Please describe who or what influenced your decision to join the Army?

Knowing that more options and experiences were out there than what I could get where I grew up and what my parents could offer. My father was in the Army Reserves in 1968-1971; he wasn't formally drafted, but decided to enlist anyway. Both of my uncles were in the Army during that time as well, with one of my uncles doing a tour in Vietnam and the other in Desert Storm-1991. More or less, the "influence" came by what is attainable through the military with training, experiences, and opportunities.

So, I decided to make the best out all three and spoke to first recruiter that contacted me. When the Army recruiter came to my house and I was ready to make a commitment, I was only 17 years old and my parents had to "co-sign" me into the Army to make it formal and legit. I am sure it was hard to sign such a document giving permission to have their child join the military, but they knew that it would be the best for me and my future, they did sign the papers and my journey began.

Whether you were in the service for several years or as a career, please describe the direction or path you took. What was your reason for leaving?

The real aspect of the influence for a service career path started innocent as a talk between my father and I while I was out of school for the day because of a bad winter storm that closed the roads and schools. I was a Junior in high school at the time and didn't even begin to think, let alone discuss future endeavors after high school that was a short 15 months away in May 1998. The discussion focused on what I was wanting to do after high school and as most teenagers are accustomed to respond and reply with was the always easy, "I don't know". My father just put it out there and said, "Ever think of the military?"

I never even thought about it at all and my father began to tell me about his experience that caught my attention, which led into some questions to my father about his time in the Army. One of the stories was about how the Military Police (MP's) arrested this guy for assaulting a superior. My father talked more about how "spit and polished" the MP's looked, how their boots always shined like glass, their uniforms pressed and sharp, looking flawless and professional. Well, since I only knew of the MP's as a symbol of perfection and protection to the laws and regulations, I felt that is something I wanted to be when the recruiter asked what job I wanted to enlist for at a sit down discussion.

If you participated in any military operations, including combat, humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, please describe those which were the most significant to you and, if life-changing, in what way.

I did not get a deployment into a specific zone with combat operations during my 8 years in the Army. However, I was part a small contingent that was supposed to deploy in March of 1999, that did not happen, but did deploy from May 1999 to December 1999 with the 630th Military Police Company-Bamberg, Germany in support of NATO operations with Operation Joint Guardian, Kosovo Force (KFOR) (Task Force Hawk & Task Force Falcon). As non-combat operations go, sometimes the play on words doesn't really make sense. This deployment was a "peace keeping" mission that found my platoon as the advance party for the entire unit that came about 45 days later in July 1999.

Things that I remember from start to finish of that deployment were somewhat funny, silly and real. Prior to all the 9/11 attacks and OEF and OIF, Army uniforms only had your unit patch or a combat patch, no one wore an American Flag on their right should. You only had a flag on your uniform if you were in a deployed unit and that was from about 6-9 months, then you took it off your shoulder when your whole unit returned. So getting to have Old Glory sewn on your uniform then was a big deal, meant you were part of the "fighting force" so to speak. Two days before my platoon headed out, I woke up and turned on CNN to see the U.S. Marine Corps landing on the sandy shore of Albania off the Adriatic Sea. Now here is what I thought was odd; our unit told us not to tell our family where we were deploying to for operational security means, but there is CNN waiting on the beach with cameras and reporters like they were running the war and making the orders for the mission. It was if the media was 3 steps ahead of military operations, it was just odd.

From Bamberg, Germany, we took our trucks (fully loaded with gear and equipment) to Rhein-Main Air Base where each squad drove their HMMWV's into C-17 cargo planes for the ride into Skopje the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia at Camp Able Sentry. Overnight we unloaded our trucks and began driving through Macedonia into the boarder of Kosovo. Absolutely beautiful country, comparable to the Smoky Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley in the US. But don't the lay of the land fool you, the roads, infrastructure were just off the charts horrible. Traveling in that area, we didn't know if there was going to be a roadside bomb, an ambush from Serbian forces, no clue and tensions were high and eyes were alert. We came to an encampment about 20 miles from the boarder on a flat valley area where tanks had set up a location that was secured and razor wired off and they called it Camp Bondsteele.

It was grass and ruts made out from tank tracks, nothing like it is today all built up and paved like a little city. From early afternoon we set back to the board of Macedonia and Kosovo and ran the entire entrance boarder coming in and leaving Kosovo. We shacked up in the strip mall of duty free shops that were literally vacated with all items and contents locked up as if no one was every returning. We ran check points for vehicles coming in, pat downs of each person walking into the country, it was very strange to have grown men weeping and kissing your hands thanking you from "liberating" their country. We stayed on that board area, one platoon, 25 Soldiers, conducting our own security, our own check points, we had our own latrine (and yes, I have had to do the duty of stirring a shit pot in the barrel), and no showers for 30 days. From off the boarder we handed that off to the Polish Army and began conducting real MP operations of MSR patrols and some local investigating that lead to catching murders, thieves, drug runners and the like.

Getting out and seeing the rest of that country was crazy, it was like turning the clock back to 1900. No trash removal, garbage just laid in the streets, running water was a luxury, so was electricity. Toilets don't exist there, just a hole you hover over and squat and the Muslims don't use toilet paper, they use their hand and bottle of water (didn't shake many hands after learning that info). Bridges were blown to hell, fleeing Serbian villages were torched to the ground by returning Kosovar-Albanians, kids were black-marketing things from cigarettes to siphoned gas in a two liter soda bottle. Christian churches were blown up into rubble and night time is when that country came to life with mortar attacks and loot to shoot wild west stuff.

For a peace keeping mission, I had been shot at, had a grenade thrown at me, chased a man brandishing a pistol in mid day down the street, tracked mortar attacks, saw mass graves, even saw an 18-wheeler that looked like Swiss cheese from the outside, but inside had about 100 people inside that were murdered like animals and left to bake in the summer sun. That was an escort I was happy to be leading, not trailing. Having known now what the culture of this region is and the back story really was, and if wi-fi and Google existed then, I feel that my deployment would have been better and I could have done my job better. There are things I would like to really say, but this is not the place or venue to hold such opinions or statements. The things I witnessed and learned during those 6 months have changed my outlook still to this day.

Of all your duty stations or assignments, which one do you have fondest memories of and why? Which one was your least favorite?

Mine has to be stationing at The United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point. I got here in an accidental manner due to someone putting a wrong date and PCS reassignment. Soldiers get orders for new assignments 6-3 months out, I didn't get that, I had to call my enlisted branch manager about 3 weeks out after learning my DEROS date was 9 months off and wanted to request assignments orders. I was given four places to pick from Ft. Hood, Texas, Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, Ft. Drum, New York or West Point, New York. Well from hearing some of my peers that had been in a few years longer than me, Ft, Hood, Campbell and Drum were all places that were on the "dude, don't go there" list, I decided on West Point. I didn't even know what the heck it was, the branch manager said it was a military academy for cadets.

Being an MP and getting an easy assignment doesn't always happen, so I took that assignment right away. I got to USMA in December 2000, this place was alien with all the cadets running around, barely any troops, there are CPT's, MAJ's, and LTC's running around at this place like Specialists and SGT's are at most Army bases. At that time, the MP's worked the gate in Class B uniform with white gloves, bloused slacks with boots, white dress hat and you saluted the blue sticker decal cars coming in the gates. All the spit and polished rolled into one fantasy base where barely a crime was committed or a salute never returned. Having been assigned to one of the road patrol platoons the first 9 months here, I remember how backwards this place was compared to the rest of the Army, but how fortunate I really was since I didn't have to deploy, I didn't have to go to the field, I got to sleep in my own bed at night, got to attend college, got to go to NYC since it is only 50 miles away and got to really enjoy a different side to Army life. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, things changed for forever and being that close to NYC, things struck home since a lot of people in that area had family working in one of the towers, had a family member that was cop or fire fighter who lost their life that day. You could see the smoke in the sky to the south from where the ash and fire were still smoldering months later.

I was also in the Honor Guard Platoon here as well and we buried a few folks that were National Guard or Reserve members that perished on 9/11. Being in the Honor Guard here at USMA was something that was very unique as well, you had to earn your spot and be one the best troops to get in, almost clique like in nature how it operated. Everyone knew who was in the Honor Guard and on the outside looking in, I didn't like those guys, but once you were on the team, you loved them. Once you got all the knowledge and movements chiseled in stone into your memory, being the Honor Guard was so much fun and we took all stress and morbidity out of the job of laying a solider to their final resting place. Always professional and never lacking standards, we had no limits or real restrictions. It was great to just go where we wanted, do whatever we wanted and were left alone, that never happens in the Army, someone is always in your stuff. We didn't have that and am grateful to have been shielded by whomever that was so that we could do our own things. All I can say is that the TV show Jersey Shore pretty much emulates my life and times the 3 years I was an Honor Guard Solider, but I had a real job and rules, with real professionals to abide by, not some lame t-shirt shop.

From your entire service, including combat, describe the personal memories which have impacted you most?

My memory has to be September 11, 2001. That day started off so odd and ended the way no one ever would have thought. The USMA MP Company decided to have a urinalysis test that day, so at the bright and early time of 3:45am, doors in the barracks started getting pounded on for a full formation for a urinalysis, 100%. Yeah, just what I wanted on my day off, a 4am wake up call to urinate in a cup. After I did my duty for the day, it was about 6:30am and I went to the barracks basement to lift some weights and then go for a run afterwards. While on my run, I remember how beautiful of a day it was turning out to be and as I was running, I noticed how a plane that was flying south over the Hudson River was kind of low, but didn't really acknowledge it as anything unusual.

By the time I got back to the barracks a buddy of mine said, "hey, some plane hit the trade towers in the city, I bet we're under attack", I blew him off and went to my room, where a few minutes later I saw the second plane hit the south tower on live TV. I grabbed a quick shower, went to the commissary and stocked up on some items because I knew it was going to be a long time before things got back to normal, from there I went to my room, called home and my parents still had an old school rotary phone so I couldn't leave a voice mail letting them know I was alright and wouldn't be calling soon because of the events taking place. I then called my current girl friend to let my parents know and pass on the message.

From there I put my uniform on, grabbed my gear, went to the arms room to get my pistol and walked down to the Provost Marshal Office (PMO) awaiting orders. After sitting at the PMO for an hour or so getting updates and briefings, a bunch of us piled into a van and were dropped off at various locations around West Point. My lucky location was Lee Gate. Lee Gate was only manned by the staff duty runner once a day back then, one hour in the morning letting in the vast majority of civilian workers coming off of Route 218 heading to Cornwall, NY. So there I was, by myself manning a whole gate that was shut with only my radio and 9mm pistol. I was at Lee Gate from about 1300hrs to about 0200hrs the next day. It was eerily quiet and calm, only a few cadets were running and no cars at all. The order to shut down the post was given and no one was allowed on at all unless they lived at West Point or had official business, that went on for three days with that standing order. That place was so quiet and serine those three days, barely any vehicles driving around, only some cadets running along the sidewalks, but so much chaos was out across the country, it was such a disconnect.

The outpouring of patriotism for our country, for the men and women in uniform and military was such a breath of fresh air. People smiling at you and thanking you for protecting their way of life, people offering you anything or everything you needed to ensure you were taken care of was refreshing. Hell, the coming weeks, some MP units were asking and tasking to take some troops for the upcoming deployment to Afghanistan, but then the stop-loss and stop movement orders came in and no one from the MP Company would be deploying. By the time Halloween came around, about 90% of the patriotism had worn off and now all the extra security was burdensome and annoying and life came back to a "normal" pace of business, but the work and sacrifice of military was just beginning with combat operations starting in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001 and combat operations in Iraq starting in March 2003, our lives would never be normal again.

What achievement(s) are you most proud of from your military career?

No medals for valor on my chest. However, I have had some great roommates and peers that I can gladly call hero's for their acts of valor for the combat duties they carried out in support of our country. I have seen the ultimate price of sacrifice of awarded medals for valor at the grave sites of the honorable men/women I was on burial detail for in the West Point cemetery. Nothing is more sobering than carrying a flag draped casket of a fallen hero and having to look at that Soldiers mother who is directly 4 feet across the casket from you who is depleted of all life and hope who must be strong for her family to honor her son's sacrifice.

Of all the medals, awards, formal presentations and qualification badges you received, or any other memorabilia, please describe those which are the most meaningful to you and why?

None is more important than the other, each medal or ribbon binds and ties in my story of military service.

Which individual(s) from your time in the military stand out as having the most positive impact on you and why?

I would say that no one single person made more of an impact on me directly. However, I did have some great leaders that lead by example in many ways, but I felt people that had a lasting impact on me were the ones who did things they shouldn't have done. Nothing is better at making a point by learning from other people mistakes and looking at other leaders and saying, "this is a prime example of what not to do". With the standards and microscope of the Military Police Corps always high and always zoomed in on one's daily life, when mistakes happen, you are reminded very fast to learn from other people's mistakes and steer clear of drama or problems.

Can you recount a particular incident from your service which may or may not have been funny at the time, but still makes you laugh?

Most funny, yet oddly embarrassing moment came when a few us Soldiers decided to throw our own holiday party. We didn't like the holiday party name, we came out and called a spade a spade and made it a Christmas Party. Rented the 49er Lodge on West Point, invited the whole unit to come and enjoy the party. Well, as most parties of a military manner, be it informal or formal the head chiefs get up and say a few words. Once the commander and 1SG said their piece, one of the platoon sergeants came up and wanted to say a few words. However, that was not frowned upon, but what occurred was something that left everyone looking at each other with a blank stare and confused. While this NCO was making her way, she stumbled through a few chairs, clanging and banging her way up front to make her speech. You could tell she had a few drinks in her and this was going to be interesting. So as her speech was going into full swing, she was recounting about her time as a little girl going to the top of the Empire State Building and the events of 9-11 (the party was in Dec. 2001) and then she brings out this 15 inch toy Solider doll that has a bugle. Now at this time the 1SG is looking around dumb founded and is probably thinking, " what the hell are you doing", you have a doll, come on scruffy!

The platoon Sgt then ordered everyone to attention, pushed play on this toy bulge doll and the voice on the doll cried out, "God Bless America" and began playing what sounded like Reveille. Everyone is standing at attention facing this stupid toy doll while this crap is playing and the NCO is swaying left to right while she stands because she is sauced up from a few beverages, talk about a lame fail. The 1SG took the platoon Sgt to the side and began having a chat with her and the party went on as usual. The story of the stupid bugle doll is not dead though, that damn doll is on the back bar shelf in the South Gate bar and the damn thing still works to this day. But my time that was spent while in the Honor Guard was funny and hilarious the entire time from cracking jokes in the firing party van, in the "ready room", messing with people at the base gates, messing with people on football Saturdays and graduation. From 'You're my go to guy", "Mc-cell phone", and "I'm not your buddy" speech, a TV comedy or reality show couldn't hold a candle to those times.

What profession did you follow after your military service and what are you doing now? If you are currently serving, what is your present occupational specialty?

When I left Active Duty, I had to learn an entire new vocation because of two things, I messed up my knee very bad and couldn't do much law enforcement tasks and second, I wanted to get out of the politics of law enforcement, so it was a bitter win of circumstance. I did enjoy mentoring people and helping them with their goals, so with being at West Point, I began a track on the education train with my sights set on educational advising. I worked at one small private college and another large public university that molded my interests in going for my master's degree in school counseling. I currently work as a Guidance Counselor for the U.S. Army at the education center. I enjoy what I do and I get to combine all of my past experiences and knowledge for the work I do and that makes my job rewarding.

What military associations are you a member of, if any? What specific benefits do you derive from your memberships?

I joined the VFW right out from leaving Active Duty, but was not involved or reached out to and kind of fell out of the radar range. I think that my generation is aware of such organizations, but we tend to not engage to a level of being very active and involved. I do stay current in many different organizations with the information and great things they do from the VFW to Wounded Warriors, Team Red-White-Blue, Student Veterans of America and the like as they provide great resources and information to past, present and future service members and veterans.

In what ways has serving in the military influenced the way you have approached your life and your career?

Before I came into the Army, I was a laid back kind of person and went with the flow. The impression and influences the Army bestowed upon me was simple in the way of the old saying, "make the best out of it". If I was doing something that wasn't fun or exciting, I always kept those words in the forefront. Make the best out of the situation to improve myself or at least have fun, because we know there are a lot of things that are not fun in the military that you have to do. Aside from my upbringing of family values, the Army ingrained some of its values into me stronger and made me a better person. Be a leader, have integrity in your life, have courage to take things on that may not be so easy. I take things in a more proactive approach, speak my mind openly that is more objective than opinionated and I have more appreciation for little things, no matter how trivial or dumb it may seem.

Based on your own experiences, what advice would you give to those who have recently joined the Army?

Stay grounded in your values, stay connected with your Soldiers and stay motivated and positive with your goals. It is not easy to do the things asked of our men and women in the military, but the job gets done and I thank those that take the challenge to keep me free and safe. Never let the internal politics of leaders ever influence your career, never accept "no" in that regard. And learn from all your and others mistakes to be a better person and leader. And lastly, never take the easy way. If things were easy, every Joe Blow would line up; anything that is worth working for is worth the sacrifice, energy and efforts.

In what ways has TogetherWeServed.com helped you remember your military service and the friends you served with.

TWS and the US Army

Let's me know I do have a connection with those I have served with or are still serving and that in itself is very special.

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