Posted on Jan 27, 2026
When you think back on your own career of service, what is one unique thing that immediately comes to mind?
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Now that I am in my later 50s, I find myself looking back on my 20 years in the Army with a mix of pride and a shake of the head at the crazy 17‑year‑old kid who ran straight out of high school and into the United States Army Armored and Cavalry Corps. I had no idea I would end up serving two decades, deploying a couple of times, bouncing between Germany and Fort Hood, making lifelong friends, and, "doing more before 9 AM than most folks do all day".
I have gone back to Fort Hood, to Kirchgoens, and to Schweinfurt. The places are still there, but you quickly learn that while you can revisit them, you can never truly go back. The people, the tempo, the version of yourself that lived there, those stay in time.
The smell of cordite and the immediate “so it begins” rush of a gunnery cycle the moment the first 120mm round touches off on a tank screening range never leaves you. Nothing is quite like it, and every tanker knows the feeling.
When you think back on your own career of service, what is one unique thing that immediately comes to mind? Is there a specific moment, memory, or event that still hits you years later?
I have gone back to Fort Hood, to Kirchgoens, and to Schweinfurt. The places are still there, but you quickly learn that while you can revisit them, you can never truly go back. The people, the tempo, the version of yourself that lived there, those stay in time.
The smell of cordite and the immediate “so it begins” rush of a gunnery cycle the moment the first 120mm round touches off on a tank screening range never leaves you. Nothing is quite like it, and every tanker knows the feeling.
When you think back on your own career of service, what is one unique thing that immediately comes to mind? Is there a specific moment, memory, or event that still hits you years later?
Cavalry Scout
1st CAV
1st ID
Edited 1 d ago
Posted 1 d ago
Responses: 3
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My “career “ was very short just one three year enlistment,still remember ten months of training at Ft.Lewis as a member of the reactivated 4th Infantry Division,still remember the ten months and fourteen days of my tour in Vietnam,still remember the remaining fourteen months at Ft.Polk La.as an instructor on the patrolling range,didn’t do twenty years and maybe not a unique thing,but damn do I remember.Welcome Home Brothers.
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SFC John Skaarup
A much deserved and long overdue 'Welcome Home', SGT Roncari. It's upon the legacy and hard lessons learned of our Vietnam veterans that the Army of the 80's and 90's was built upon, and the Army that was so successful in Desert Storm.
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Same...well, sort of. I was the 17-year old (and two days) on the bus headed for the AFEES. I was doing it one day at a time, and had no idea it would turn into 21 years of great experiences. Not real Army stuff, but lots of fun and opportunities to do things that I never would have had!
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I continue to reflect on serving as an AF ER Medic for four years to save and not take lives
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