André Pryce wears a disappointing look after he failed to become a member of the JDF.
-Norman Grindley photoANDRÉ PRYCE got up 3:30 a.m. on April 5 and April 7 with the sole intent of turning his dream of becoming a soldier into a reality. He even prayed.
Pryce, 19, who hails from White Horses in St. Thomas, was one of the hundreds of young men who turned up at Up Park Camp on Camp Road for the Jamaica Defence Force's (JDF) recruitment drive, with high hopes. He left feeling dejected.
"I am disappointed, very disappointed," André said with a far away look in his eyes. The strapping young man, who is a fifth form student at Morant Bay High School, lives with his father who is a farmer, and his brother who is a year his senior.
"It is hard fi you take your parents' money and you come fail, it make you feel like a failure," he declared.
It was painfully obvious that being a soldier meant a lot to Pryce. While he was able to drink a soda, the blues prevented him from eating.
Last week Monday was the first day of the Up Park Camp leg of the JDF's drive for fresh recruits. Pryce turned up that day. However, he told The Sunday Gleaner that he stumbled over the first hurdle in the form of the dictation test.
SECOND TRIAL
He left wounded and with the mindset of not returning. But, with encouragement and motivation from his teachers and others close to him, he decided to brave the test again. He took Tuesday, the second day of the drive, to prepare to face the music on the third and final day. André said he called up a friend and even got help with his weak points in mathematics. His confidence was renewed.
Then Wednesday came. It was do-or-die this time. But the same problems that beset him the first day did the job again.
"I came on Monday and did the dictation and the dictation failed me and it failed me again this morning." Young André wished he had a third chance. But one is not forthcoming. "It is a lot of us and even if you get a low mark I believe that they could give you a second try or even have a different thing and help us... because is a lot of us and you see that nothing nah gwaan inna di country and instead a go tief and tun bad man fi mek dem come shoot we, we a try help ourself."
When asked if he would try again, André uttered an abrupt, "Mi nuh know yet."
André likes cooking and that is the area where he really wanted to get involved in, that is, if he had gained the opportunity of donning the camouflage uniform. What next? Andre said he was pondering the possibility of protection and service, with the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
"I was thinking about the police but my family members are saying I must not do it," he said with uncertainty.
Before The Sunday Gleaner departed, young Andre gathered himself and said that he will use this disappointment as a stepping stone. "I'll come back as an (army) officer. I'll use this as motivation to study harder."
T.R.
