“I, Mason Armbruster, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

Mason Armbruster, former Tahoma High School Student is now a United States Navy Sailor, Military Police, and ranks at E-2 level. When in High School, the Navy was never a plan for Armbruster’s  future, even when he graduated in 2017. Armbruster struggled at the start of high school. Having no plans, he was ready to be done and for four long years to pass quickly. Armbruster started to realise being an adult and out of high school wasn’t as amusing as he wished it was, 18 and grappling to make his own doctor appointments and doing “adult” things. Wayne Armbruster, his father, informed him about the Navy, the Military and the benefits of going in as soon as he could.

As a former Navy Sailor, his father was stoked. He set up a meeting with a recruiter who offered him an outstanding opportunity, he would be paid more for signing up and swearing in as soon as possible and for being almost as young as you can be to be in the Navy. Armbruster took all his tests to go in and got one of the highest scores in his group. He got prepared to be shipped off to Chicago for boot camp in March of 2018.

Fast forwarding to December 2018, Armbruster has been through a lot and has grown into the adult his father and mother knew he’d be. Armbruster is more thankful than ever for his family and where his roots as a person have skyrocketed. Now stationed in Guam for the next 3 and a half years, family, friends and being strong through it all are what he is most grateful for. Some days he hates doing what he does, “I am ready to be out” he says, but other days he is grateful. “I miss my family, I am ready for them to visit me in March (2019) I miss the seasons and the weather in Washington, but in some way or another I was and am meant to be here.” Armbruster opens up. Wishing at Tahoma he took more opportunities to learn more about the Navy, he wouldn’t change his fate in anyway.