Photo By Staff Sgt. Gary Hawkins | Sgt. 1st Class Richard Silva, member of the 11th Battalion Army Reserve Careers...... read more read more
Subscribe
FORT MCCOY, Wis. - It is common for some soldiers to realize they miss the “military life” they experienced prior to leaving. According to the Army program “Blue to Green” soldiers who separated can re-enlist in the military and in some instances, start where they left off and continue to pursue their career.
Sgt. 1st Class Richard Silva, member of the 11th Battalion Army Reserve Careers Division located in Los Alamitos, Calif., did just that. After serving for 10 years and separating to pursue a civilian career, he re-enlisted in the military to continue the career and life style he enjoyed before.
“The civilian job didn’t grow as I thought it would and I missed the friends and job I had in the military, so I re-enlisted,” said Silva. “Since then I have taken every opportunity to better myself both personally and for my military career, doing everything I can to separate myself from my peers.”
As a military career counselor, Silva said his career is about doing the job you are supposed to do.
"In my career field, doing our job we have and make sure all the “T’s” are crossed and the “I’s” are dotted, and make sure our soldiers have all their questions answered,” said Silva. “I am in a senior command where everybody is an E-7 or higher ranking. I don’t want to be an E-7 forever so I decided to take the initiative and separate myself from the rest.”
Silva said that during his deployment in 2009, he decided to start watching his weight and eating better to improve his fitness and feel better about himself.
“I had a mental shift while deployed in 2009, and started watching what I ate and increased my physical fitness level,” said Silva. “As I lost weight and gained muscle mass I was feeling better and able to pass the Physical Training Test much easier and with higher scores. I have since run a marathon and bike to and from work almost 60-80 miles a few times a week, which has helped tremendously in getting ready for this competition.”
There are many ways in which the military can help you increase your chances of being promoted faster than others. Higher education opportunities are available to soldiers along with several military clubs that can help advance a military career.
“I have three degrees and working on my masters. How can I counsel young soldiers saying ‘education is the way forward’ if I do not walk the talk,” said Silva. “I will also make and appearance in front of a board of Command Sgts. Maj. in September for an opportunity to be inducted into the Sgt. Audie Murphy Club. There is no way any soldier can sit here and say ‘I can’t do this’ and then go read his biography and feel good about themselves. To me, he was a military superhero for what he did in WWII.”
Every soldier at the 2013 Best Warrior Competition has a different reason of why they are competing this week.
“The competition this week is what Army is all about. You have the best competitor soldiers in the Army Reserve here this week competing to be called the best. Excellence breads excellence. I will take this experience, no matter the outcome, back to my unit and look for opportunities to find another soldier that is interested in testing their limits of endurance both mentally and physically.”
| Date Taken: | 06.25.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 06.25.2013 18:30 |
| Story ID: | 109250 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WI, US |
| Hometown: | MERCED, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 136 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, It's a mental thing, by SSG Gary Hawkins, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT