Why I Serve: ‘Inspired, Right Thing to Do’
By Doug Sample
AFPS
|
Army
National Guard Spec. Chris Neuenfeldt, 21, joined the military
a little over a year ago is deploying to Iraq this month
with the 173rd Long Range Surveillance Detachment.
Photo
by Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample, USA / DoD Photo |
Army Spc. Chris
Neuenfeldt is following literally in his older brother’s footsteps.
After
joining the Army, his older brother, Sgt. Matt Neuenfeldt, deployed
to Iraq.
Now
the younger Neuenfeldt, 21, who joined the National Guard a little
over a year ago is headed there too, along with members of the
173rd Long Range Surveillance Detachment, based in East Greenwich,
Rhode Island.
"My
older brother went over to Iraq when everything first started
going down, and that’s kind of what inspired me to join the National
Guard," he said. "I joined knowing I was going to go
over (to Iraq)."
The
airborne infantryman will be among 56 LCR members bound for Iraq
this month as part of a third rotation of troops for Operation
Iraqi Freedom.
At
Fort Drum, N.Y., where the unit prepared for deployment, he spoke
confidently about the mission. He said he is not afraid to go
to war, because his "unit is trained and ready to go, and
because he is with "the best unit in the Army."
"I
knew it was coming. With the way the world is today nothing is
really going to change unless we do something," he noted.
"And everyone who wears the uniform is going to have to do
something eventually."
However,
it was more than the war on terror that brought Neuenfeldt to
this juncture in life.
He
joined the Army National Guard not only because of his family
– besides his Army brother, his father is a Navy captain
— but the Newport, R.I., native said he did so also because
"it was the right thing to do" and he wanted to "give
something back to his country."
"The
military is something that everyone should do at least for a couple
of years," he pointed out, "maybe not in combat arms,
like I am with the infantry, but I think everyone should do something.
"There
should be some sort of national service for everyone, if not in
the military, the Peace Corps. You get so much from America, you
get so many freedoms, I think everyone should give back a little
bit.
"This
is my way of giving back a little bit for what the country has
given me."