1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs

Story by Spc. Mike MacLeod

CAMP RAMADI, Iraq – The chief's daughter had figured out a way to keep him from deploying: "Daddy, I think it's time you quit the military," she said. "You can work at McDonalds. I can play on the playland all day, and you can cook hamburgers. Then at the end of the day, we can ride home together."

Chief Warrant Officer Jose Gilbert is cooking alright – cooking on the eastern edge of the Syrian desert, surrounded by palm groves, blast walls and an array of computers that the brigade network technician uses to do his job in Camp Ramadi, Iraqi. The camp is one of only a handful of U.S. posts remaining in eastern Al Anbar province, as his unit, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division (Advise and Assist Brigade), closes the door on the presence of U.S. combat troops in Iraq's largest province, Al Anbar.

His boots have walked a winding road. Kicked out of the Marines early on for "being a punk," Gilbert took a job with global electronics manufacturer, Epson, as a quality assurance project manager. He worked hard, and by the mid-1990's, was making three times what he was making in the Corps. He was a homeowner and had two nice cars and a motorcycle in the garage.

"But I had these recurring dreams of getting kicked out of the military for years," he said. At 31, Gilbert convinced his wife that he had to go back.

"I joined the Army," he said. They sold the house, the motorcycle and a car and moved into family housing on Fort Bragg. "It was really rough being a [private first class] at my age."

Since then, Gilbert has been stop-lossed (and re-enlisted) twice. Eventually, he decided to become a warrant-officer.

After nearly 10 years in the Army, Gilbert is finally making the same salary as when he left Epson, he said.

This past summer, he was promoted to chief warrant officer 2, with his wife attending the ceremony. Though married 19 years, deployments and training have never allowed his wife to witness any of his promotions.

"I get my strength from her," said Gilbert. "I come home and see on her face how hard separation is on her. But then I see how strong she is, and I say, 'If she can do it, so can I.' It's backwards, but it works."

As his children mature, they are better able to comprehend the importance of their father's work, but they are also craftier.

Before his last deployment, his three children came together with a plan.

"Daddy, you don't have to go this time," they said.

"Why is that?" he asked.

"Because we've put all our money together, so we can pay your Army paycheck."

If it were only about the money.

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