SHREVEPORT – James Putek agreed to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), the test to determine suitability for military service, just to get out of class at Red River High School in Coushatta.
But six years later, that test guided him across the state, the country, and the world as a member of the Louisiana Army National Guard’s military police battalion.
Washington D.C., Cuba, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates is just a sampling of places in which Putek has stepped.
More than just travelling the world, Putek’s continued military service also steered him toward his future career.
Putek graduated from LSU Shreveport with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in May and is pursuing a position with the state probation and parole office.
“I wasn’t thinking about a military career in high school, but after taking the test and meeting with recruiters, I decided it’s something I wanted to do,” Putek said. “I asked one of my former NCOs (officers) what he did for a living, and I became really interested in his career as a parole officer.
“I heard about other guys in my unit who studied criminal justice, and a lot of the skills you learn help you land civilian and military jobs.”
The 2018 high school graduate went straight to basic training and served in Cuba before enrolling at LSUS in 2020.
Putek said he benefitted as a college student from the military structure and additional maturation time before setting foot in the college classroom.
“One of the first classes I took was English, something I was horrible at in high school,” Putek said. “But through basic training and the things I learned in my first deployment to Cuba, I learned to just do whatever the instructor tells you to do.
“Our English professor wanted us to write papers in certain ways, and I did that, and I got an A.”
Putek applied that strategy in all of his classes, graduating with a 3.8 GPA and a magna cum laude distinction at graduation.
But Putek’s journey wasn’t entirely smooth sailing.
As a National Guard member, Putek is regularly activated for duties ranging from natural disaster response to foreign deployment.
He patrolled the streets of Washington D.C. following the Jan. 6 riots in 2021 (then U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave him an apple) and was deployed to the Middle East later that year.
Putek missed a year of classes in his Middle East deployment, which included Kuwait, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
“It wasn’t that hard to get back into the swing of classes – it’s like I never left,” Putek said. “Hurricane season is a busy time for us – I was activated four times in 2020 for those really bad hurricanes.
“We’ll go down to South Louisiana and help out. It’s been an amazing experience because you’re exposed to a lot of different cultures.”
Putek said his one day spent in the UAE capital of Dubai was one of the “best times in his life,” including touring the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building at more than half a mile high.
Despite military obligations and a position with the LSUS events team, Putek managed to carve out time to serve as a student government senator and participate in the Military Students Organization for a time.
“My experience taught me patience honestly,” Putek said. “A lot of things can happen, but you have to remain calm and not freak out in the moment.
“You just have to remember what you have to do and say.”
His military contract runs to 2029, and he said he could see himself as a career National Guardsman alongside his corrections career as a parole officer.
“I want to help people that’ve been charged with crimes and help them to readjust and to not recidivate,” Putek said.
