Twin Boys Senior Portraits Cole & Chase

This week’s installment of JDP senior portraits features Cole and Chase, twin brothers headed to serve our country in the United States Army in just a few weeks!

Cole and Chase have taken this desire to serve and defend our great country very seriously. This military tradition started with their grandparents, continued with their mother instilling a respect and appreciation for military life and now is their own.

Cole started in Navy Sea Cadets in 6th grade and continued till 11th grade. As a Navy Sea cadet, he received his EMR certification (emergency medical responder) and was introduced the military training and life. This was preparation as he’s working towards his EMT certification. Then his freshman year of high school he also started his JROTC Army training. He also completed the Army Cadet Command Junior ROTC Raider Challenge and Drill and Ceremony National Competition!

Cole has been working with recruiters for several years while he was debating between Army and Navy. He was even gifted Blake Shelton concert tickets because of his commitment to training. This summer, he and Chase will complete their basic training. Next, Cole will continue on to combat medic school and Airborne school. Here’s where he’ll get more extensive training in patching up bullet holes, cleaning wounds, hydrating and all the essentials to keeping soldiers healthy.

Cole’s ultimate desire is to be a combat medic and he is eyes on the prize focused to make this happen! After medic school, he hopes to go to RASP to become an Army Ranger. He will be assigned to an airborne unit he’s hoping to deploy with. Cole’s time in Sea Cadets and Army ROTC has involved combat medical training, running simulated operations, intense physical training, obstacle courses, eating MRE’s and sleeping in fox holes! Cole’s in for it all!

Chase has a love for figuring out how things work, tearing them apart and rebuilding them. He’s in the machinist program at career tech. He’s a young man who needs to be active with his hands and that’s where he thrives. Chase plans to continue his training as an Aircraft Structural Repairer for the Army.

The twins share an incredible work ethic that’s applied to all they do in life. Chase works at helping to take care of a property complex around a daycare center. He has also worked to help 4-H with helping to maintain their farm. The historic truck seen in his portrait gallery was brought back to life with his own two hands after he purchased it from a dear family friend.

When it was time to move Chase’s truck for portrait placement, it wouldn’t start. I began to think of back up plans for how we would pivot. Every session has unexpected things happen and we always adjust. But, it was Chase to the rescue! He was on top of diagnosing and solving the problem in just a few minutes! No cause for concern or pivoting!

Chase and Cole are both serious athletes. They are intensely devoted rugby players and have wrestled for years as well. They attend separate high schools and to their great surprise, one day they were matched up against each other in regionals! Chase’s coach knew about this going in and swore Chase to secrecy! It was the shock of Cole’s life walking through the tunnel and looking up to see his opponent was his twin brother! Their mother noticed how kind they were to one another in the match, melting her heart! They’d wrestle each other again in counties as well!

The twins have made incredible memories wrestling and playing rugby together over the years. They won states twice and have traveled to numerous east coast tournaments. Chase recounted with a big grin the year the team jumped into the pond after they beat the Roosters, a star team with internationally recruited players! Chase told his team, “if we win, I’m jumping in!” He did just that, then his team followed in after!

As younger boys, Cole and Chase started in lacrosse, and Cole got into Fencing before both progressed into rugby. Both boys are fanatics about the game and in love with the culture that surrounds the sport. Respect is a key component that’s instilled in the boys. The socials after games created a real sense of family for them. It’s said of rugby that it’s a “hooligans’ sport played by gentlemen.” Well, these boys certainly are gentlemen!

It was their mom’s friend, who was a girls’ rugby coach, who recruited the boys away from their previous sports and into rugby. When Chase thinks back on his years on the field, what stands out most to him is that he has played almost every minute, of every game he’s been in for the West Carroll Marauders Club! When they won the 7s national tournament (a college national tournament that brought high school teams in), Chase was team captain. Cole’s greatest memory relates to a magical undefeated 14-0 season!

Cole is just as infatuated with rugby and has sustained some pretty significant injuries as a result of his physicality on the field. He broke his collarbone 2 years ago and, much to his dismay, had to leave in the midst of a tied game to go to the hospital. He continued playing after the break and just about killed himself in the process! The young man who broke Cole’s collarbone departed from the gentlemanly behavior that characterizes the sport by bragging about it. So it felt awesome to beat that team when Cole returned to play after his collarbone break!

Unfortunately, Cole suffered a concussion more recently that’s required some PT to come back from. Rather than pack it all in, he’s shifted his focus to coaching rugby!

I’m grinning ear to ear as I share with our blog followers the lives of these two young men. There’s so much doom and gloom about the current state of youth and our nation, yet if you have a chance to do life with these two young men, you’ll think differently. Yes, they are stand out young men! Yes, they carry themselves with a sense of duty and respect that’s rare. What a delight to partner with them as we created these senior portraits! At every possible opportunity, they jumped in to be helpful as we changed sets. They were quick with encouragement and laugher for one another through every step of this process! Their enthusiasm to create this treasure chest for their sweet mama was just priceless!

Chase and Cole’s mom is convinced I created their newborn portraits 17 years ago! Unfortunately, since it was before I was officially an LLC’d business, I don’t have a record of it. But I am just sooo honored for this full circle moment! Anyone who does life with these young men is going to be very fortunate! They are an absolute delight!

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Twin Boys Senior Portraits Cole & Chase

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