Introduction

I got out of the Active Duty Army in 2005 after serving at Walter Reed where I went to the Pentagon on September 11th, and the 1st Infantry Division in Wurzburg Germany and Tikrit Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom II.  Towards the end of my time on AD I met my wife, Ana, a citizen of Croatia, in Germany.  May 2005 I returned to Tennessee and began working on a degree in Finance starting at the community college and then ending up at The University of Tennessee, Chattanooga...  During my time in school I've been deployed a second time to Iraq with the Tennessee National Guard in support of detainee operations at Camp Bucca, I've been the treasurer of the Spanish Club for a year, a mathematics tutor, and I began working at Array Marketing as a Sales Analyst and then promoted to Cost Accountant...

I look at my time in the US Army as some of the best days of my life second only to my small and growing family (Ana and I found out we're having our first baby..).  As she's been through two deployments with me, up until recently she did not like the idea of being involved in the Army anymore.  After the news of our coming baby, and the recent events in the US economy, she's begun to see it in a whole new light.  The ability to retire in 14 years (after 6 already completed on Active Duty), guaranteed health insurance, education opportunities, great schools through the DOD, and the opportunity to live in Germany closer to her family in Croatia have all begun to play a heavy roll in her decision.  

Now with her new found opinion which has slowly developed, I am once again able to be a part of one of the greatest organizations in the world.  I currently have between one and two more semesters to go before I complete my BS, expecting to graduate in either August or December of 2009.  I have already jumped in knees deep to the recruitment process and I'm expecting to go to the Atlanta USAREC Bn OCS Board in March 2009.  This time, I will earn the privilege to lead soldiers with the highest responsibilities being placed on my shoulders as an Officer commissioned in the US Army.

I intend to make the blog into a tool which can be used in the future, by those wishing to pursue a commission in the US Army via OCS College Option.