THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, June 19, 2020 Page 17 ASKS | from page 16 school kids if they are looking for a way to go to college; I focus on that, because that’s what helped me. That’s what brought me in and that’s why I try to give them the message about education, although, not everybody is looking for education. Some people are looking for trades. Q: So, people who are looking for education who join the Guard, that allows them to use the GI Bill. A: Yes. GI Bill provides free college. They go to school full time and they get money to go to school full time, so it’s a pretty good deal. Q: Especially with the rising cost of education. A: Absolutely. Q: And, what are the other parts of the approach? A: You use “adventure.” That’s always a big one. Some kids just want that adventure part of it. They want to get out. That’s one of the things that brought me in. I could have gotten any trade, but I wanted to be an infantryman, which is kicking in doors and going after terrorists or something like that, so you can get the adventure and you can get the education benefits. You can get trade. You can get it all. Q: So, you spent a couple of years in Afghanistan? A: I did. Q: What were the highlights of your tour there? A: We were in the process of building schools and rebuilding the country. Of course, AlQaeda … they didn’t want us to help out the people there because they were trying to tell the people that we were the bad guys in there, so we were pretty much protecting the engineers and the construction personnel. We set up security and made sure they could build whatever they were building there. It was pretty much providing security to them – do route clearings and stuff like that. Q: Did you have any heavyduty involvement, like close encounters? A: Yes. When we first got there, we got put in a pretty hot area, where we were taking fire every day. Everything we were building, it was getting destroyed by Al-Qaeda. Q: Did you get any medals over there? A: Yes. I got a few medals. Q: So, you were in the line of fire? A: Right. Q: You didn’t get wounded? A: Some of my partners did. Q: And you had to worry about IEDs [Improvised Explosive Device, more commonly known as roadside bombs]? A: Yes, we would see IEDs RECRUITER AT WORK: Since the outbreak of COVID-19, National Guard Staff Sgt. Wesley Peres Santos has been working out of his home office on Beacham Avenue. on a regular basis. I saw an IED hit a truck right in front of me with all of my friends inside. It was dangerous and very close. Q: Did any of your friends die? A: One person died and two of them came home, and they passed away when they came home. Q: Were they from this area? A: They were from Mass., but not from this area. One of them was from Worcester; another one, I think, was from Western Mass. Q: How many years total in the Guard? A: Twelve years total in the military: six years recruiting, one and a half years in Afghanistan and the remaining in the reserves and going to college. Q: So, I find it really interesting that the COVID-19 has not really put a dent in efforts by the National Guard to recruit. A: Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. I guess people were not only bored at home, but they’ve seen what we’re doing, and they want to be involved. Q: So, first involved with dealing with the COVID, going into nursing homes and what not, in order to evacuate. And now, the social unrest because of the killings of black people in police custody. Crowd control and keeping the peace. A: Right. Absolutely. We’ve had a big presence in the media. The fact that we’ve been all over the media, it’s drawn public attention to what we do. That’s good. Q: So, tell me something interesting since things got shut down in March. A: Some of it has to do with the processing of people. Now, we’re getting up at five in the morning and we bring them to a hotel in Newton. That’s where they get medically screened for fevers. They ask them [the recruits] if they’ve been quarantined for 14 days at least and if they have been in contact with anybody sick. All that has to be done that morning before they even go to Boston, where we do all the medical RIGHT BY YOU screening and stuff. Nobody is allowed to go in that building unless they get the screening done, so the job got harder, kind of like wearing masks to the grocery store and standing in line for two hours, so our job got harder, too, as far as that goes. Q: So, as far as the recruitment aspect and getting into the Guard, it’s a bigger challenge because of COVID-19? A: Right. Oh, yeah. It’s not easy. Q: What was it like before? A: Before COVID, we would just bring them to the building [in Boston], and they would do the medical screening there. Everything was done in one location. Now we have to bring them to two different locations before they can even get into the Federal Building, because of the COVID. I guess they are scared of having anyone contaminate [the Federal Building]. That’s where we process everybody. Q: So, what communities does your office cover? A: Lynn, Malden, Saugus, Stoneham, Melrose and Lynnfield. Q: Now, are you going to make a career of the Guard? A: I am. Yes. Twenty years – that’s all I need, so I got eight more to go, so I am just going to stay in and finish up my 20 years. Q: Originally, you just got involved for the education aspect. But you wound up making it a career. A: Yes. I really didn’t know what the Guard involved. The way they put it out to me – “free college” – so I said, “All right, sign me up.” Q: That was when they had a recruiter come to Saugus High? A: Right. A recruiter came to my high school. He told me all about the benefits, and it sounded really good to me, so I said, “Yeah. Let’s go for it.” And it wound up working out. Q: So, eight more years, and what’s after that? A: Eight more years, and then I will probably try to use my degree to work somewhere. I haven’t really thought that far ahead yet, but I will probably do something to use my degree that I got, which I really haven’t used at all yet. Q: So, do you like nature? Looks like you got it here. A: Yeah. I work in the city, so when I’m not working, I like to be in a place where there are not a lot of people, so I live in Saugus. Q: Yeah. it’s beautiful and quiet out here where you live, looking out toward Revere and the marsh. Thank you to all the first responders, healthcare workers, and all other essential workers who are working hard to keep our community safe and healthy. 419 Broadway, Everett, MA 02149 • 617-387-1110 771 Salem St, Lynnfield, MA 01940 • 781-776-4444 www.everettbank.com Member FDIC Member DIF
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