Why We Serve: Sgt. Jordan Cascio

AFGHANISTAN

07.31.2012

Story by Sgt. Michael Sword 

173rd Airborne Brigade

WARDAK PROVINCE, Afghanistan — The sun only recently rose over the mountain peaks that surround the village of Salar in Afghanistan’s Wardak province and the day is already beginning to heat up. As Afghan farmers begin to tend their fields before the heat of the afternoon, U.S. Army Sgt. Jordan Cascio and the men of 2nd Platoon, Battle Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team have been patrolling the area for hours.

For Cascio, 26, an infantryman from Hickory, N.C., this is another day at the office. Now on his second deployment to Afghanistan, he stands thousands of miles from where his journey started.

With 9/11 on his mind and a long family history of military service, including veterans of both World Wars, Cascio made his first attempt and tried to join the Navy.

“I originally wanted to be in the Marines or a Navy corpsman,” he said. “I tried to join the Navy as a corpsman in 2006 and they lost all of my paperwork, so I decided to hold out.”

“I went to college for a couple of years,” he went on. “I dropped out of college, did odd jobs, bartending, sold cars and random jobs for six months at a time.”

Eventually, he had enough of just passing time. In a story he tells light-heartedly, Cascio recounts the decision to join with a friend who only wanted to join the U.S. Army’s Special Forces. His friend was colorblind and by the time he found out he couldn’t join, Cascio had already signed on the dotted line.

“I’d already signed up, so, alright, I’m going to fight some wars,” he said.

After graduating One Station Unit Training and the U.S. Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Ga., Cascio was sent to 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, and soon found himself deployed to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.

“My first deployment wasn’t too bad,” he said. “Same thing every other military service member goes through no matter what your job is.”

“Long hours, sometimes you have to do stuff you don’t want to do and sometimes you get to stuff that’s real fun,” he continued. “It’s a good experience.”

After returning, Cascio found himself wanting to go to another deploying unit. He extended his contract and in the summer of 2011, he arrived to Vicenza, Italy, the home of 2nd Bn., 503rd Inf. Regt., and the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.

It took almost a year, but he is finally deployed again, this time in eastern Afghanistan with Battle Company. Knowing his previous deployment and the men of his family that came before him, he takes every day in stride, no matter what the conditions.

“I’ve been here less than a month, so I can’t really compare the two deployments,” he said. “I figure it’s not as bad as the guys that had to do it before me. I figure they had it worse than we do, so I can’t complain too much.”

When Cascio returns to Italy next year, he will still have plenty of time to pass on everything he’s learned over five years and two deployments to the set of Sky Soldiers who will replace him. In the meantime he’s looking forward to getting back home.

“For now, my plan is just to get out,” he said. “I’m probably just going to get out and go back home.”

While he’s proud of the things he’s done, there will always be a healthy competition between services at home between Cascio and his father, the former Marine.

“My dad’s side of the family is pretty military heavy,” he said. “He’d probably prefer I was in the Marines, but he’s pretty supportive of it.”

• Date Taken: 07.31.2012
• Date Posted: 07.31.2012 10:09
• Story ID: 92430
• Location: AF