A senior at Stillwater High School recently made one of the biggest decisions of his life. Raiden Silas enlisted in the Army in November, and yesterday he officially signed and was sworn in in front of his family, friends and classmates. 

Silas said aside from the benefits of joining the military, there was a bigger reason behind his decision.

“I joined to be a good role model for my brothers to show them they don’t have to follow what everyone else is doing,” Silas said. “They can help the people around them and also set themselves up for a good future .”

The process he took for enlisting was first finding a recruiter, and then completing paperwork and his medical history. Then he went to the military entrance processing station. The first day he took his armed services vocational aptitude battery. The next day he did some tests, including vision and hearing. The final step of enlistment was swearing in, which he did Wednesday at the SHS Fieldhouse.

“I got to meet a lot of nice people, and my roommate at the hotel was an awesome guy,” Silas said. 

After graduation, he will go to basic training and Advanced Individual Training for Fire Support Specialists. 

“Since the job I chose is an artillery unit, I will be going to Fort Sill in Lawton,” Silas said. “I will be gone for about six months between the both of those before I can come back home, but when I’m back I will go to college here at OSU and I plan to go into economics or business administration.”