2010 PHOTOGRAPH BY NICOLE BLACK, FORT LEONARD WOOD PUBLIC AFFAIRS; 2007 PHOTOGRAPH © BRETT FLASHNICK; STATISTICS SOURCE: U.S. ARMY
Whatever Happened To ... ... the older army recruit
by Kathleen hom Clayton Beaver was 40 years old, unemployed and tired of dead-end, part-time jobs when he joined the U.S. Army in 2007. His dreams of playing professional
golf had fizzled, and he needed job security, benefits and stability for his new wife, Teresa, and his son from a previous marriage, Kalani, then 14. The Army was just as needy, with troops fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and spread across other parts of the world. In an aggressive campaign to add soldiers, the Army had raised the age limit for new recruits from 40 to 42 and offered bonuses, amounting to $25,000 for Beaver. In a November 2007 story for The
Washington Post Magazine, reporter Michael Leahy shared Beaver’s story as he left his home in Hawaii and began basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., with the looming likelihood of being shipped off to war. “Sometimes I’ll ask myself, ‘What the hell am I doing?’ ” Beaver said then. “I left a beautiful place, a beautiful family. … I think this has been the right decision, but if it isn’t, I can go back and try again.” Sure enough, Beaver was sent to Iraq
with his platoon in late April 2009, more than a year after he and his family were stationed at Fort Story in Virginia Beach. But Beaver, now 43, seems to have found
For the original story, go to
washingtonpost.com/magazine.
bad. “It was definitely psychologically easier for me than for the family,” he recalls. “I had all the negative and natural worries of leaving … [but] you try not to talk about it at home and cause any unnecessary stress.” Kalani, now 17, moved to Colorado
Above: Clayton Beaver has been training for the army criminal investigation unit. Below: in 2007, a private.
to live with his mother when Beaver was deployed but visits regularly. Teresa, now 52, stayed in Virginia Beach with her two sons from a previous marriage: Ian Ribeiro, 27, who is in the Army National Guard, and Jazziah Ewing, 29. Beaver’s family talked to him
at least once a week through Skype. Now he’s Sgt. Beaver, and he
the career and stability he sought. After graduating from basic training
in October 2007, he spent two more months at Fort Eustis, Va., learning to unload and upload convoys for the transportation division. “They keep you fairly busy, so the only time you have to think about your family is in your bunk during downtime,” he says. His Iraq assignment also wasn’t so
expects to graduate next month from school in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., where he is studying to join the Army’s criminal investigation division. “I feel like a sixth-grader in a college course sometimes,” Beaver says. But overall, life is good. “We’re all pretty happy,” Teresa says.
how many
675,000 // Te number of active duty and reserve soldiers in the U.S. Army
(Continued from Page 7) out and learn to accept each other. Which I kind of think the paper is about. There’s a country song — I can’t
remember who sings it, but she says, “Everyone dies famous in a small town.” I like the idea that people feel special when they see themselves in the paper. I have this weird goal that every kid in town ought to have their
ANSWER Dave Chappelle
photo in the paper once before they turn 18. Unfortunately, we’ve had to cut back since the recession, so I’m the webmaster, I’m the marketing director, I’m the salesman, I’m the editor. I’m assigning stories, I’m trying my hardest to keep things up-to-date online. I do most of the layout. There’s always plenty to do. Much, much more of my time is devoted to figuring out how to raise funds, and that’s my least favorite task. We had a fundraiser a little over a year ago, and the community really
came out. It was a shot in the arm to me that people care, because we were looking at maybe having to close down. I put in 60 to 80 hours a week, and it’s not as much fun as you think it would be. Because of the recession, we’ve been struggling so much that you just kind of think, Is it worth it? So then when you have 150 people come out to a fundraiser, you’re like, “Oh, yeah, I think so. This matters to other people, not just me.” Now I’m working on just getting enough sleep so that I can enjoy it more.
september 12, 2010 | The WashingTon PosT Magazine 9
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