Before donning the cap and gown for his graduation last month, Chad Evans had already mapped out his future.

The recent Bell County High School graduate, and trophy-winning cross-country runner, has enlisted in the Marine Corps and has already begun basic training.

An intense interest in the military was piqued in the seventh grade, when Evans saw a commercial for the Marines and formed an immediate attraction to the uniform.

He soon began researching more serious aspects of the corps and formed a deeper fascination with the military giant.

“I heard about a man named Jason Dunham, a corporal, and in 2004, he jumped on a grenade and saved two other marines. I just thought that was pretty cool,” said Evans. “They don’t really teach the other branches to do that kind of stuff, that’s why I picked the Marine Corps.”

Apart from the cool aspect of life-saving, Evans admires the discipline, calling the corps the “most disciplined of the military,” and says that he admires its dedication to “honor, courage, and commitment.”

Chad’s brother, Jonathan Sexton, joined the Marines in 2007 and his transformation has inspired Chad.

“Seeing him back home, how he’s changed, is pretty awesome,” declared Chad.

Jonathan has also given his brother a first-hand account of life in the Marine Corps. Combined with research done on his own, and information from his recruiter, the information from a current Marine has given Chad a comprehensive idea of his future life, and he isn’t kidding himself about the realities.

From boot camp to combat, he knows what may lie ahead, including danger, isolation and exhaustion.

“The thing I dread most is ‘the crucible,’” says Evans. “Boot camp is 13 weeks long. At week twelve, you take the test, ‘the crucible.’ It’s 56 hours long, you get three hours of sleep and two MREs, meals ready to eat, or rations. You have to use everything you learned in boot camp or you won’t pass.”

The test also includes episodes like the “boot camp death march,” a long hike in which the participant must carry their nearly 80-pound pack of supplies on his back.

The gas chamber, another part of the exam, is just what it sounds like — a chamber filled with gas in which a cadet spends a significant amount of time, suited, of course, in a gas mask and suit. It seems reasonable to Chad.

“That way, if you get gassed, you’ll know what to do,” he explains.

In fact, the young man seems very accepting of the intense stress that awaits him.

Of the famous practice of having orders screamed in one’s face by superiors, he says: “All that is mainly for preparing you for combat, because you’re not going to be able to focus when lives are on the line if you can’t get through someone yelling at you when you’re doing push-ups.”

As a marine, he also faces deployment to Afghanistan, and while others may opt for a job in the states and enrolling in college courses, Evans has no intention of evading the journey.

“It wouldn’t bother me,” he says. “Most marines go overseas at some point.”

For many the prospect of facing armed combat comes with many qualms, including the possibility of taking another’s life — a possibility for which Evans says he is prepared.

“If it were civilians, I wouldn’t do it because I’m not vicious or anything. But its for a good reason and if I didn’t kill them, they’d kill me,” he states.

Chad says that his recruiter has been twice to Afghanistan and has explained to him the differences between enemies and civilians, namely that civilians don’t shoot at soldiers.

The danger he faces himself is also a concern, but he believes that the “marines are the best, so I’ll be well-trained.”

He understands, too, the controversy surrounding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, even admitting that he disagrees with the invasion of Iraq. The mission in Afghanistan, however, is a different cause, one that he supports.

Regarding the mission in Afghanistan, he thinks leaders should be working to an end of U.S. occupation there — without giving specifics on a public level.

“I think the first thing we should do is stop telling people how long we’re going to be there,” he explains. “I don’t think we should pull out completely… If we weren’t there right now, it would go back to the hell it was before.”

And the Marines, he notes, are mostly training Afghan forces to take over much of the work of U.S. occupying forces.

Still, while he can’t escape the conflicting opinions, most of his experience with the public regarding his new career has been encouraging.

“The controversy bothers me a lot. But I’ve had about ten people come up to me and thank me for what I was doing,” says Chad. “All those thank-yous will get me through boot camp.”

While outfitted in his Marine Corps shirt or dog tags, he quickly becomes the subject of public attention.

A cook at a Waffle House recently hugged him and asked for his picture when he was on his way home from the beach. The words from veterans, though, seem to mean the most to him.

“A guy heard us talking and asked me why I joined the Marines. ‘They’re the best,’ I said. He said ‘Yeah, I’ve never seen anybody fight like them.’ He was in the Army,” Chad recalls.

While he is careful to respect other military branches, the Marines were always his first choice. And though his parents, Carson Evans and Margie Sexton, were not exactly thrilled with his decision at first, refusing to let him join at age 17, he is convinced that they will be proud of the man he is working to become.

During his career in the Marines, he plans on staying at least the 20 years until he can retire — he wants to become a drill instructor and work as a RECON Marine.

The Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance primarily works in obtaining military intelligence, and Evans hopes that he can qualify for a place on the elite team.

Chad Edward Evans will begin boot camp September 7th and should graduate in December. After that, he is prepared to go wherever the United States Marine Corps takes him.

Lorie Settles is a Correspondent for the Middlesboro Daily News. She can be contacted by e-mail at mdncorrespondent@heartlandpublications.com.