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I was born and raised in Houston, Texas and come from a very large family. I have two half brothers and one full blooded brother, the fourth one died when he was two,  I also have three half sisters from my mothers side. I never had lack of family growing up , I had 6 uncles to go to for advice to include being taught to paint and work on vehicles. I was raised by my father and pretty much most of my family as well, I was separated from my mom at the age of three till I was 15 years old. I never had the greatest things in life that some others take for granted at times. So I made due with what was afforded to me. My imagination played a big role in my life, seeing that I didn’t have much I had to come up with various ways to stay out of trouble. Art was my savior in more ways than one; music also played a major part in my upbringing. During third grade I had figured out that I can really make money with my art, I had people asking me to draw stuff for them in exchange for a few dollars which gave me lunch money, so an artist was born! .

My life really took at turn around the age of ten when I was introduced to music by way of my uncle’s drums. Now my father played guitar as a mariachi when I was around three and I use to hear him play all the time but never really was interested in learning. My uncle was playing one day and I knew then that this was the instrument I want to play, I can hit something and get out all my adolescent anger out in a positive way. Now my art was still a major part of my life but I used both to my advantage. At the age of 15 I joined my first band, using the drums my uncle gave me, a 1955 Remo three piece jazz set. The drums were bright metal flak red and were my uncles first drum set that my grandfather bought him as a kid. During high school I played with a few bands and grew my hair out like all the head bangers in those days. During that time in my life I was bounced around from house to house within my family due to issues with my father and my stepmom. I made due and my uncle Tony helped me get through high school with near perfect grades while I was staying with him, something I never got before.

Even though I lived in a very rough part of town and was in a gang to stay alive there, I continued to push through school and almost finished. One day in 1989 my musical talent was noticed along with my band and I was picked up to tour, so right out of high school I hit the road. I managed to make music for a couple years till I decided to go back to school again. When I left high school I was only 8 months shy of finishing but I still managed to receive my GED a few months after I got out and even scored well on the test. I enrolled in The Art Institute of Houston in 1992 and got my degree in Graphic Design and Commercial Art which by any account was more difficult than I was expecting. Seeing that I had literally no permanent place to stay and all my stuff was stolen to include my drums, I still wonder how I managed to do it. I ended up living on the streets for a short time before I went into the military and learned the true nature of what it is to have nothing. I lived for me and had to make money and my art was my saving grace. Anyone that ever says that they are a starving artist should have walked in my shoes during that time. I had no idea where my next meal was coming from or at times where I was staying. I used my art to do signs, murals and various other projects which made me just enough to live.

My uncle tony was in the Army and he use to talk a lot about it and how he was stationed overseas, I also had older friends from my old neighborhood that were active duty, or ex Vietnam vets. These great individuals were a huge influence on me joining the Army, it showed me that I can be better than I was and that I can be part of something bigger than myself. One nice day in 1995 I walked in the recruiters office and the first thing out of my mouth was “ I want to jump out of planes and blow stuff up “ , well it didn’t take me long. I processed and scored five points shy of a perfect score on the ASVAB which freaked me out seeing that I really thought I would fail. Of all the jobs offered to me, being the guy that I am and listening to those ex vets I was hanging out with I choose Infantry Paratrooper. I figured why the hell not? , what the worse that can happen? I called my father that day and told him the news and he was shocked and even more surprised when I told him I was leaving in two weeks. So I raised my hand to God and country on February 28th, 1995, ironically its also the birthday of my son ten years later and my younger half brother who also joined the army a few years after me.

Since I had a GED I could only join the National Guard and wait one year to transfer to active duty. This decision proved to be the best I ever made, I was sent to a airborne Long Range Reconnaissance Detachment and it was the best units I ever had the privilege of being in. After eight months in the unit I applied for a transfer into active duty and requested an overseas assignment. I left for Europe in July of 96 and was assigned to a base in Italy and another great unit. As I embarked on a new adventure in my life, I found my home in the US Army and a new found feeling of accomplishment on a daily basis. My music took a back seat to protecting this great nation but my talent in art was called upon many times and even in basic training. During my tour of duty in Italy I was part of a reaction force and was deployed many time to third world countries in conflict and never have I seen such horrors and suffering up to that point. So at that point I knew that this is what I want to do and now I knew why. I was introduced to a new world of art appreciation being in Italy, this is where some of the best artist in history lived once. I took advantage of the location and every opportunity I had I went to see places that I only once seen in books and in class. I was living the dream and it seemed to get even better the day I met my wife. I would only say that when we met, I never felt so glad to have such a wonderful woman in my life.

There were times I wondered how she dealt with me leaving all the time on deployments and all the days I came home to exhausted to even talk. I was married in 1997 five days before Christmas and a few weeks later we were pregnant with our first child Victoria . Even to this day I cannot imagine myself without her and my kids in my life; they changed me in ways I cannot explain. I now had a beautiful daughter and the adventure began and this was my chance to give her everything I never had. In 1999 I raised my hand for the third time in my career and was given choice of duty location. I choose the beautiful Island of Hawaii as my next place to live. When I arrived on the island I was amazed at the beauty of this place it almost seemed unreal. I was sent to the 25th Infantry Division and picked right out of reception to be part of an elite airborne unit, the only airborne unit in the division 125th LRSD . Once again I was gone all the time but I was enjoying my time on the island.

While in Hawaii my new pride and joy was born on February 28th 2001 , my son Alexander . While in training one night I was on point and patrolling through the dense jungle in one of Hawaii’s training areas and fell down a fifty foot drop into a gulch and injured my knee. Afterwards I ended up having surgery a few months later to fix a torn ligament. At the time the doctors told me that my career is over in the Army. So with the advice from my doctors I left the Army and never thought I would be in boots again. September 11th changed the world and as it did me, that day I made my decision to go back into the Army anyway I could. I went to see civilian doctors and did a lot of rehab to get my knees back into shape. After being told I couldn’t get back in three times, I almost gave up. At that time I packed up in everything in Houston and moved to the Fort Bragg area with my wife and two kids not knowing if I was able to get back in but I was hoping to get stationed at Bragg in the 82nd if I was. One day I get a phone call from the recruiters and they said for me to go back to MEPS and the I’m being allowed back in. I found out by way of my recruiter and an old friend from my first duty station that the Sergeant Major of the US Army Recruiting Command heard about me and cleared me to go back. So I show up at MEPS and after pulling some strings I got orders for Bragg! So the adventure began, I was sent to 82nd Replacement and ended up getting a job as cadre there. After a year or so I ended up getting divorced from my wife and was going through a lot, but I pushed on. I spent a year and half with replacement and was assigned to Dco 2/325th AIR a unit that I requested so that I can deploy, Three days later I ended up deploying to Iraq for the national elections. My first experience in Iraq was clearing over 100 or so houses looking for insurgents and possible bomb making materials. During my first few days there I was exposed to various amount of danger as any solider would be in a combat zone. It was the nature of my job that still till this day amazes me how I survived. My unit conducted route clearance operations and C-IED exploitation. Which is basically a team that finds and locates IED’s,  and potential threats to the local elections. While on patrol one day we witnessed an IED explosion and went to investigate the area. After noticing that the ground around in the area was different than the day before, I was ordered along with my TC to go check it out. Now you have to realize a pile of dirt to you is a sign of a possible IED to us. As I walked up to the pile of dirt I realized that at any moment my life could go poof! So I kneeled down and gently with my hand I moved a little dirt to expose two 155mm artillery rounds buried in the ground. So as calmly as a guy like me in that situation would do…I ran!  My team called in EOD and we controlled detonated the IED. Its so hard to say what I’m about to tell you but I feel its necessary to give you a better idea of the horrors of war and the reasons why we do what we do. It was September 14th 2005 and my unit was conducting route clearance and following up on some Intel about a possible insurgent planting IED’s in the area. As we made our way back into the city we took a left turn avoiding the line of people waiting to pass a checkpoint ahead. At that exact moment we heard a loud explosion behind us. My gunner yelled at me and said to stop and turn around IED! Not knowing just yet what really happened but I just became witness to history…Iraq’s first female suicide bomber just killed 14 and injured dozens more. The woman not only killed herself but she had her five year old with her and we found the kids jaw and partial ribcage a few feet away from the blast area. This was my first experience with such massive carnage. My unit helped medivac as many as we could and the smell of burnt bodies was all over our uniforms for days afterwards. If my experiences in Iraq taught me anything and that’s to expect the unexpected, just two weeks before we were ready to redeploy back to the FOB and out of sector. While on patrol in an area known for insurgent activity we stop and I exit my vehicle I hear my gunner yell “Grenade!!” and at that very moment a grenade hits the ground ten feet in front of me. I quickly turn slightly to my right to avoid any possible shrapnel and afterwards located the person that tossed it at us running away. My gunner immediately returned fire as I and the rest of my team did. After it was over we found out it was just a 12 year old kid and his father put him up to it. I never could imagine myself shooting at a kid but it was what my instincts and my training dictated at the time.  A few days after we conducted a routine patrol in a neighborhood and was told to take back one of our interrupters because he was being fired for various reasons. As we drove out of the city I made a right turn and seen a flash and heard a loud explosion to the left side of my vehicle. The inside quickly became clouded with dust making it unable to see anyone or anything. At that point my training took over and I proceeded to attempt to get us out of the kill zone by accelerating the gas pedal. Unknown to me my rear end on both sides were partially destroyed in the blast disabling the 5 ton up-armored vehicle I was driving.
I yelled out to my men to see if everyone was alright and by the grace of god we all survived a very large IED attack. I didn’t show any signs of a major injury at first accept being dizzy and a little deaf, but I was wearing ear protection which saved my eardrums. So my unit finally redeployed back to the states and a few months later my first incident happened. I was in Wal-Mart and didn’t know who I was or why I was there. For the next ten minutes I was in a daze and a little freaked out and confused. When that happened I went home and the next day went to go see the doctor. After many months of test and scans and evaluations, the doctors finally told me what was wrong. I was told I suffer memory loss due to a traumatic brain injury and the blast affected my back and my neck. They also told me that the reason why I lose feeling in my arms and leg are from the injuries on my disk on my spine. So with a final diagnosis I subsequently went to the Warrior Transition Brigade and was medically retired from active duty with a %70 rating from the Army. A few months after I got out of the army I decided to go back to school and further my education. The subject I picked still freaks my parents out and the rest of my family, Explosives Technician or UXO tech1, EOD1 with a certification as a Humanitarian De-miner as well. I choose this field to better understand what put me out of the Army and a way I might be able to help defeat them and bring my fellow soldiers home safe. I live by the principal that its what you do in your life for others, defines you. THIS IS JUST A FOOTNOTE TO MY LIFE AND I HOPE ONE DAY SOMEONE CAN SAY …I UNDERSTAND.