Photo By Sgt. James Taylor | Sgt. Orval Emery, a chemical operations specialist for the 89th Sustainment Brigade...... read more read more
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FORT McCOY, Wis. – “All I can do is keep pushing,” said Sgt. Orval Emery, a chemical operations specialist for the 89th Sustainment Brigade, 377th Training Support Command.
“I had to get back in uniform,” Emery said. “I’m staying in this time. I still got a good 10 or 15 years left in me.”
His initial enlistment was with the Navy where he spent four years on active duty, and then another three years in the inactive ready reserve. Emery decided to get back in at that point in his life and spent four years on active duty in the Marine Corps.
Emery joined the U.S. Army Reserve three years ago after separating from the Marine Corps almost 11 years ago. When he first tried getting back in, he returned to the Marines looking for that opportunity.
“The Marines wouldn’t give me the job I wanted, so I walked out of the recruitment office on them,” said Emery.
Now that he is competing in the U.S. Army Reserve 2012 Best Warrior Competition, he said all the different training he went through is helping.
“Being a Marine definitely isn’t a disadvantage, if you know what I mean,” Emery said. “Training like that doesn’t go away. It gives you the mental and physical endurance to just get through.”
He added that his children’s support also helps him through. His son, Colby Woodson, 17, is a senior in high school and is proud of his father’s accomplishments.
“My daughter, Belleau Emery, who’s eight, is pretty stoked about me being in the military,” Emery said. “I’ve been to her school a few times in uniform and her classmates asked me for an autograph. She thought that was the coolest thing ever.”
Outside of his family, he also explained his love of the military and pride in America itself.
“When you have something good, people want it,” Emery said. “That’s the reason the military is here- to prevent those people from taking what America has.”
| Date Taken: | 07.17.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 07.17.2012 19:59 |
| Story ID: | 91710 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WI, US |
| Hometown: | AMARILLO, TX, US |
| Hometown: | ORANGE, CA, US |
| Hometown: | WICHITA, KS, US |
| Web Views: | 335 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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