By Staff Sgt. Alex Licea
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division
FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq - Today's Soldier in Focus is Pfc. Christopher Sanchez, an infantryman assigned to Company D, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad.
Sanchez, a native of Newport, R.I., has been in the U.S. Army for three years. Sanchez is currently deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sanchez said the best part of his deployment experience has been talking to the citizens of Iraq. He credits the vast security improvements made in Iraq as the key in gaining the trust of the Iraqi people.
"We are able to talk more to the Iraqi people due to the decrease in violence, and we are working well with our national police partners," he said
Sanchez comes from a proud military heritage. His grandfather is a retired chief petty officer in the Navy who fought in World War II and Korea. His father is a retired Army sergeant major who served in the Vietnam War. Sanchez joined the Army because he did not like the way his life was heading, bouncing from job to job in the civilian sector.
Although he does not know if he will make the Army a career, he recommends service in the military for anyone who is in a similar situation because it helped him get his priorities straight. Sanchez hopes to get married and start a family after this deployment.