Former Miss Everett Teen USA Jennifer Cabanayan turned 19 on Saturday. There was no cake.
Instead, her mother gave her a heartfelt goodbye. Cabanayan is ready to take her next boot steps in the U.S. Army.
“We got to wish her happy birthday,” said her mother, Paulene Saylor. “Cake’s got to wait. She wouldn’t have eaten it anyway.”
Last Friday, Saylor was at Fort Jackson, S.C., where Pvt. Cabanayan graduated with about 500 others after completing nine weeks of basic combat training. Boot camp rigors were an about-face from the life she enjoyed back home.
Until May, Cabanayan reigned as Miss Everett Teen USA 2004.
Her decision to join the Army was the subject of this column on Aug. 1, a story that became national news.
Before that column, Cabanayan told me why she was joining up. “I’m capable, I’m healthy. This is the right thing to do,” she said.
Saylor watched her daughter, who attended Cascade and Marysville-Pilchuck high schools, graduate in a patriotic ceremony on Fort Jackson’s Hilton Field.
“She looks so grown-up,” Saylor said Wednesday. “She walks with her back straight, with more pride and confidence than I think she can even hold in her 116 pounds.
“She absolutely thrived on it,” Saylor added. “She said, ‘Mom, everybody here is like family, even the meanest drill sergeant.’ It was tough, really tough.”
Saylor, 47, had an inkling of the physical challenges merely from the heat, still sweltering in October. “It was so hot. I was sweating to death, and she was telling me it was nice and cool,” said Saylor, of Marysville.
Cabanayan got on a bus Saturday bound for Fort Lee, Va. There, she’ll have three weeks of physical training before heading to airborne jump school at Fort Benning, Ga. She wants to be a paratrooper like her grandfather, Otis Saylor of Stanwood, who served in Vietnam.
Female soldiers can’t serve in combat, but support roles put women in combat areas, Sgt. Jayson Bayard said in July when Cabanayan signed up for service.
A grim toll dominated the news on Wednesday. Saylor can’t ignore American lives lost in Iraq, now more than 2,000.
“After watching CNN, I just lost it,” Saylor said. “I want her to serve our country, but my feelings are – let’s bring them home. Now 2,000 have died. That’s a small number compared to Vietnam, World War I or World War II. But if they’re going to protect our country, let’s protect it here. How many is enough?”
That said, Saylor supports her daughter’s dream.
Cabanayan doesn’t discuss the perils or politics of U.S. involvement in Iraq. Saylor said her daughter told her, “This is what I’m trained for. I have faith in myself and everybody else. But, Mom, I can’t do it if you’re crying all the time.”
“I don’t know what her opinion is. I not only accept that, I respect it. I’m extremely proud,” Saylor said.
She has a vivid memory of seeing her daughter for the first time since she left home – an image far different from the girl in a gown and sash. It was Oct. 20, Fort Jackson’s family day, the day before graduation.
Parents and spouses waited at the base’s Solomon Center, listening as officers described recruits’ experiences. There was a dark blue curtain in the auditorium.
“A commanding officer said, ‘Do you want to see your soldiers?’ It was so emotional. They stripped this curtain open and all the soldiers are standing there. She was 4 feet from me, standing at attention totally focused forward. They couldn’t look at us,” Saylor said. “They were so in control, so well trained. They didn’t flinch. And we’re all in tears.”
The Army didn’t sugarcoat her daughter’s future. Saylor is certain she’ll go to Iraq or Afghanistan.
“A commanding officer told us these inductees went in knowing this is wartime,” Saylor said. “She’s set to go. They all are.”
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
Army Pvt. Jennifer Cabanayan hugs her brother, Gabe, after graduating from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, S.C.
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