Growing up and sitting at the dinner table at six or seven years-old, my parents would bring up West Point. I never thought I’d end up going there but when it came down to it, I only applied to two schools- Westpoint and UC Berkeley. Honestly, I thought I’d get into some trouble if I went to Berkeley, so I went the West Point route. When I showed up, I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.
The first semester was definitely a struggle. It was almost not like college. You wake up early and they tell you what to do. I remember staring in the mirror on my first day and thinking, ‘I don’t know what this is, but I don’t have a choice now.’ Almost immediately, I realized that if I was going to be there, I may as well do it right.
I majored in Systems Engineering. In my senior year, I chose to commission into the Infantry. My parents advised against it, but the guys that picked Infantry knew that they were going to make a difference. For my duty station, I was able to look at the list of units and their deployment schedules. Before my graduation date, I saw that the 3rd Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hood was deploying soon. I realized that if I timed it right, I’d be able to make it on that deployment. Additionally, I wanted to go back to the great state of Texas.
My favorite memory of West Point has to be Graduation Day. I was proud to accomplish what I started and was happy to survive the time spent there. However, the Army vs. Navy Football Game in 2016, when Army beat the hell out of Navy, is a close second…
After graduating in 2017, I reported to Fort Benning, Georgia for Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course for about 20 weeks. After graduating that course, I came home for Christmas for a quick break and then reported back to Georgia for Ranger School.
I made it through the Benning and Mountain phases in Georgia then went down to the Swamp phase in Florida. I was lucky enough to complete all three phases without “recycling” (re-doing a phase). I think 33 of the original 300 + candidates made it straight through from my class. I reported to Ranger School weighing in at 185 pounds and graduated 62 days later at 145 pounds. So, the first thing I did when I got out was eat three cheeseburgers, a boat load of french fries, and a Sonic milkshake… then I slept for probably two days straight.
After Ranger School, I attended Airborne School and Stryker Leaders Course. Once I had finished these courses, I showed up to Fort Hood, where my unit had just deployed about a month prior. I had a video teleconference with the Squadron Commander, who was already overseas, and he told me, “you have a week to pack your stuff and get on a flight.” I flew to Iraq in July.
It is difficult for a Second Lieutenant, who is about to be a Platoon Leader, to meet his/her platoon for the first time on deployment. Usually, on a normal deployment, a Platoon Leader does the training cycle with his/her platoon back in the States to build camaraderie. They know who you are and you train them, which allows you to build a strong relationship with the guys that you lead. I showed up not knowing any of these guys. The first time that I met them was when they were picking me up from the airport in Iraq. It was different, but we got to know each other very well over the next few months.
“you have a week to pack your stuff and get on a flight.”
In September, we had a change of mission and went to Syria, which was much different than Iraq. At that point, the United States was assisting the SDF, which is the Syrian Democratic Forces, to defeat ISIS in Syria. We did local patrols and we would go to cities and meet with the local village leaders. I enjoyed every minute of it; the Kurds were the nicest people to us. In one village, the Kurds were trying to establish a school, so we would bring pencils, pens and notebooks and they were always incredibly grateful.
After my deployment, I returned to Fort Hood and became an Executive Officer of an Infantry Troop for a year. Currently, I help plan my Squadron’s training cycle in preparation for a future deployment.
My military contract is up in May of 2022. I’m still undecided if I’m going to stay. I think it depends on my future assignment. For instance, if there is a deployment I would want to stay. I like what I am doing. It will be tough when I decide to leave but I do want to get out into the real world and experience a normal civilian job.
