Jake Meadows, veteran and sophomore in international business, isn't your average student.
While many students graduate high school and go to college, Meadows graduated high school and went to the military.
Meadows, named after his grandfather who fought in World War II, said he received his grandfather's flag at the funeral procession and saw that as his calling to serve his country.
"My country has given plenty to me, so I feel like I need to give plenty back," Meadows said. "The world is a dangerous place with dangerous people and I feel like it's my duty to do as much as I can to stop them."
Beginning with basic training in Fort Benning, GA, Meadows embarked on a five-month journey, which consisted of many different phases.
Meadows was taught how to shoot, march, move tactically, defend himself and properly act like a soldier, things which he said eventually took a toll on everyone in training.
"Basic was no joke," Meadows said. "It's physically and mentally challenging all day. You're getting yelled at while having to perform a task, which is very difficult. By the end, everyone has been broken and has become a better person."
Following five months of basic training, Meadows boarded numerous flights, which eventually landed him and his infantry in Afghanistan.
Stationed in Leatherneck, Afghanistan, a base in southern Afghanistan, Meadows said it was like landing on a different planet.
"It was a long and uncomfortable flight," Meadows said. "We were in the middle of the desert so we were breathing dust. It was almost like going to mars. The thought of being in a combat zone sets in and you get scared and excited at the same time."
Once Meadows arrived in Leatherneck, he immediately was put to work.
Meodow's infantry started out as a light infantry unit, meaning they did things on foot, but eventually transitioned into a mounted unit which, he said allowed them to carry out their missions on convoys.
"Our job was to protect the military contractors and high ranking military officials whenever they went off base," Meadows said. "We lived on base and whenever someone wanted to go somewhere or do something off base they would come to us. We would then plane the mission and suit up and execute."
Meadows said driving the convoys, or mine resistant vehicles, which protect soldiers from IEDS, were one of his favorite memories from executing missions.
"We would usually switch out, but during these convoys, I would drive the MRAP," Meadows said. "It was fun driving a huge almost 10-foot-tall vehicle at 70 miles per hour."
On other missions, Meadows and his infantry would travel to nearby Afghani military bases to provide security to any contactors located there.
On these missions, each contactor would have two soldiers assigned to them just in case of insider attacks Meadows said.
"These are Afghanis who are in the Afghani military or police who for some reason decide to turn on the Americans who are their allies with deadly intentions," Meadows said. "They usually open up on the Americans and their fellow Afghanis with gunfire. Anything bad could happen at any second."
When Meadows was not protecting high ranking officials or carrying out other missions, he said he had little to nothing to occupy his time.
"I usually worked out twice a day to stay in good shape," Meadows said. "When I wasn't doing that or eating I would watch something on my laptop. That's really all we had to do."
After spending nearly nine months overseas in a heated combat zone, Meadows found it was time to come home, something he had been waiting to do for months, but said the feeling wasn't as great as he expected once he arrived.
"It just felt odd and I didn't know what to really think," Meadows said about returning to America. "It took a long time for it to actually hit me that I was back home in America. Sometimes I wish I could be back over there because I was so used to my routine and I was comfortable over there. It was a strange yet safe feeling."
It is quite evident to Meadows peers that the army helped form an outstanding young man. Meadows, who joined SAE this past August, has already made a large impact on the fraternity said Andrew Citrin, president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and junior in biomedical sciences.
"Meadows has been an exemplary member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon," Citrin said. "We couldn't be prouder to have an individual of his caliber in our organization. Jake has proven himself to be a true gentleman through his leadership, strong work ethic and a desire to make our fraternity a better place."
After returning home and being accepted into Auburn, Meadows found that the University is doing its best to take care of their veteran students.
"The University treats me great," Meadows said. "They send me helpful emails almost every day trying to get feedback on things they can improve on when it comes to veterans. They try to help you with anything like finding a job or just managing school."
In Meadows opinion, the school could not be doing a better job in returning service to its veterans.
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