McLoud High School’s Coby Cardin has taken a path into military service that many high school aged students follow, but what makes Cardin different than most is that he did this while still in high school and is serving while still competing on Friday nights.

“I decided to join the Oklahoma National Guard my sophomore and swore in the late summer 2021,” said Cardin. “I completed basic training this past summer out of Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

” Now a senior at McLoud High School, Cardin said he’s excited for his senior season and is looking forward to using the benefits he will receive as a member of the National Guard.

“I am currently a senior at McLoud High School. I’ve been attending McLoud my entire life. I play football, basketball, and track. I am also involved in FCA and link crew here at our school,” Cardin said. “Since joining the National Guard I will more than likely be attending college at Oklahoma State University.”

Cardin admits the recruiting process was easy and he did look into other branches of service.

“My recruiting process was very exciting and easy. I met the recruiter at a local festival and found out what the Oklahoma National Guard was and the positives of becoming a part of something very special here,” Cardin said. “I did look into joining the Air Force at first, but the National Guard was exactly what I was looking for to help me in life.”

Cardin will serve with the Alpha 1-19 unit out of Muskogee, Oklahoma and will work as a 12N or Horizontal Construction Engineer.

Cardin offers this advice to anyone looking to join the National Guard.

“Some advice I’d give to people would be to look into any sort of military service because, there’s more to it than just what everyone thinks and when you really get into the depth of it, there’s way more positives than negatives.”