LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – A 19-year-old from Levelland recently swore an oath to support and defend the United States, with his dad right there beside him – not just to cheer him on, but to make the same promise.
41-year-old Joshua Randol has been teaching middle school English in Levelland for the last few years. His second-oldest son, Eli, recently finished his senior year at Levelland High School.
“Actually, military wasn’t on his radar. He was actually number one in the South Plains for tackles, playing Levelland football,” he said. “So, we really thought he’d take a scholarship to go play football in D2, maybe. But he said if he was going to tear his body up, he might as well get a good medical education. So, he decided to join the Army.”
His recruiter, Staff Sergeant Seth Adkins, says Eli didn’t seem super interested in their conversations during the school year.
“Toward the end of the school year, though, I actually just got a random phone call from him, and he asked me if I could go meet him at his house to talk somewhere,” Adkins said.
Adkins visited their house and was explaining the process and the benefits to Eli. Then, Joshua decided to come join the conversation.
“And chimed in that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but he made the joke that he thought he was too old. Being 41 years old, he’s just made the cut to get in,” Adkins said. “So, I explained how it would work for him, too, and he had a quick conversation with his wife, called me the next day and said he was interested.”
Adkins says he’s never seen anything like this in his year and a half of recruiting.
While Eli’s decision to enlist was focused on education, Joshua says his reasons were different.
“The benefits being immediate, with healthcare and college and all those things that go with joining the military as fully enlisted,” he said. “And believe it or not, I get an instant pay raise by joining the Army, based off teacher salary versus Army salary. So, couldn’t go wrong.”
The two signed on together and stood side by side for their initial swearing-in ceremony. Eli is now in basic training at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. Joshua ships out next weekend to Fort Jackson in South Carolina.
“To go out there and go through basic training at 41 years old and be able to say, ‘Hey, I can do this.’ That’s pretty cool,” Joshua said.
While Eli got a big signing bonus, Joshua says the bonus for him was getting to choose to go to Germany after his training.
“Here’s the cool thing. Married 24 years, right? I’m going to be gone for months and months and months. After the end of the school year, my family would join me in Germany,” he said. “And my wife and I’ve always been planning to go to Europe for our 25th anniversary. And so, that’s gonna happen.”
The four years he will spend in Germany, Joshua counts as an added bonus, along with getting to defend the nation alongside his son.
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