A clear vision: Ontario's Kylie Snow bypasses senior summer for Army Basic Training

ONTARIO — The summer before your senior year is supposed to be filled with barbeques with friends, hanging out by the pool, working a few hours a week to put some cash in your pocket and playing travel softball.

That isn't even close to Kylie Snow's plan at all.

Snow has spent basically her entire life traveling around the state and spending her summers at the ballpark. From watching her older sister Mackenzie to playing on several travel teams every summer, all Snow knew was softball.

But this summer will be different. Instead of posting up behind the dish, gunning out base-runners and slapping doubles to the gap, Snow Kylie will be busy learning the Warrior Ethos and the Soldier’s Creed, focusing on self-discipline, teamwork, combat skills, night training, hand-to-hand combat, weapons training, basic rifle marksmanship and physical fitness during Army Basic Training in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Instead of framing pitches, she will be navigating obstacle courses and grappling from 50-foot structures known as the Warrior Tower — how fitting for the Ontario Warrior.

She will be introduced to Warrior tasks and battle drills like first aid, navigational and weaponry skills. Snow will spend about 10 weeks this summer and, by the end of her training, she will have built advanced marksmanship and maneuvering techniques, engaged targets as part of a team, completed convoy operations, identified and disabled improvised explosive devices, trained on advanced weapons, such as machine guns and learned how to throw live grenades.

She may already have a one-up on that last one with her softball throwing skills as the starting catcher for the last two years at Ontario.

After her 10-week program completing the Red, White and Blue phases of basic training and graduation ceremony, Snow will return to Ontario to finish out her senior year of high school.

It is called, "the split." The Split Training Option allows 17-year-old high school juniors to enlist in the Army Reserves and Army National Guard so long as they have permission from a parent or guardian. Then, as a senior, Snow will train with a local unit one weekend per month until she graduates high school, all while getting paid.

Kylie's softball coach and father, Sean, along with his wife, of course, granted permission even though Pops was reluctant to spend a summer away from the ballfield with his baby girl.

"I get goosebumps," Sean Snow said when talking about the commitment his daughter made by joining the Army National Guard. "She definitely has dad proud, that is for sure. I am going to miss her. It will be a hard summer. We have spent every summer at a ballfield for 13 straight years between her and my oldest daughter, and this will be the first summer where my wife and I will be empty-nesting it. It will be different, but I know it will go fast."

Kylie is a .333 hitter with 20 hits and nine RBIs, all while catching all but seven innings for the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference champion Warriors. It was the first league championship in 22 years for Ontario, and Kylie had a hand in all of it.

But this summer won't be spent at a ballfield and, while it is sad, she is OK with it.

"I have been on a ballfield my whole life," Kylie Snow said. "I am sad I won't be on one this summer. It will pretty much be the first year I am not on one since I was a young kid, but I have always been patriotic and my grandpa was in the Navy so that is where it all got started.

"I knew I wanted to go to college as well so this will help with that, and there are just so many benefits to going this route. I love softball, but I have to start thinking about my future as well."

The Army National Guard will pay $4,500 annually in tuition assistance and the GI Bill pays full-time students $384 per month directly, with the Montgomery GI Bill kicker offering an additional $100, $200 or $350 monthly, depending on how the recruit scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test.

That will definitely come in handy come college.

Most of her discussions about her future have come during conversations with her grandfather, who was a Navy Seabee back in his younger years. She wanted to be just like granddad.

"Kylie has always wanted to be a veteran of the military," Sean Snow said. "Her best buddy is her grandpa, who was a Navy Seabee years ago. We were kind of looking into things and we talked with the Air Force, the Army Guard, Air Force Reserve, all of them. A lot of them used to do it and the Army Guard is the only one that still does."

So, she jumped at the opportunity to get her basic training done this summer before heading off to Heidelberg to play softball and stay active and ready in the Army National Guard. The decision between staying home with her friends and playing travel softball versus heading to Missouri was a piece of cake to make.

"It is very sad, but it was an easy decision," Kylie Snow said. "I knew I wanted to do it, but it's sad to leave everyone and it will be my first time flying by myself, so that is scary. I think it will all be worth it in the end and I will come out a better person because of it. Hopefully, I can come back and hit some home runs next year after getting stronger in basic training."

So, there is a bit of a softball motivation behind the decision. The coaches at Heidelberg, and even her dad — who hopes to pilot his daughter and her teammates to a deep run in this year's postseason and a repeat MOAC championship in 2023 — won't mind seeing Kylie return from basic training with some power behind her swing.

"She will get her basic training done this summer and then do her one weekend a month next year and go to AIT (advanced individual training), but it all started when she decided to pursue her dream of playing softball at the next level," Sean Snow said. "This way, she will be back from AIT and be able to go to Heidelberg in time to play college softball."

Kylie's job in the Army National Guard will be a MOS 88M (Army Motor Transport Operator), commonly known as 88 Mike. She will be driving a truck and will be responsible for loading and unloading cargo, and transporting supplies and equipment by truck. She will also maintain vehicle maintenance logs, perform routine checks of military vehicles such as oil level, tire pressure and engine performance.

It will help her develop responsibility and give her opportunities not provided to many after she graduates from college, where she plans to leave with a teaching degree and spend her summers in the Army National Guard traveling the world.

"My job is 88 Mike," Snow said. "So, I will be a truck driver and that will be pretty fun. I can get my CDL right when I finish up and won't have to test for anything, but I want to be a teacher as well, so it will give me an opportunity to travel in the summers and see the world and meet new people through the Army."

She isn't sure yet if it will be a long-term plan or a six-year stint. She has to see how basic training goes first.

"It can be if I want it to be," Snow said. "I will likely serve a couple of contracts and see how that goes. I want to see how the first one goes because six years is a long time."

What she is doing is setting an incredible example for the younger generation below her. By sacrificing the summer before her senior year and joining something much bigger than herself, she is inspiring others to be selfless.

Her father knows that first hand. He even scheduled a going-away party for her from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. May 29 at the VFW in Ontario just to show her how proud he is.

"I hope she is (an inspiration)," Sean Snow said. "Hopefully, there are a lot of kids who are thinking about a future in the military and maybe they can see Kylie's route and do something similar. I hope she is setting a good example."

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

Twitter: @JakeFurr11

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ontario's Kylie Snow bypasses senior summer for Army Basic Training