Wandering, trekking, trekking. After a whirlwind twenty-eight years of false starts, dashed hopes, professional limbo and a resume of lengthy missions in military combat, that is what I have been doing.

I grew up in Minnesota and joined the Army in 1983. From there, I crossed over into the world of reconnaissance and airborne training. I was subsequently deployed to the Netherlands, Germany and New Mexico. In 1984, I spent three months in the Netherlands and Germany as part of a large special operations exercise called Operation RAGTIME. At the end of this exercise, the troops were sent to the Philippines to participate in what would be the first of many combat missions in which I would participate.

In 1987, I was discharged and returned to the United States. On my way back, I traveled on the Appalachian Trail from Fort Benning, Georgia, to Fort Lewis, Washington. I had spent the previous four weeks traversing an eight-hundred-mile stretch of the eastern mountain range. I had started in Atlanta, marched over mountains and prairies, and then found myself traveling through a huge valley full of desert that seemed to stretch on forever. The feeling was like no other. I had found peace on the trails. After experiencing the exhilaration of walking alone for so long, I found that I could keep walking long after the sun went down.

From there, I returned to Fort Lewis and began working in the intelligence division of the 82nd Airborne Division. I had hoped to return to reconnaissance training, but that opportunity never came. I had the opportunity to work in various reconnaissance units over the next couple of years. Eventually, I was promoted to sergeant and began training for a combat leadership role.

During the summer of 1989, I spent three weeks at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California. That training coincided with a military exercise called DETONATE. At the time, I had been trying to find a way to get into a combat position.

In 1989, I was transferred to Germany and stationed at the Army’s Jägernatelstiellager (JSL) near Schönefeld, Germany. The JSL was a series of camps designed to prepare troops for combat in the field. At the time, it housed about eight hundred soldiers.

I spent almost three months in Germany working with troops on surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

This story is completely fiction. I have invented a military character who travels around the world. I hope you enjoyed it.