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From study to service

Military recruiters are finding an eager crop of high school graduates willing to put aside college and work.

Today is the last day of school at Palm Harbor University High, where 96 percent of the senior class is headed to college.

But at the school's recent awards ceremony, the loudest cheer wasn't for the students with perfect SAT scores or full university scholarships.

It was for the five seniors who enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps.

"Everyone else was getting these huge scholarships. It almost felt like mine wasn't as great," said Jesse Scott, 18. "But, then, as I was standing up there at attention, getting my award, everyone cheered and clapped. And it felt great."

Inspired in many cases by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and undeterred by grim news out of Iraq, a number of area graduates plan to head soon to basic training. They have picked barracks over dorms, boot camp over freshman orientation.

They want to serve their country. They want money for college, and they want to see the world. Some want to see war.

For parents, it can be nerve-wracking.

Scott asked for his birth certificate a few days after turning 18 and joined the Marines. His mother's gut reaction was, "No, no, no."

But Scott is a risk-taker. He caught a 7-foot bull shark in the Gulf of Mexico. He once spent 14 hours paddling his kayak solo from Fort De Soto Park to the Dunedin Causeway.

His mom, art teacher Bonnie Carlin, has come around. She recently put a Marine mom's sticker on her minivan, next to the one that says "World Peace."

Despite the rising death toll in Iraq, the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard continue to meet recruiting goals set by Congress.

"A common question we get asked is, "Will they go to war?' " said Army Sgt. 1st Class Markus Bates, station commander of the Tampa North recruiting post. "We can't tell them that it will not happen."

They still sign up. In Pinellas County, the Marines have a list of 74 people waiting to go to boot camp.

"It's already been rubbing off on me, I think - the motivated attitude, the can-do," said Swonger, who graduates Thursday from Palm Harbor.

When Swonger, 18, finishes boot camp Dec. 17, he'll be fifth-generation military and the third Swonger to become a Marine.

He wanted an infantry job, hoping to see combat. But his dad, Lon Swonger, steered him to avionics.

Swonger considered college, but "the Marines can give you something that you can't find anywhere else," he said. "They instill into you core values for the rest of your life."

He often finds himself explaining why the United States should be in Iraq.

"Maybe it will be the shining star of the Middle East and inspire other countries," he said. "If we can take Iraq and get people's living standards up, get people educated, maybe their neighbors will look over and they'll progress into democracy."

Swonger feels personally challenged by the Army prison abuse scandal.

"It makes me just think that . . . as a Marine overseas you're an American and you got to be a step above every other country, you've got to set the example for the rest of the world."

Last winter, he met a Navy recruiter at school. Lofgren, 18, played guard for Jefferson High School in Tampa and figured he would be playing basketball somewhere after graduation, so he brushed off Petty Officer Danny Delgado.

They ran into each other again in April. Delgado offered Lofgren his card. Lofgren surprised him by pulling a card from their first meeting out of his wallet. They made an appointment to talk.

At the Lofgrens' Riverview home, Delgado, Lofgren and his father, Jonathan, talked about benefits, travel and job opportunities. They talked about the war, and Lofgren was relieved to hear that in the Navy he would be unlikely to see combat.

"I didn't want to get shot up," he said.

On April 14, he enlisted, choosing a job as a disbursing clerk.

Jonathan Lofgren, 39, is vice president of Operation PAR, the drug and mental health services organization. He has urged his son to take advantage of the free education the Navy offers. Alondrae said he'll get a degree. In what, he hasn't decided.

"I'm just going to go into the Navy and do what I've got to do," he said.

One thing, though. Lofgren has a full head of well-coiffed dreadlocks. His 'do was voted best in the senior class at Jefferson, but his dreads will have to go before November.

"I'll cut them myself," he said with a smile.

"I really try to set myself aside from mistakes. I try not to make them, and I try not to repeat other people's," said Hardwick, 17, who will graduate today from Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport with a 3.4 GPA.

She got a job at the local Walgreens, where she works 30 hours a week. She knew she needed a plan to get away and the opportunity to make her own choices.

In February, Hardwick enlisted after hearing from a friend about his cool Air Force job in Japan.

Now she's trying to move up the date she ships out. Yes, she said, she could go to war, but she is eager to pursue her goals. She might start out guarding a gate somewhere, but she is thinking about the FBI.

"It's kind of like working and going to school and getting paid for it," she said. "It's a good deal."

- Nora Koch can be reached at 727 771-4304 or nkoch@sptimes.com