When you think back on your own career of service, what is one unique thing that immediately comes to mind?

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?