00:24.430 --> 00:27.750 My job is public affairs and I 00:28.889 --> 00:31.309 ended up choosing it because 00:32.519 --> 00:34.819 of the artistic outlet that it would 00:34.828 --> 00:37.138 give me compared to the other jobs that 00:37.148 --> 00:40.089 I looked at that day . There were six 00:40.098 --> 00:42.918 other jobs I was told to create a list 00:42.929 --> 00:44.873 of three and public affairs was an 00:44.873 --> 00:48.259 extra one that I put on . I don't 00:48.270 --> 00:50.492 really remember but I know for sure one 00:50.492 --> 00:52.603 was aircraft structural maintenance . 00:52.603 --> 00:55.490 Another was something to do with 00:55.500 --> 00:58.599 shipping packages or I 00:58.610 --> 01:02.430 forget . And I really don't remember 01:02.439 --> 01:04.800 the last one . My 01:05.930 --> 01:08.830 top choice was actually the aircraft 01:08.839 --> 01:12.220 structural maintenance . I was really 01:12.230 --> 01:15.790 gung ho on working on airplanes and 01:15.800 --> 01:18.022 that's what brought me to the Air Force 01:18.022 --> 01:21.980 instead of the Army um that 01:21.989 --> 01:24.660 day was a , it was a very long day . I 01:24.669 --> 01:26.760 was here for eight hours , I think . 01:27.540 --> 01:29.707 And we were sitting in the recruitment 01:29.707 --> 01:31.651 office and I was like , um I don't 01:31.651 --> 01:33.839 really know . And I went with the more 01:33.849 --> 01:37.120 artistic outlet because I was excited 01:37.129 --> 01:39.930 to learn photography , um videography 01:39.940 --> 01:41.607 along with that . But more so 01:41.607 --> 01:43.829 photography . And also we walked around 01:44.000 --> 01:47.050 the wing and I saw all of the um 01:51.760 --> 01:54.430 pictures , graphic design stuff . And I 01:54.440 --> 01:56.662 thought that was really interesting and 01:56.662 --> 01:59.639 I like making things pretty . That is 01:59.650 --> 02:02.319 what really drew me to public affairs . 02:03.279 --> 02:06.309 All right . So you had said , um , you 02:06.319 --> 02:08.541 were gonna go army , you came here . So 02:09.729 --> 02:11.951 that's , that's the reason why you , it 02:11.951 --> 02:14.062 was more , more connected to aircraft 02:14.062 --> 02:16.285 or was there any other reason why you , 02:16.369 --> 02:18.425 why you were talking to the army and 02:18.425 --> 02:20.647 why you flipped to the Air Force when I 02:20.647 --> 02:22.980 was talking to the army guard recruiter , 02:22.980 --> 02:25.759 I told her that I thought that I was 02:25.768 --> 02:28.919 interested in working on 02:28.929 --> 02:31.399 aircraft . And she told me that the 02:31.408 --> 02:33.297 army only has helicopters and not 02:33.297 --> 02:35.519 planes . And I was really interested in 02:35.519 --> 02:37.686 working on planes . I'm not sure why . 02:37.686 --> 02:41.490 Um , but like I thought it would be 02:41.500 --> 02:44.880 cool to learn how that stuff works . I 02:44.889 --> 02:46.945 like understanding how things work . 02:47.199 --> 02:48.000 And 02:50.539 --> 02:54.050 she offered me a position 02:54.500 --> 02:57.330 to work on the helicopters and she had 02:57.589 --> 03:01.059 reserved it and when it came down to it , 03:01.070 --> 03:03.181 I was like , you know , what I really 03:03.181 --> 03:05.292 wanna work on planes and I'm not even 03:05.292 --> 03:09.089 working on planes . All 03:09.100 --> 03:11.500 right . So , when you left high school , 03:12.029 --> 03:13.973 was there , uh , a thought of just 03:13.973 --> 03:15.862 going straight to college or just 03:15.862 --> 03:18.196 straight , going into the industry , um , 03:18.196 --> 03:20.196 if you wanted to work on planes you 03:20.196 --> 03:22.690 could have gone to , like , um , uh , 03:22.699 --> 03:24.977 an aeronautical institute or something . 03:24.977 --> 03:27.440 Why the military ? Why was that , why 03:27.449 --> 03:29.560 did that end up taking precedent over 03:30.210 --> 03:32.429 going directly to industry ? What you 03:32.440 --> 03:35.690 want to do ? The beginning of my senior 03:35.699 --> 03:38.940 year , I was still deciding what I 03:38.949 --> 03:41.060 wanted to do and where I wanted to go 03:41.060 --> 03:43.171 to college and military wasn't even a 03:43.171 --> 03:45.393 thought . And then I met the army guard 03:45.393 --> 03:47.560 recruiter and we started talking and I 03:47.560 --> 03:51.449 was like , maybe this could be a backup 03:51.520 --> 03:55.000 because a few months had passed after 03:55.009 --> 03:57.231 the start of the school year when I met 03:57.231 --> 04:00.179 her and I , at that point had decided 04:00.190 --> 04:02.589 that I wanted to go for art . And when 04:02.600 --> 04:04.489 I think about what career I could 04:04.489 --> 04:06.711 create with art , it was either like an 04:06.711 --> 04:08.933 art teacher or a starving artist unless 04:08.933 --> 04:12.820 I find some magic job that 04:12.830 --> 04:15.759 is just perfect . So the military was 04:15.770 --> 04:18.809 actually like a backup plan for me and 04:18.820 --> 04:21.109 I wanted to do something different than 04:21.119 --> 04:25.000 art and that would be working on an 04:25.010 --> 04:28.440 aircraft . Uh What do you intend to do 04:28.450 --> 04:30.728 with this , this being your enlistment ? 04:30.728 --> 04:33.910 Um Do you wanna take your , your 04:33.920 --> 04:35.920 service ? Get your benefits , go to 04:35.920 --> 04:37.976 college or trade school or something 04:37.976 --> 04:40.031 and use that to kind of move towards 04:40.031 --> 04:41.753 industry . Are you looking for 04:41.753 --> 04:43.531 something more , um , full time 04:43.531 --> 04:45.640 military ? Are you , uh , looking to 04:45.649 --> 04:47.799 have , uh , a civilian career that's 04:47.809 --> 04:50.299 parallel to your military career or , 04:50.450 --> 04:52.228 you know , completely different 04:52.228 --> 04:55.359 direction ? My original thought was to 04:55.420 --> 04:57.890 do my time and then get out so 04:59.540 --> 05:01.670 that I could get the benefits and it 05:01.679 --> 05:03.790 would be there if I needed it because 05:03.790 --> 05:05.846 my original plan was to go for art . 05:05.846 --> 05:08.123 And if that didn't go so well , for me , 05:08.220 --> 05:11.109 I could have the military there and I 05:11.119 --> 05:13.329 could get a full time job if I needed 05:13.339 --> 05:16.950 it here . Um , as of now , I 05:16.959 --> 05:19.709 don't know if I'm just gonna do the six 05:19.720 --> 05:21.899 years and quit or if I'm gonna re up , 05:22.089 --> 05:24.256 it really depends on where I'm at , at 05:24.256 --> 05:26.367 that point in time . How did you hear 05:26.367 --> 05:28.519 about the Air National Guard ? You , 05:28.529 --> 05:30.585 you know , you talked about the Army 05:30.585 --> 05:32.751 Guard . Um , obviously there's the air 05:32.751 --> 05:34.918 force and , and , and , um , knowing , 05:34.918 --> 05:37.029 you know , the , the army guard , I'm 05:37.029 --> 05:39.196 assuming would have said we don't , we 05:39.196 --> 05:41.307 don't have planes , you know , that's 05:41.307 --> 05:43.362 the Air Force or , or Navy or Marine 05:43.362 --> 05:45.362 Corps . Yeah . Um , but why the Air 05:45.362 --> 05:49.279 Guard , my mom actually made me 05:49.290 --> 05:52.619 talk to an air guard recruiter before I 05:52.630 --> 05:54.741 signed up with the army guard just to 05:54.741 --> 05:56.797 make sure I knew all of my options . 05:56.920 --> 05:59.019 And after I talked to him I realized 05:59.029 --> 06:01.362 that it might be a better option for me . 06:02.119 --> 06:03.952 All right . And then uh is there 06:03.952 --> 06:06.890 anything that uh influenced your 06:06.899 --> 06:09.799 decision to become recruited to join 06:09.809 --> 06:11.920 the , to join the military ? Uh Maybe 06:11.920 --> 06:14.142 that you didn't mention outside of your 06:14.142 --> 06:16.365 mom saying you will talk to the air air 06:16.365 --> 06:19.440 guard recruiter . Um Was there um AAA 06:19.450 --> 06:21.720 better connection with the recruiter ? 06:21.730 --> 06:23.952 Was there a better understanding of the 06:23.952 --> 06:26.119 mission or just uh a call to service ? 06:26.119 --> 06:29.010 Anything that helped kind of more 06:29.119 --> 06:31.286 streamline or pinpoint your decision ? 06:31.286 --> 06:33.341 As you said , like in high school at 06:33.341 --> 06:35.286 the beginning of high school , you 06:35.286 --> 06:34.450 didn't know what you want to do . It 06:34.459 --> 06:36.626 wasn't even a consideration . And then 06:36.626 --> 06:38.737 here now what little less than a year 06:38.737 --> 06:40.626 later , you're sitting next to me 06:40.626 --> 06:42.848 getting ready to go to basic training . 06:43.470 --> 06:45.329 Honestly , I have no idea 06:47.480 --> 06:49.839 that it was like a month when I was 06:49.850 --> 06:52.309 going between talking to the army guard 06:52.320 --> 06:55.589 recruiter and GCI and 06:57.100 --> 06:59.160 I was trying to get a hold of him to 06:59.170 --> 07:01.337 ask him more questions so I could make 07:01.337 --> 07:03.503 my decision to kind of make a pros and 07:03.503 --> 07:06.170 cons list . And he wouldn't answer my 07:06.179 --> 07:08.290 mom texted him , he wouldn't answer . 07:08.290 --> 07:10.512 He was really busy . I'm pretty sure he 07:10.512 --> 07:13.470 was on um parental leave something , 07:13.480 --> 07:16.100 but he was still speaking with me . Um 07:17.750 --> 07:21.519 And the army guard recruiter was 07:21.529 --> 07:25.359 kind of closing in like I took the , 07:25.510 --> 07:27.732 I forget the official name for it . But 07:27.732 --> 07:29.788 the at home ASVAB and she was like , 07:29.788 --> 07:32.121 hey , this is gonna expire if you don't . 07:32.121 --> 07:34.232 And she had that position held for me 07:34.232 --> 07:34.079 and she said , hey , this is gonna 07:34.089 --> 07:36.250 expire if you don't . And we finally 07:36.260 --> 07:39.640 got a hold of GCI like the day before I 07:39.649 --> 07:43.399 was actually gonna like , fully decide 07:43.410 --> 07:46.940 to go with the army . And I was helping 07:46.950 --> 07:49.117 my dad that day in the barn and I went 07:49.117 --> 07:51.006 out and I laid in the grass and I 07:51.006 --> 07:53.172 talked to him for two hours . And then 07:53.172 --> 07:55.394 that night , we talked to him again for 07:55.394 --> 07:55.309 another hour , like me and my mother on 07:55.320 --> 07:58.390 the phone and we 07:59.440 --> 08:02.100 sign papers saying that 08:03.529 --> 08:06.470 I was gonna come in something . It was 08:06.480 --> 08:08.591 a blur . It was a very long day . But 08:10.019 --> 08:13.339 he just so happened to reach out that 08:13.350 --> 08:13.760 day .