Rather than heading to Madison, or Saint Norbert’s, senior Tyler Bergner has decided to take a different route.

“During my sophomore and junior year, I had that thought in my head, and focused on going to college,” explained Bergner. “Looking at my future, not really knowing what to do as a career was a lot of pressure. The end of junior year was when I was inspired to join the military.”

Bergner has a long lineage of family members in the military. His great grandpa, two grandpas and uncle were in the Army, and his aunt is a major in the Air Force. His aunt was the one that led him to the military path.

“She kept bugging me when she comes home to visit or Facetiming me to look into joining the Air Force,” Bergner teased.

Another trait that drew him to the military was the benefits. Bergner has the opportunity to travel, doesn’t need to worry about financial debt and is a part of the family that gets to protect the country.

After deciding on joining, Bergner reached out to a local recruiter. He contacted the local office.

“Theres a series of tests.  When you get into contact with the recruiter, they will set a time up with you to take a Pre-ASVAB,” Bergner explained. “They will then set up a time to take the ASVAB, which consists of science, math, arithmetic, word knowledge, paragraph comprehension, electronics, assembling objects and mechanical comprehension. If passed, they will send you to MEPS which is Medical Examination Process that is provided through the military.”

After taking the tests, Bergner decided he’d like to pursue his military career in Human Resources.

“This is what my test scores matched with. After the ASVAB, I got a list of jobs that I had to list from 1-7. The jobs that I was qualified for weren’t exactly my ‘dream job,’ but this is for when I get done with basic training. After basic training, I will be attending Air Force tech school located all around the United States based for the job I picked.”

Bergner’s parents have been extremely supportive.

“Both my parents and family support me 100%. They were the ones who bugged me to join as well,” he joked.

With his family backing him, he plans on traveling across the country with the military.

“The thing they (the military) work on is trying to get you away from family and focus on yourself. After graduation, I will be going to San Antonio, Texas, for basic training, and then ether stay in Texas or be moved to Massachusetts for tech school. The closest Air force base to Wisconsin is Dayton, Ohio. That’s the closest I will be to my family.”

Aside from Bergner, other NDA seniors that are looking towards the military are Andrew Gruesen, Ben Lelinski and Ian Spaulding. Gruesen was accepted into the Air Force Academy and will be attending next fall. Ben Lelinski has been training for years and will join the Marines. And Ian Spaulding plans on joining the Coast Guard.

Beyond nerves or thinking beyond this, Bergner has a good feeling about his future.

“This entails happiness, knowing what I’m going to be doing for the next 6 years of my life. This is something I’m really looking forward to after graduation. Experiencing and traveling the world as well as meeting new people means a lot to me,” he said.

“I feel beyond proud of myself after swearing in let so much stress off my shoulders and not worrying about if I got accepted into college or the perfect grade.

“I’m going to give you a quote: ‘Don’t get caught up in the middle of it, don’t get stressed out over it, be strong in it, for you have the freedom to choose the decisions you make; no one else.’”