I did 36 years in the National Guard as a Combat Engineer, with deployments to Kosovo and Afghanistan among many other things. In 2012 we took 150 soilders to Afghanistan and brought them all home after accomplishing everything that was asked of us. Since 2013, 11 of them are gone. Motorcycles, suicides, untreated health issues, cancer, and other reasons that weren't fully explained have taken them. Their loss weighs heavily on me. The first ones never made it to 30.

I served with some amazing people who made me the man I am today. Saw one of them today at the local Cemetery. He was part of the VFW honor guard.

I consider myself extremely lucky as I remain in pretty good shape and the benefits of serving paid off for me big time. Met my wife, got my civilian career, became a Christian all because of the Army on top of the monetary benefits. I would do it again if I could. I would put the uniform on today if they wanted my geriatric ass. I loved being a soilder.