Romanian hockey player becomes Army officer

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Scott Turner | Following deployment in 2013, Capt. Christian Radulescu (center) with wife Irina and children Christian (front left) and Nicholas were stationed in Hawaii and was able to visit many sites including here on Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands.  

GRAHENWOEHR, GERMANY

12.12.2014

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Scott Turner 

343rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Scott D. Turner
343rd MPAD

Seldom does the U.S. Army find anyone born into and who lived under communism, immigrates to the U.S., plays for the Romanian National Hockey League and becomes an officer in the U.S. Army.

There is such a person. Pinning on captain in July 2014, Christian Radulescu, is currently serving with the U.S. Army in Grafenwoehr, Germany at the 18th Combat Service Support Battalion and commands the 2d Cavalry Regiment, Regimental Engineer Squadron.

He's very grateful for the quality of life the United States offers and values his patriotism because he comes from somewhere else and does not take anything for granted.

“I feel like I owe a debt to this country, and I pay it through service to my country,” said Radulescu.

Radulescu only started playing hockey after immigrating to the U.S. and had never been on skates before. Most of the time he was playing soccer with a Ukrainian team and oddly enough, all they talked about was playing hockey - this is where he began his hockey career.

“I was very dedicated and had a natural affinity to the sport and took it up very quickly,” said Radulescu.

Following graduation from high school in California, he played goalie in the U.S. for junior hockey. Shortly afterwards, returning to Romania, he played for a National Under 21 Team for two years, winning a team bronze and silver medal for the two years.

The following year he started for a new expansion team in Romania. Later he attended college at the University of Wisconsin/Superior and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Sociology and briefly played for the University of Wisconsin/Superior – the 2002 national defending championship team. An injury cut his college playing time short.

He also played for a Romanian national league. But coming off an injury, he needed to make a life changing decision; to continue with the sport he loved and risking a new injury and further destroying his chance of an NHL career or pursue another path.

He had to choose from playing another ten years with a lower tier team, and not really going anywhere or finishing his bachelor's and starting a career that he could progress in.

Employment opportunities presented themselves around the U.S.; Los Angeles and Atlanta, but Radulescu was not drawn to them. All this was during the economic downturn around 2006, and not taking them pushed him towards a career in the U.S. Army.

His Army path began by wanting to serve his country through military service. He looked at the Navy and the adventure it offered, but didn't feel drawn to it. After talking to a U.S. Army recruiter, and taking a hard look at the opportunities with the Army, he enlisted as a Specialist as a 68W, Army Medic.

Radulescu's initial intent was to enlist and briefly deploy to Iraq. “That was it; do my duty to my country, save a life, get out and call it a day,” he said.

But this all changed when he met the professional men and women of the U.S. Army.

“When I saw the kind of people that we have in today's military, and the way they are everyday, I wanted to stay.”

Since deployment was his main objective, he was left behind when he was injured just prior to deployment. This devastated him and he secretly tried to fight it, but to no avail. Instead of deploying at that time, he attended Officer Candidate School, (OCS) after submitting his packet a few months earlier.

After commissioning, he was deployed to Afghanistan as a Lieutenant and spent 12 months in Kandahar as the Officer in Charge (OIC) for Arrival/Departure Control Group (ADAG).

The following 12 months he was involved with a high visibility mission; encouraging all under his supervision to reduce waste and was successful in cutting an excessive workforce down to 22 workers. Through his efforts he directly saved the American tax payer around three million dollars. “It was the right thing to do,” he said.

In addition, he was successful in reducing movement of Aircraft on the Ground (AOG) parts from eight days to 48 hours, and many times much less, averaging 24 hours or less enabling the end-user to have an aircraft up and flying; saving lives and getting after the “bad guys,” said Radulescu.

Radulescu added, “This was awesome to be part of this dedicated team of heroes.” Many times Colonels would come into his headquarters, giving big hugs to the pilots who flew the missions that saved the lives of their guys.

Through his enlisted and officer career, Radulescu has had the privilege of working with many outstanding and excellent NCOs; referring to them as “movie sergeants.” Many of them started as privates together and moved up the ranks as platoon sergeants and Sergeants 1st Class.

“What I enjoy most about serving in an infantry platoon and serving with these guys is that they're war heroes in my eyes,” said Radulescu. They're not going to be books or movies about them, but all of them are special Americans, he said. “It was so great to serve with those guys and to take care of them everyday, whether in a deployed environment or in garrison.”

It was the camaraderie, or band of brothers, in the Army he was drown to and he considers this something special. “It means a lot when guys are looking to you to save their lives and the whole NCO mentality to me is amazing,” said Radulescu. “This camaraderie is something you can touch and feel and that's what makes this job so special.”

For Radulescu, part of being in the U.S. Army is having ties to his childhood homeland in Romania. He's proud of his background and willing to share it with others.

And sharing, he does well. While on deployment in Afghanistan, he was constantly asked to accompany his commander to work with the Romanian troops by interpreting for briefings and other presentations.

The Romanians are very eager to build a strong relationship with the U.S., Radulescu says, and to build outstanding working relationships in every way. They want to reach out and engage with the American Soldier and do more, not less, with the American armed forces.

Radulescu is very eager to get the word out to all American Allies, that U.S. troops are very professional and are eager to engage in and to make relationships better in any way.

• Date Taken: 12.12.2014
• Date Posted: 12.12.2014 07:48
• Story ID: 150153
• Location: GRAHENWOEHR, DE