The good soldier, or nearly so

I am not a big fan of the military lifestyle.

Before you pick up that pen and start questioning my patriotism, let me explain.

My family lived 17 years under a military dictatorship of the worst kind. The kind where soldiers become torturers and warships become prisons. Thousands of people died or simply disappeared, never to be seen again.

Ever since then, I have held a healthy wariness of everything vaguely smelling of boot and uniform. This, in a family where four of my uncles are retired policemen, and where my two best friends are sons of Vietnam veterans.

Still, I admire their willingness to give up their lives for a cause, as I admire the unassailable correctness with which some of the folks in uniform lead their lives. Before these people, I have no choice but to put my prejudices aside and tip my hat to them.

Some of them are not even in uniform, yet. Such is the case of Ty Payne.

Ty is an 18-year-old student at Moses Lake High School who has earned appointments to the Naval Academy and Air Force Academy.

Personally, he's leaning more towards the Air Force or West Point. With a brother in the Army and with a Vietnam veteran dad, military lineage just flows through his veins.

The kid (I'm eight years his senior, so I can call him that. In 20 years I might be calling him Sir) is truly admirable, especially on how "together" he is. Rarely anything seems to rattle him, and his answers are not the typical ones of a teenager, where every other word is "Um…"

Ask him if he is scared of moving cross-country to enroll into a military academy and he tells you with a smile that it will be kind of hard, but that he would be going to college some place anyway — GPA — so why not go somewhere he likes?

Try to put him in a corner and his answers are just as steady-handed. Ask him about Abu Ghraib and the soldiers accused of torture and he does not miss a beat. "It should not have been done. There are rules that need to be followed and they should have been followed. It was very wrong to be torturing people."

Any questions?

Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Doc Hastings saw the strength in the soul of this young man and wrote on his behalf glowing letters of appointment. Once he chooses where he wants to go, he will pursue a career in aviation.

He's a personable fellow, too. I was expecting a smart-alecky, king-of-the-world soon-to-be-frat-boy sort of dude, so I was pleasantly surprised with Ty. He opened up enough to tell me he is a bit concerned about the harassment laid upon first-year students at these academies, about how much he admires Nathan Stanley and Ron Seibel, two of his wrestling coaches, and to say that he does not expect God to make decisions for him.

Looking forward to the state wrestling tournament, he is also anticipating his upcoming years in uniform. "There are lot of things you can learn," he says. "Hard work, perseverance. All the academies are honor-oriented, with a strong sense of honor and honesty. A man without honor cheats himself as much as anybody else."

Any questions?

Even for a cynic like me, I was impressed. When the interview was over, instead of giving me the classic response for many an 18-year-old, "Well, I'll see ya!" Ty shook my hand and wished me a nice day.

He may not be in uniform yet, and I may not be a convert yet. But I feel much better that in a world where there is room for Augusto Pinochets, there is also room for the Ty Paynes, the good guys. May he not be the last one.

Sebastian Moraga is the city reporter for the Columbia Basin Herald.