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AT RANDOM: Bedias family knows what it means to serve country

By Matthew Jackson
Staff Reporter

Adeline Prince of Bedias is one of thousands of American women and men who signed up to join the U.S. Armed Forces this year.

In February 2008, she went to the local Army recruiting office in Huntsville and enlisted. Over the next several months, she underwent basic training and soon she will report to her duty station to begin life as a full-time soldier.

This journey is nothing out of the ordinary. Millions of Americans have done it, but few have done it with four brothers simultaneously going through the same thing.

On that February day, Prince didn’t enter the Army alone, with her were her brothers Fred, Andrew, Joshu and George.

Like most of what the Prince siblings had done in their lives leading up to their enlistment, they made the decision together.

“We received a command from the living Lord God,” Adeline Prince said. “Everything we’re doing is a different experience for each of us, but it hasn’t diminished our enthusiasm.”

From their childhood, the Prince siblings did everything together. Homeschooled by their parents, they were taught the value of service and hard work.

After their primary education was complete, the Prince siblings attended technical school together, all learning various skills they would later take with them as soldiers.

Their family home is a monument to their skill and hard work, now adorned extensively with improvements, all of which were a family affair.

“All the work on the place here is entirely done by the family,” Prince said.

The decision to join the Army came with an understanding that they could apply the same skills they had as a family to the country as a whole.

“After all of the time we spent doing so much together, we realized that there was a time to start applying that in a manner that would benefit our country,” Prince said.

While many new recruits today are fresh out of high school, the Prince siblings are all around the age of 30, something that helped them all maintain a better grasp on their purpose.

“We were prepared and aware of what we were getting into,” Prince said. “We came in with the understanding that we were offering ourselves to the country.”

After joining the army, all as Privates, the Prince siblings one by one began to leave for basic training. By the end of March, all five were away from home.

For each of the siblings, basic training was a unique experience, and Adeline Prince found her experience as someone who set an example for her fellow trainees.

“One of the most common problems is that new recruits weren’t expecting so much to happen so fast,” Prince said. “They would complain that they couldn’t take the sergeants yelling at us, but they didn’t quite understand the purpose. The pressure and the yelling is to help you make the transition from civilian to soldier. Everything they do, down to the way they make you hold your cup, is for a reason. They really care about you, and they’re training you to go to war.”

Each of the Prince siblings also dealt with health difficulties in basic training, a hardship they rarely endured as civilians.

“We’ve all always been very healthy,” Prince said. “The most I’ve ever dealt with was a sneeze, but at one point another in our basic training we were all hit pretty hard by pneumonia.”

Prince’s way of dealing with her illness was to press on, a sign of courage that earned her acclaim from her superiors.

“I just kept going because I didn’t know what it was,” Prince said. “I finally had to stop when I collapsed on a road march, so then I was sent to the hospital. When I came back on duty, my drill Sergeant made an example of me. I was considered extremely motivated.”

After spending her entire life as part of a large family unit, Prince understood the importance of working together in a military setting, a lesson she passed on to her fellow recruits.

“I understood that so well that I was trying to help the others with it,” she said. “It’s about putting your separate personality aside and learning to work together. No one can do this themselves, and each person is responsible for doing their part. That way when you get into combat, you’re looking out for each. Every new recruit has to remember that ‘selfless service’ is more than just words.”

The Prince siblings are now scattered across the United States in various positions within the Army. Fred Prince is stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and is slated to deploy overseas soon. Andrew Prince works in Army transportation at Fort Lewis, Wash. Joshu Prince is stationed closed to home, at Fort Hood, Texas, where he serves in the infantry. George Prince is currently stationed at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., where he is training to be a helicopter pilot.

Private Adeline Prince is the last to leave home. On Oct. 16, she will report for duty at Fort Drum, N.Y., where she will work with the military police.

Though her family is separated by distance, Prince feels they will all find rewards in their unique Army experiences, and still feels the best thing her family has to offer is a continuous desire for progress.

“My favorite part about being a soldier is my favorite part of everything I’ve done,” she said, “and that’s seeing the Lord Jesus Christ work. For us, it’s about always moving forward. It’s a curse to be idle, and we’ve never been under that curse.”