While many Ashland University students were enjoying their summer relaxing at home and taking vacations, Paige Arthur was sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for Basic Combat Training.

No phone. No computer. No Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. Nothing… only letters. 

Arthur, a 20-year-old Instrumental Music Education major at AU, joined the Army Reserves to become a member of their band. But before she could enter in her Military Occupational Specialty, she was put through ten weeks of basic training, which tested both her physical strengths and mental strengths.

Arthur enlisted in April 2014 and signed a six-year contract in the Army Reserves. In May 2014, a week after spring semester at AU had ended, she shipped off to Oklahoma for basic training.  

Before the physical training had officially started, there was a week of processing that included paperwork and shots to prepare all the enlistees for the next nine weeks. 

Once training began, Arthur woke up between 4 a.m.-5 a.m. everyday for physical training that including running, push-ups, sit-ups and other activities that tested the recruit’s physical strength. 

The rest of the day continued with a specific training event that varied from lectures in a classroom to rifle marksmanship to combat obstacle courses.

What Arthur valued the most, though, was the Army values that she learned in the classroom, specifically personal courage and discipline. 

“Personal courage is having the courage to fire an M-16, having the courage to give 110% all the time and having the courage to max out of your PT (physical training),” Arthur said. 

She commented on the intensity of the drill sergeants and why they valued discipline. 

“We had a drill sergeant tell us that ‘The reason why it upsets me when you do something wrong and act undisciplined is because I’ve seen undisciplined people when I’ve been deployed and I’ve seen those people die in front of me.’”

Arthur added, “They’re hard on you, really hard on you, but they do it for a reason. They want you to succeed in the big Army world and not just in basic training.”

While many females think they cannot get through basic training, they excel through it and end up being stronger, mentally, than the males. Out of 200 recruits in her battery, Arthur was one of 52 females.

“I [also] had one female drill sergeant and just seeing [her] be able to do what she can do being a drill sergeant, achieve expert on her marksmanship, in excellent physical condition and maxing [out on] her PT test,” Arthur continued, “Being able to see that is encouraging to all the rest of the females to see ‘I can do that. I can be like that and I can accomplish anything that a guy can do here.’” 

Arthur initially joined the Army Reserves for tuition assistance for school.  But during those 13 weeks of basic training, she realized it was more than that. 

“I learned a lot about what it is to be a soldier and what the Army is all about,” she said. “Going there changed my mindset on the way I look at life and changed me as a person, for the better.”

Arthur added, “Now, my motivation is the want to serve my country, the want with what is going on in other countries and foreseeing the future that we may need more of us [soldiers] soon.” 

While in college, Arthur is a member of the 338th Army Reserve band out of Columbus, Ohio and plays the French horn.