I became a legitimate leader when, at age 24, I joined the Marine Corp. My grandfather and father were also military men, and my older brother and I followed their path into service. I went to boot camp at Camp Pendleton in California, followed by my first station assignment in Pennsylvania. I rated top in my class and was given a leadership role as soon as I was on base, leading a group of fellow marines through ground training before shipping out three months later. .
In 1999, I was sent to Saudi Arabia, where I spent days in jungle terrain. By this point, I had already made E-3 and was quickly moving up the chain of command. I was in a platoon of 74 men and we were covering a lot of ground, scouting out potential territories for combat. .
One night, we were hit by enemy gunfire and nearly lost half the platoon, as well as our Sergeant. Protocol states that when the leader is out of commission, the second in command must step in (per orders) and take command. With our Sergeant injured, I stepped up to the plate. It was an honor to fill in for my Sergeant and see to the welfare of my platoon. After I'd taken on the leadership role, we traveled the Saudi islands for about six months before we got orders to move on.
In 2001, I was able to come back to the U.S. for a short period before shipping out to Iraq. I was promoted to the leadership position in the Quick Reaction Force in the Infantry unit. While in Iraq, I lead a platoon of 48 men through nightmare events that I can't really give details to but all I can say is I lost a lot of men in the platoon, some who were severely injured and also many innocent lives were taken. While in Iraq, I did Special Forces training at one of bases with new recruits and then back to the U.S for a brief time before going to Afghanistan. Before leaving in 2002, I lead special training as Sgt for the Mtn. Warfare training of about 134 men. I then went back to Afghanistan in 2003 where I lead the platoon into front line combat.