Photo By Sgt. Rodney Foliente | Sgt. Bradly Rokicki is a paralegal specialist with 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th...... read more read more
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CAMP ECHO, Iraq - Deciding to serve one's country can be difficult. Most people weigh their options carefully and often sit on the fence for a while before making the decision.
For Sgt. Bradly Rokicki, currently deployed to Iraq with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, 'Warhorse Brigade,' the events of Sept. 11 compelled him to descend from the fence and into the Army.
"It was Sept. 11, 2001. There was no significance at the time yet, but I decided to skip my second period class, business law, to cruise around Wal-Mart," he said. "As I was pulling into the parking lot, I heard over the radio that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center."
He said the announcer was speculating that it was not an accident. Even without the facts, the thought of an attack on his country was enough to ignite his patriotism.
"The recruiting station was in the same strip mall as Wal-Mart, so I stopped the car and went into the recruiting station," the Wilmington, Ohio native continued. "It was a little hectic in there."
"When I got in there, the second plane had hit. Once everything settled down and all the recruiters were done huddling around the TV, I told them I wanted to join the Army and asked them if I could leave today," he added. "(A recruiter) looked at me funny and answered, 'No. you've got to graduate from high school first.'"
Rokicki said once he filled out some initial paperwork, the recruiter tried to give him some pamphlets on military service to take home. Rokicki, however, wasn't interested in those and filled out the rest of the enlistment paperwork that day.
Two days later, he went to his local Military Entrance Processing Station where he took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, a physical examination and his initial oath of enlistment.
"Two months after I graduated high school, I was in basic training at Fort Jackson, (S.C.)," said Rokicki.
He gave up his dreams of playing baseball and wrestling in college to begin his new career in the Army. Rokicki was always athletic and played sports avidly in high school, which resulted in many sports injuries, including partial color blindness. With those physical limitations, he was unable to select his desired military occupational specialty.
"My Grampappy was a Ranger at Normandy. I wanted to join the Army as a combat (Soldier), but wasn't allowed to because of my injuries and my minimal color vision," explained Rokicki.
"Since I was skipping business law (on Sept. 11), I decided to go with being a paralegal so I could make up for the class I skipped, which turns out to be a little bit longer than one hour," he said humorously.
Shortly after completing basic combat training and advanced individual training, Rokicki deployed to Iraq in 2003 with the 3rd Infantry Division.
"We were the tip of the spear for the push into Baghdad. I was a paralegal, but also part of a quick reactionary team," said Rokicki. "We would go on various missions and a lot of the times we would go ahead of the convoy to secure certain places and clear buildings and villages, making sure the area was safe for the convoys to pass through."
He deployed again to Iraq with 3rd Inf. Div. three months after coming home, working with an elections team assessing the security of approximately 14,000 polling sites for Iraq's first provincial elections. He also served in a personal security detachment.
Rokicki has been a noncommissioned officer since 2003, when he made corporal. He said the drill sergeants in basic training really impressed him with their discipline and competency and he wanted to become like them and earn his stripes.
"From the day I started in the Army, I wanted to be an NCO. Being a noncommissioned officer is important to me because I get to have an effect on my Soldiers every day. I try to make sure they have everything they need before I even start thinking of myself."
He is in Iraq once more, this time working strictly as a paralegal for the Warhorse Brigade's 2nd Combined Arms Battalion. He said this deployment is harder than his first two were.
"Being deployed is (more) difficult now, since I do have kids," said Rokicki, who finds some solace in knowing 2-year-old Reznor and 8-month-old Wyatt recognize him when they see him on webcam. "My wife, Lindsay, and I have been married four years. She's strong enough but it's hard for two young boys to be without their father."
Even with the sacrifice of being away from his family, he has no regrets about joining the Army, he said. If anything, the Army has taught him how to be responsible for his family and care for them.
"It's definitely helped me to grow as a person and as a husband and father. Being an NCO has taught me that it's more important to take care of those around you before you take care of yourself," said Rokicki. His wife is also supportive of his decision to stay in the Army.
"The military is the greatest job security you can have," said Rokicki. "You're always going to get paid on time, you get great benefits for you and your family. If you want to stay in longer, you reenlist and get a bonus. You can't get all that anywhere else. Even if the economy was flourishing right now, I'd still be in the Army. It's the only place I want to be."
"I enjoy being part of something that is bigger than me. Just being able to fight for my country is an honor and volunteering for it is kind of a private pride," said Rokicki. "It's an honor to see the American flag and know you're a part of it. The best part of the Army is being able to lead Soldiers, the structure and just the pride itself in serving the greatest country on Earth."
| Date Taken: | 04.09.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 04.09.2009 08:49 |
| Story ID: | 32191 |
| Location: | DIWANIYAH, IQ |
| Web Views: | 487 |
| Downloads: | 339 |
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