Date: Sat 28-Feb-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

schools-Chrissie-Jeltema

Full Text:

Heading To Basic Training

Chrisie Jeltema's bumper sticker says it all: In The Guard and Proud.

The June 1997 Newtown High School graduate joined the National Guard last

September and was assigned to the 141st Medical Unit based at the armory in

New Britain. She leaves March 4 to go to the military processing station in

Springfield, Mass., then on a flight to Ft Leonardwood, Mo., where she will

begin basic training.

Military service is part of her plan to become a police officer, a career she

decided upon about two years ago.

"I was watching one of those cop shows on television and decided that's what I

want to do," she explained. "I know a lot of the Newtown cops, like (Officer

Joe) Rios from school."

The daughter of Liz and Mike Jeltema of Golden Pond Road, Chrisie, 18, started

classes at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury two weeks after she

graduated from high school. Her major is criminal justice.

"I went for the summer and the fall semester," she said, "while I did the

paperwork and processing to join the Guard. I also worked as a checker at

Grand Union (in Newtown)."

While being processed by the Guard, she took aptitude tests and was given a

list of military jobs that she might be suited for.

"Since I want to be a police officer and would frequently be at the scene of

accidents, I decided that medic work would be good because I would learn

skills like CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation)."

She is an E-2, a private second class. Last October, she participated in an

overnight drill in the woods near Camp Rowland, where she learned to drive a

military ambulance. November's drill was a two-day orientation class for basic

training. During the December drill, the recruits and their families attended

a Christmas party.

"In January and February we've been busy cleaning our vehicles and our weapons

-- M16's -- and masks," she said."But I won't be here for the inspection."

Chrisie's family moved to Newtown the summer before her freshman year at

Newtown High School. She played the flute and then the trombone in the

marching band and the jazz band, and accompanied the band to the Rose Bowl.

Chrisie's father served in the Army, but when she told her parents that she

planned to join the military, the reaction wasn't enthusiastic.

"My mom didn't like it," she admitted. "But I finally convinced her."

In the Guard, Chrisie will undergo eight weeks of basic training at Ft

Leonardwood, then ten weeks of advanced training as a medic at Ft Sam Houston

in Texas. After that, she will have a weekend of active duty each month for

six years, then two years of inactive duty during which she could still be

called to serve.

"I'm looking forward to it," she said. "So far it's been a lot of fun."