Biography

After completing Basic Training in September of 2008, I embarked on my OCS journey with one mission in mind. I wanted to be on top of the order of merit list so that I could pick Infantry without any doubts. After six weeks, I was number two on the list and picked Infantry as my MOS.

Next, I learned a lot about the responsibilities of being an officer. I learned about the need to be a leader of men first and never put personal objectives as a first. They say its mission first but to me it was always about my troops. If you take care of your men, the mission will take care of itself .... this paid dividends in combat for me.

Next, I learned about leadership and the process of understanding what “following as a leader means.” Rank does not equate to being a subject matter expert in everything. It means that as a leader you need to bring out the best in your team, follow and trust them to be professionals and to be experts at their craft.

The aspect of following led me to be a better lieutenant in combat - I put my rank and ego to the side and understood my role... command the battlefield. I learned that foundation in OCS. Back

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