I signed up for the Army July of 2001, well before 9/11. When we went in we had no idea war was on the horizon. I joined with two of my best friends, Garett Reppenhagen and Jeff Englehart. We got shipped off to Fort Knox KY shortly after 9/11 for Cav School.

After an intense 5 months we graduated and were shipped off to Germany. It was a battle to get stationed all together but we managed to get it done. After nine months of training and exploring Europe we were deployed to Kosovo. While we were in Kosovo we were the QRF (quick reaction force)so we responded to anything adverse as soon as it happened. At the time we thought it was the most horrible place on earth but we would soon discover it was a paradise compared to Iraq. We got extended in Kosovo and instead of staying for only 6 months we were there for 9 total. There was one benefit, we got to go to Bulgaria twice rather than only once! We breathed a sigh of relief the day we flew back to Germany.

There was very little time between returning from Kosovo and training for our next deployment, Iraq. The intensity of our training was increased, and expectations of us were higher. There were very few breaks between training.

Then it was off to War. We were on the latter end of the second wave, which some say was the worst time to be there, and I agree. We were based just outside of Baquba on Camp Scunion, which was right across the street from FOB Warhorse. Once again our task was to be the QRF, this time it was 100 times more intense. We saw, did, and experienced things that no one should ever have to go thru. After a year we were finally returned to normalcy, however none of us would ever be the same and there was now no such thing as normal. Nine months after we were originally supposed to get out we finally were allowed to clear and go home, for good!

I am now going to Colorado State University majoring in Sociology/Political Science. I bartend at the American Legion. I aspire to help and change the world.