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Apr 2010  |  By Tracey Labovitz  |  Comments

From Book Bags to Basic Training–Military as an Option for North Shore Teens

When Paula and Kent Darbyshire told a friend that their son Brice was being deployed to Iraq, the response was, “I would move to Canada.”

“We looked at him and said, ‘It’s a volunteer army,’” Kent recalls.

“And we would have had to take Brice to Canada kicking and screaming, because this is what he wanted to do,” Paula explains.

As seniors at New Trier High School, brothers Brice and Ian Darbyshire, now 25 and 21 (pictured above), each visited an Evanston recruiting office and enlisted in the Army. Brice says it wasn’t something he planned.

“It was something I always had an open mind to,” he says. “I didn’t want to waste time at college if I didn’t want to be there.”

Mark Doran, station commander of the Evanston army recruiting office, which is nicknamed the North Shore Knights, says it's rare to find high school seniors from the North Shore who are interested in the army.

“It has a lot to do with the makeup of the area,” he says. “I came in as a high school senior from a small city in Kentucky. Some joined to carry on the family tradition, like I did, or to get out of a small town, because they couldn’t afford school, or to take care of themselves, but here, there are many more opportunities for high school students.”

Yet, even with all the advantages many North Shore teens have, some are still interested in the military—maybe not instead of college, but to get ready for college. Despite its dangers, military service is certainly not without payoffs: It's a way to earn money for college, express a deep patriotism, build character, travel to new places and gain self-knowledge.

Mallory Gillen did not believe her brother, Connor, when he announced that instead of college he was enlisting.

“I thought that’s just what boys say,” she says.

An honor roll student at Evanston Township High School, Connor, 18, was accepted at 10 colleges but wasn’t excited like his friends.

“I’m not ready for college,” he says. “I kind of always knew I was going to end up doing this.”

Connor’s father, Paul, supports his son’s decision but had encouraged him to choose the Coast Guard.

“The army has more likelihood to put him in harm’s way,” says Paul, a single father. “But every parent realizes that their son or daughter is an adult. When this choice was made, I said, 'Right or wrong, this is your time.' I know he’s going to make a good soldier.”

Connor reports to active duty at Fort Benning, Ga., this August. Paul fears his son will end up in Afghanistan.

“There’s a psychological toll with going to war,” he says. “I’m as concerned with that as the physical. But thousands of family members manage to get through the day with loved ones deployed. I’ll figure it out, too.”

College is still a priority to Connor, who wants to be a special education teacher. The army can make that feasible through bonuses, job wages, combat pay and the G.I. Bill.  

“One of the comments Connor made was, ‘I don’t want to come out of college swimming in debt,’” Paul says. “Now it’s likely he’ll emerge with a degree and no debt.”

After Brice enlisted in the Army, he trained in Fort Knox, Ky., and spent 2005 in Iraq, where his convoy was hit by 11 roadside bombs.

“It was an experience,” he says. “It was pretty bad.”

He fulfilled his army commitment and is now a senior at Kendall College earning a degree in hospitality management.

“When I got back, all my friends were graduating,” Brice says. “That was the hardest part. But I made a lot of friends. That was worth it alone.”

And, the experience gave him a new perspective, according to his father.

“The North Shore is homogenous,” Kent says. “Everybody is smart. Everybody is going to college. It doesn’t really tell you how you fit within the world until you go out into the world. When you get to the army, it shows you how you fit in. It gives you an idea of who you are.”