This was the first unit I was ever assigned to after Basic and Advanced Training. As a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, I was only required to wear my uniform and go to work with my unit for two days a month. My unit was only 20 minutes away from my house, so I was able to go back home every night.

After seven or eight months in the Reserves, I realized that I actually missed the Active Army, and went back to the Recruiter so I could in the Army full time

After almost a year and a half in the 41st Transportation Company, the Army decided to close the Company down. I was chosen as one of only two lower enlisted soldiers to be assigned to the 377th Transportation Company, which was a unit of all Noncommissioned Officers. While in the 377th Transportation Company, I was deployed to Hungary, Bosnia, and Croatia as part of Operation Joint Endeavor, the United States mission to the Balkans to enforce the Dayton Peace Accords. While in Bosnia, I was given the option of remaining in the Active Army and becoming a Noncommissioned Officer, or going to school and returning to the Army after four years as an Officer. After much debate, I decided to re-enlist in the Army and stay enlisted. The Army gave me the option of going to the training school of my choice...so I went to Airborne School

After three weeks at Fort Benning, Georgia for Airborne School, I was sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina and assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division. While at the 82nd Airborne Division, I participated in the first convoy live-fire training exercise by a non-combat unit; numerous cycles of Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT); and over 35 Airborne Operations. Additionally, while going on vacation and travelling from North Carolina to Missouri, I stopped in Knoxville, Tennessee...and met my future wife.

Three years after first arriving at Fort Bragg, my time to re-enlist came around again. I was married by this time, and my wife was expecting our first child, so we decided to go back to Germany. Upon my return to Germany, I was sent to Kaiserslautern, which was only about 30 minutes away from the city I had been assigned to the first time. At this point, I was both a Supervisor and a Driver, with the primary mission of Mail transportation. After about a year, I was promoted to Staff Sergeant, and immediately selected over seven other Staff Sergeants to be Platoon Sergeant for the Headquarters Platoon. Both my son and my daughter were born in Landstuhl, Germany, in an American hospital. While I was stationed in Kaiserslautern, the tragic events of 11 September, 2001 occurred. My unit immediately began to support units being sent to Operation Enduring Freedom and Afghanistan

Once again, after three years, it was time for me to re-enlist again. I chose not to select any of the options that I was offered (one of which was Texas, again) and hoped to be assigned to the 101st Airborne Division in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The Army, however, felt otherwise...and I was selected to represent the Army as a Recruiter, and assigned here to Fort Meade, Maryland.