I served nearly 7 years on active duty as an infantry assaultman in the United States Marine Corps and was one of the first Marines to spearhead Operation Restore Hope in Mogadishu, Somalia in early December 1992. A few years later I was attached to a Force Recon platoon in Okinawa, Japan as a squad leader for a trailer platoon to help with their dynamic job in Close Quarters Battle (CQB). I ended my active duty service as a sergeant in 1998 at Marine Corps Security Force Company in Keflavik, Iceland as the training chief, training Marines in Iceland, Northern Greenland and Norway for cold weather operations. I started my higher education career when I returned to school using my GI Bill benefits after my military and federal service as a work study for Veteran Affairs at Glendale Community College in 2004. I graduated ASU in 2008 with a BA in History and later a MEd in 2011 from Northern Arizona University. While at Glendale CC, I was hired as an academic advisor, VA certifying official, work study supervisor and adjunct faculty in history. After leaving GCC and joining ASU, I became the Assistant Director for Admission Services for the Downtown Phoenix campus in 2012. I also worked closely with the Pat Tillman Veterans Center on veteran admissions and recruitment traveling to southwest region military bases for educational recruitment events. Currently, I work for the College of Health Solutions working on student veteran initiatives with the Military and Veteran Resilience and Health Innovation Collaborative (MVRHIC) and as the coordinator for the graduate programs in Clinical Exercise Physiology, Physical Activity and Health, Strength and Conditioning, and Population Health. I am also actively involved with many veteran service organizations; Quality Resilience Fitness (QRF), Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), American Legion, Daisy Mountain Veterans, Merging Vets and Players (MVP) to name a few.