Happy Veterans Day

To everyone who has or continues to serve, thank you. It’s unfortunate we live in a world where we have to fight or have conflict but to those who serve thank you. Steph and I met while in the Army. We were both new lieutenants on active duty, our story starts there. I met her while our unit was in the field. I had been with my platoon traveling on a bus from fort Stewart GA to Fort Knox KY. My commander as we got off the bus told us to get chow that was being served in a field tent near the unit hq. I was last in line to eat and talking with my senior NCO as we walked in the chow tent. It was then I saw Steph. She was serving army eggs(not very good unless you’re starving) but the very first thing I noticed about her was her smile. She was beautiful. We talked that day, and slowly started a friendship until we started dating and 2 years later married. (To summarize)

Steph served from 2009-2021 active army. I served 2005-2009 reserves 2010-2014 Active and then resigned my commission to go infantry in the national guard 2017-2020. In the Army I crossed paths with some of the best and worst people, and some of the best and worst situations. Steph has similar experiences, but we both value them greatly. We are happy to be civilians now.

I’d like to shout out a few of you that I have served with; and to the coalition partners such as UK NZ Canadian war fighters and others.

I realized I wasn’t the best soldier and my life had a different path for me, as much as I hated to admit it. I was too tied in with my emotions and artistic views. It took years of me fighting myself to understand that. But nonetheless I served my country l, which is exactly why I joined. I had this sense of duty instilled in me by my grandfather a West Point grad. I remember watching and reading Band of Brothers and Dick Winters Biography. I wanted to be him so bad. When 9/11 kicked off I was 15, I figured that was my path to serve.

Steph graduated college and got a job in banking but soon found it difficult to afford cost of living with the 2008 recession, then her bank got acquired and people including herself were laid off. On her way to lunch each day at work she walked by a recruiting station for the army. They jokingly each day told her to sign up as they were smoking and joking outside the station in the parking lot. Well she gave it some thought when she got laid off. In 2009 she signed a ocs contract since she already had a college. She would go to basic training then officer training.

Years earlier I tried to enlist but my grandfather who I lived with wouldn’t support it and I felt obligated to follow his wish of me going to college instead. After a year of school I failed art class because I hated anything art at the time. I lost a scholarship purposely so I could show my grandfather I needed to enlist in the reserves. Kinda dumb in retrospect I should of done what I wanted to do but again I felt obligated to my grandfather. So I enlisted my sophomore year of college in the reserves. I was a 89B an ammo specialist. I went to Fort Sill OK for training.

Steph graduated from OCS and found herself at Fort Knox KY. She was an ordnance office. Which was the officer position of what I was as an enlisted soldier back in 2005. At that point I had graduated college and assumed incorrectly I’d be placed in infantry or some combat related position. I was assigned as a transporter 88A. My duty station wasn’t far from home. Four hours south in a little place called Hinesville Ga or Fort Stewart. A mechianized division. I was nervous as I was immediately given a platoon of 64 soldiers, most of which had been deployed numerous times on the dangerous roads of Afghanistan and Iraq. I made a point to learn from the NCOs and the soldiers. I had what I considered then important responsibility but I quickly learned that soldiers issues such as their finances, legal issues, and even their families occupied a lot of my administrative time. I’d wake up at 2 am to go check on a soldier who had been hospitalized after a motorcycle accident, or again at 1am for a soldier who had got a DUI. Any time one of my soldier go in trouble I had to go stand in front of the battalion commander. I was in a weird situation. I was a platoon leader but my boss a company commander was at Fort Knox 3 states over. I felt at a disadvantage because of a lack of mentorship but I also had some freedoms. But that meant there was no filter between me a platoon leader and the battalion commander who was my bosses boss.

I felt useless, My ncos were out training or maintaining our fleet of HETs (Tank Haulers) while I was stuck with admin duties and inventories. I became aware very quickly that maybe the officer route was the wrong move for me.

But then orders came in. We’d have a mission, we got notice we were deploying in support of retrograde convoy operations in Iraq. All a sudden my job got much more exciting. I was studying and learning tactical movements for a large convoy, how to employ gun trucks, how to use counter IED measures, how to manage a team. I learned how important operational readiness and maintenance is for weapons, vehicles, comms, and nvgs alike. But most important was muscle memory for your job, and a functional team.

We got notice of our deployment date. We also had some unit restructuring. We would fall under a transportation company out of Fort Knox KY and make movements from Ga to KY to train for upcoming deployment. That is where I would meet Steph.

We deployed together and as a combined unit but most of us to include Steph and I were separated for the year long tour that would take us to Kuwait Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ironically September 11 2011 was my first day crossing the Kuwait border into Iraq and was also the first day I witnessed light hostile action. Over the months in Iraq my team and I led several missions from southern Kuwait to northern Iraq.

Though out my time overseas I was so focused on my job, my platoon and convoy teams but I could not get Steph out of my mind. I worried I wouldn’t get to see her again or she would not want to be with me but I calmed myself by saying if it was meant to be it will happen.

When I got back to the US I was thinking I could make the army a career. But the admin life of an officer came back very quickly in a peacetime situation. The army was more and more transitioning to a peacetime army. Not that I want to go to war but if there is no war I don’t want to be in the army, I want to enjoy life and the benefits of why people serve and fight and protect. I did my job, so after 4 years I left the army. But I missed it so much….

Steph meanwhile had a thriving army career ahead of her. She had very strong ratings. Every boss she had loved her. She did her job and three other people’s job at the same time. (Workaholic)

She ended up deploying 2 more times.

She got selected for a commander position with a special forces support unit at fort Bragg.

We struggled as a couple for some time. She was career driven. And I wanted us to be together. I did a few odd end jobs before giving in and joining up again. This time I was not going to be an officer. I resigned my commission as an officer and went enlisted in the Guard. (Reserves but for the state) I went infantry and was sent to training. But this time I wasn’t 18. We weren’t at war, and I had a family. Something didn’t seem right. But I signed a three year contract so I had to fulfill it. All the while I was growing my business with cameras and exploring my creativity. Steph was naturally my muse but with our line of work we had to ensure we didn’t present ourselves in any unprofessional manner, especially Steph. We got in many arguments over it. Steph told me she no longer wanted to model for me at one point. Frustrated, I found other models to photograph, and unexpectedly gained a lot of success doing so. I gained a lot of clients and business started picking up. Soon I started asking myself what a life outside of the military would look like for both of us.

To shorten a long story that dream became a reality in 2020 for me and 2021 for Steph. If you are a veteran you know how difficult it can be for a transition from military to civilian life. Steph had several hard months and almost a year of very difficult times transitioning her mindset.

Now we are totally enjoying civilian life. My business still continues to sustain itself. Steph works full time but I have another dream that soon that we can both work for Jawfox together… we will see.

The take away from all of this is it doesn’t matter if you are 18 or 68. Make those dreams you have come to pass. It may seem impossible but it’s not. You’d be surprised with what one step toward that dream will do.

Notice the gopro camera in one of the photos she gave me (my first camera) in 2011. That’s what got it started.