1BCT, 1st Cavalry Division OIF 09-10

When the brigade returned from OIF 09-10, I remember many officer calls at the O-Club on Fort Hood. For the first time since 2004, we were not on the patch chart to return to Iraq in 12 months. This was my third consecutive tour to Iraq. I had served in 1-7 CAV as a scout platoon leader in Apache Troop, conducting Route Irish security, and then as the squadron support platoon leader during OIF 04-05. After that deployment, I attended school at Fort Huachuca to become a Military Intelligence officer and returned to Fort Hood and 1st BCT as the battalion S2 for 2-8 CAV. We deployed again for OIF 06-08. Upon returning to Fort Hood in 2008, I became the Military Intelligence Company commander for 1st BCT, and we deployed again for OIF 09-10. From serving as a tank platoon leader in 3-8 CAV, to a platoon leader in 1-7 CAV, to the S-2 for 2-8 CAV, and finally the MICO commander for 1st BCT, this coin represents the culmination of several years of training and deployments with 1st Cavalry Division. More importantly, it represents the close circle of people I came to know and admire—people who shouldered back-to-back-to-back deployments in service to our great country.