CALL SIGN "PAPA BEAR"

A city boy born and raised in NYC I joined the NY Army National Guard as a "13 Bang Bang" Cannon Crewmember MOS in the early 1990s. When Mama Bear enlisted for Active Duty in 1995 after spending a couple of years in the Army Reserves I spent the next six years as a dependent (hey, don't knock it till you try it). During some of that time I served in the Army Reserves as an 88N Transportation Management Coordinator. In 2000, I took the leap late in life and enlisted for AD when I was 29 as a 25B Information Systems Specialist, aka a POG.

In my years in service I served one tour in the Republic of Georgia in support of missions leading up to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and one tour in Iraq in support of OIF. In late 2003 I PCSd to Ft. Meade, Maryland and worked at the National Security Agency for a while before I was pulled to be placed in charge of our Platoon. In late 2005 I came down on special duty orders for Recruiting due and was stationed in FT. Hamilton, NY where I ETS'd in 2007 as a SSG and moved to fabulous Las Vegas where VetHead Brand and the Vegas Golden Knights were born.