I open my eyes. The room is dark, and the halls are quiet. I lay still for a moment, my mind searching for some escape plan from what’s to come. With no realistic way out, I roll out of bed, put on shorts and a tee, and lace up my sneakers. It’s time to run up a mountain.

I join the rest of my platoon already formed outside. As we start our daily stretches, my stomach churns with anxiety. How am I going to do this? I’ve only ever ran two miles on flat pavement. And now I’m expected to do six miles up a mountain with drill sergeants screaming?

And just like that, it’s time to go. We line up into a loose formation and begin jogging while calling cadence. Four platoons, over one hundred Soldiers, running en masse down the path to the mountain. The Arizona air is thin and the trail is moonlit. Red peaks dot the otherwise unobscured horizon, the sprawling desert punctuated by the occasional cacti.

As the overwhelming task ahead sinks in, I consider the choices that have led me to this point. A year beforehand, I enlisted in the Army National Guard to serve my country and better myself in the process. After Basic Training, the Guard sent me to Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Although grateful to be training here, laboring up a mountain before the sun rose was certainly never part of the plan.

One mile down. I feel my feet slapping the pavement. My calves are aching, and my mind is racing as I consider how much farther I have to run. Can I do this? As we hit two miles, self-doubt floods my system as I realize I’ve just run as far as I’ve ever run in my life. I feel a bit nauseous as the mountain looms ahead.

The ascent begins. I look around and I see some of my friends and fellow Soldiers struggling and falling behind. I want them to succeed as much as I want myself to, so I shout words of encouragement to make them laugh and keep them going. They immediately return the favor, and soon the strain of the run fades as we revel in our camaraderie.

We’re nearing mile four when I notice one of my friends has tears in her eyes. She appears to be on the brink of giving up. I wrap my arm around her back and help shoulder some of her weight, and she looks at me gratefully and catches up. All of us begin to bond and form a team against this common enemy – the mountain.

The end is in sight. As we crest the mountain, calves on fire, soaked in sweat, we watch in awe as the sun rises. I look around at my fellow Soldiers and consider the fact that, individually, many of us could not have achieved this. We conquered the mountain together because we served each other. The mountain was a relatively small obstacle compared to a deployment or battle, but this experience was a microcosm of the higher stake situations in which my fellow Soldiers and I will serve each other and the nation.

As I stood at the top, panting for air, legs wobbly, relishing the satisfaction of our joint accomplishment, I was reminded of why I enlisted in the military: it was to serve.

Service continues to be a theme in my life. Presently, I’m interning at Local Government Academy to learn how to serve my community at home by supporting municipal governments. I was placed here through AmeriCorps Public Allies, a program that partners enthusiastic, servant-minded individuals with non-profits that would like to further build their capacity. I’ve been able to contribute to the Academy by providing technical assistance to local government staff, supervising municipal interns, providing grant research for municipal studies, acquiring continuing education accreditation for the Academy, and much more.

Living a life in service of others has been an imperative to which I’ve always felt called. It’s the reason I strive to be civically involved and encourage others to volunteer. It’s my motivation to one day run for office. Serving others has always been my most fulfilling pursuit, and when I think back to that run up that Arizona mountain with my fellow Soldiers, I know that there’s nothing else I’d rather do with my life.

– Jo Brantle, Municipal Intern Coordinator, AmeriCorps Public Ally