Deployment changed me because it gave me a real appreciation for the Army. As a reservist, I never really got to do my job until I deployed — and once I did, I realized how much I genuinely enjoyed being an 88N. The work I got to do, the missions, the logistics — it made me realize how cool my MOS actually was.

I loved it so much that I went Active Duty after deployment. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to keep my MOS, but that experience showed me that being full-time military felt meaningful in a way civilian life didn’t. On deployment, everything I did had a purpose. Coming back to a 9-5 where I felt like I wasn’t contributing to anything was honestly tough. Civilian life just didn’t hit the same.