SUAMICO, Wis. (WFRV) – Twenty-one-year-old Vaughn Campbell was living his dream of playing college football at Upper Iowa University on a full-ride scholarship.
After one practice, Vaughn suffered his fifth concussion and decided to walk away from the game of football. His school was having a job fair, and when looking and meeting people, he found the National Guard and took an interest.
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“Probably time to be done after that one, and when I was looking around, they actually had a job fair at Upper Iowa, and the Iowa National Guard was there, and I kind of talked to them for a little bit, and they were telling me about all of these benefits that you can get from joining the National Guard. I was like, no way this is real, how come nobody else does this?” Campbell said.
In January 2024, Vaughn was off to boot camp with his new brothers who would be with him out on the battlefield, going through the hardships that come with training for the National Guard.
Campbell was also recognized academically, receiving a high-class scholarship that is currently helping him attend school at UW-Green Bay.
“With my scholarship, or you can go active duty through ROTC, but I chose to stay in the Guard, so with that scholarship, I get an extra $6,800 each semester, and I highly recommend it to people. It is a highly competitive scholarship; you need to have a 3.8 GPA or higher.”
Having a rich family history of service members made Vaughn’s decision an easier one after hearing his family’s stories.
“My grandpa Jim was in the Air Force, my great-grandpa Gordy served in the Korean War. I mean, hearing about their stories, the friendships they made, I mean, I wouldn’t want to do anything else. Hearing their stories, it’s a great time, it sounds like to me, it’s something that I wanted to do.”
Campbell also coaches wrestling at Bay Port High School, where he graduated, and he hopes to make a difference both in coaching and in the community.
“Leading through action is more important than verbal. I wanna be known as a guy that led through action, and not just verbally. A lot of people say they can do something, I wanna be the guy that did it.”
Local 5 wishes Vaughn the best of luck moving forward in his career. If you are interested in learning more about the National Guard and what they offer, you can click the link here to learn more.
