Approximately 6000 miles away from home, Private John Donatucci is currently in the Republic of Botswana with National Guard Company C, 1–114.
“I joined the guard because I wanted to go to school and it was difficult to pay,”
Besides trying to pay for college, Donatucci had another reason for enlisting.
“My grandfather inspired me to join,” Donatucci said. “He was in the Korean War.”
Donatucci joined the National Guard in May 2011 at the recruiting office in Rowan University. He went to Eastern Regional High School, but didn’t always live in Voorhees.
“I grew up there for about half my life,” Donatucci said while on the fields in Botswana.
Donatucci is a mortar-man for the infantry. He has about four years left with the National Guard, but he might prolong his stay after his service as enlisted is complete.
Donatucci is enrolled at Camden County Community College and is looking to transfer to Rowan University. He initially majored in music, but then switched it to architectural engineering.
The preparation for the National Guard infantry was difficult, but Donatucci learned a lot about himself during his training. He spent 16-weeks of non-stop infantry training, was both mentally and physically stressful for Donatucci, but he is satisfied with his training.
“[It’s] getting me ready for a war. I have a few buddies who went right to war as soon as they were done boot camp,” Donatucci said.
During his time in the Republic of Botswana, Company C, 1–114 is training with the Botswana Defense Force (BDF), collaborating training tactics and learning about another culture.
“They are not as different then you think they would be. They speak English and we can converse very well, Donatucci said. “It was fun teaching them our training exercises and learning from them and its good training to possibly
