Where did you serve and what did you do?

FDNF Rota, Spain
Surface Warfare Officer
Assistant Fleet Logistics Officer

How are you Still Serving?

I serve as a 1LT in the Texas State Guard, where I lead a Water Search & Rescue team composed of dive and boat teams.

Why do you do it?

Growing up in South Louisiana, it was a deeply communal society. We looked after one another. We showed up. Help wasn’t something you had to ask for—it just arrived. You could be a total stranger broken down on the side of the road and still expect someone to pull over, offer a ride, or at the very least ask where you were headed.
That sense of care was woven into everyday life. Neighbors knew when a family was struggling before a word was spoken. Food appeared on doorsteps after storms, funerals, or long weeks when money ran thin. Children drifted from house to house without ceremony, fed and watched by whichever adult happened to be closest. No one kept score. You helped because that’s what people did.
In a place shaped by hurricanes, floods, and long humid summers, community wasn’t a sentimental ideal—it was survival. Hardship taught us interdependence early, and generosity became second nature. Looking back now, I realize how rare that kind of closeness is, how profoundly it shaped the way I understand responsibility, kindness, and belonging.