Connor+S.+&+Christopher+H.+-+Scott+Hentz

Scott Hentz Interview Questions Connor Shaak Christopher Habowski Before Enlistment 1.) Where were you born? And what date was it? 2.) What did your parents do for a living? 3.) Did you have any siblings? If so what were their age and gender? 4.) Were any other family members in the service? 5.) What did you do as a job before entering the service?

Early Days of Service 6.) When and how did you enter the service? 7.) If enlisted why did you choose to serve the specific branch 8.) When did you leave for training? 9.) How tough was basic training for you? 10.) Were you physically in shape before basic training? 11.) How hard was it to adapt to the military food? 12A.) What specialized training did you receive and where? 12B.)Please explain a little more about your specialized training. 13.) Did you make any friends in basic training or were you with anyone you knew?

Wartime Service 14.) What operations were you in? 15.) Where were you stationed throughout your service? 16.) What was your job during your deployment? 17.) How long did it take you to get to your bases? 18.) How were the conditions where you were stationed from here? 19.) How much did you use basic training knowledge in your service? 20.) Did you face any combat situations during your deployment? 21.) Did you make any lasting friends during your deployment? 22.) Did you keep a journal or diary of what happened while you were Deployed? 23.) What did your uniform look like? 24.) What gear did you carry during deployment? When did you finish your tours?  How did you get back from the middle east after your tours?

After Deployment__ 25.) Did you earn any medals? 26.) Tell us about the Meritorious medal? 27.) Did you bring any items back? If so, What? 28.) How long did it take to return home? 29.) Where are you currently based out of? 30.) What is your rank in the National Guard today? 31.) Do you see anybody that you met, during your deployment, recently? 32.) Do you remember anyone from your service over in the Middle East? 33.) How was readjustment back into a civilian life? 34.) After being in the Middle East, did you realize just how different it is over there than here in America? 35.) Now that you look back on your service, in the Middle East, do you feel as if it was a different experience than expected? 36.) Did you learn any morality lessons while deployed? 37.) Were you excited to come home from the Middle East? 38.) What did you and your family do as a celebration? 39.) How is your life here in Myerstown today? 40.) If you could go back to when you were deciding to join the service, would your decision remain or change?

Thank you for your service to our country, and the Veterans History Project Mr. Hentz

Interview with Scott Hentz for Veterans History Project

By: Connor Shaak & Chris Habowski

Chris: This is Scott Hentz. He was born April 27, 1968. He served in the army in Operation Enduring Freedom, and his highest rank is a command SGT. Major. We are conducting this interview in Myerstown, Pa. I’m Christopher Habowski and Connor Shaak. We are doing the interview. He is a friend of ours, and this interview is being conducted for the Veterans History project for the Library of Congress.

Chris: What did your parents do for a living?

Scott Hentz: My dad was a foundry worker. He worked for Quaker Alloy in Myerstown for many years, and after that he moved and worked for san giorgio making macaroni. My mom worked at a bank for awhile, and then she worked for… I’m trying to think, she worked for the Merchandiser, she worked… well she had a lot of jobs growing up.

Connor: Did you have any siblings? If so, what were their age and gender?

Scott Hentz: I have a twin brother, so he is the same age as I am (46).

Chris: Did you have any family members in the service?

Scott Hentz: In my immediate family no, I had a couple uncles that served, and (um) a couple cousins that served. Other than my cousin Neil, they were the only ones who made a career out of it.

Connor: What did you do as a job before entering the service?

Scott Hentz: I worked as a butcher’s assistant at a grocery store. Making hamburger, sausage, and those kind of things.

Chris: When and how did you enter the service?

Scott Hentz: I was a senior in highschool, I was 17, and I just went to the local recruiter. I knew I wanted to go to college, and at that time I knew the National Guard was paying for reimbursement. I wanted to be an accountant, and there was a finance unit right down the street in Lebanon. I was a recruiter’s dream! I walked right in and said this is what I want to do, and my ASVAB scores were good enough to do whatever I wanted, and by December of 1985 over Christmas break, my dad and I went with a recruiter to Harrisburg, and I think that’s one of your questions we went to Harrisburg, and I raised my right hand and swore into the guard on December 30, 1985.

Connor: If enlisted, why did you choose to learn this specific branch?

Scott Hentz: Because I wanted to go to school, and I didn’t want to be far from home, and the National Guard was a good fit for me. Because I would only have to go away for basic training and my job, and then I would be just right down the street for one weekend a month. So, It worked out.

Chris: When did you leave for training?

Scott Hentz: My basic training (thinking for a moment) July of 1986. I went to… Hmmm let me think. I went to Fort Bragg? No that’s terrible I can’t remember. (Silence for a moment) wow… Fort… Wow that’s terrible I’m getting old.

Chris: Fort Knox?

Scott Hentz: Fort Knox, Kentucky. Yes, very good!

Connor: Fort Knox! (in a confirming voice)

Scott Hentz: Fort Knox, Kentucky, yes very good. Home of the gold deposits, for the government. Yes. Fort Knox, Kentucky. Yeah, and then I did my advanced training for finance at, well it’s no longer there, but Fort Ben Harrison in Indiana just outside of Indianapoli.

Connor: How tough was basic training for you?

Scott Hentz: Basic training was the first time I was ever away from home, like the first time I ever flew was flying to basic training at 18, never really did anything like that. At Fort Knox they have these three big hills. They call them agony, misery, and heartbreak, and they are that because of how steep they are. So it was difficult living in an open barracks with 40 other teenagers and what not, just trying to figure out what it was all about. I mean we were away from home. We didn’t have texting, or e-mailing because we didn’t have the internet, so we would write letters home.

Chris: Were you physically in shape for basic training?

Scott Hentz: I was in decent shape, but not good enough shape. Part of what they do, they will get you in shape one way or the other. You have lots of opportunities. We used to have to do push ups for getting mail. One day I got ten letters. I had to do 10 push ups for every letter. Yeah. Six of them were from my girlfriend at the time, I told her not to write so much.

Connor: How hard was it to adapt to the military food?

Scott Hentz: Do you mean in basic training or overall?

Connor: Overall

Scott Hentz: They make it very bland because it has to satisfy everybody’s taste, so… they have hot sauce, hot peppers, and tomatoes on the table for everyone, so the food itself is bland. They have a 14 day menu, They have to go by, so every 14 days it comes back around and you get the same thing. Basic training we eat a lot of what is called Chilli Mac. Do you guys know what that is? (Chris and Connor nod) We ate that a lot. I’m not sure they stuck to the menu, but we ate that a lot.

Chris: What specialized training did you achieve and where?

Scott Hentz: Like I said before I did my financed training at Fort Ben, Harrison ,Indiana. I’ve done all kinds of military educational requirements to get promoted. I went to a primary leadership development course. It’s the basics, like it’s the first level of being a leader in the army, and that was at Indiantown GAP. I’ve done, well I went to a master machine gun course. That taught us how to take them down, put them back together, maintain them, shoot them, and there were two or three different kinds of machine guns. I went to a battle skills course out in Arkansas. That was landmines and TNT, and how to do ambushes, and those kind of things. But we are talking way back in the 80’s and early 90’s. The most recent was when I went to the SGT. Majors Academy in El Paso, Texas at Fort Bliss.That gave me all the final. Well I shouldn’t say final, but it gave me everything I need to be able to be a supervisor of supervisors so to speak. To be able to reach out to other senior enlisted, and help manage them and mentor them to be what I am, so one day they can have my job.

Connor: I was going to ask you to explain a little more about your specialized training, but it seems as if you’ve already done that. (Scott laughs) So I will ask you the next question. Did you make any friends in basic training or specialized training, or were you with anyone you knew?

Scott Hentz: Some of the guys I went through basic training with, we wound up going to advanced training together, but that was before all the social media so we lost contact, I know their names, but I couldn’t tell you if they were still in, if they were still alive, or anything ever. No. I have a photo, and you know I have pictures with names on them, but I lost contact with everyone from basic training. I don’t know if we will talk about deployments, but I’m still friends with people from overseas.

Chris: Okay. What operations were you in?

Scott Hentz: I was mobilized for Desert Storm in March of 1991. We were brought on active duty to bring everybody home because the war ended so quickly, a lot of their pay entitlements didn’t even get started. So when soldiers would come back to the country for 24 hours they would sit in front of me or my peers, and we would sit down and make sure that all their pay was correct. Sometimes the physicians and doctors were getting paid thousands and thousands of dollars they didn’t know they were entitled to. So we were very popular. That was like four months, and I was working in Fort Lee Virginia, and Fort Devon Massachusetts. We had folks at army bases all around the country bringing people home. I was also Operation Enduring Freedom which was in Afghanistan. In 2007 we were mobilized and got in the country in January, 2008, and I came home November, 2008. My most recent deployment was to Kuwait due to the drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that was October, 2012 to July of 2013.

Connor: Could you state the places you were stationed throughout your service?

Scott Hentz: Do you have that much time? Oh my goodness. I mean I was at fort sill, Oklahoma, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Fort Stewart, Georgia, and I already said for Devon Massachusetts. I’ve been to Fort Clayton, Panama, I’ve been to Yung Song, Korea a couple times, Umm I’m trying to think what else. I’ve been to the southern European task force which is the airborne guys in Italy. I was there three times. Most of that was with finance support, and it was actually really cool, I never thought I would have the opportunity to join the National Guard. I’ve been too pretty much every, well actually four of the southern continents.

Chris: What did you do as a job or jobs during your service?

Scott Hentz: Back when I was a finance guy back when I first started as Finance company of setup, kind of like a bank. We have count tellers. It’s called dispersing. We have accounting, and we have accounts payable that pays the bills of the government that occur as they do things. I’ve done all those kinds of things. We have an internal control element that makes sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to do. I was a company first SGT for five years. I was a senior advisor to the commander, meaning I had to know all the policies, all the procedures, all the rules, and keep the commander out of trouble. I had a couple commanders I worked for that I visited while I was there. In Afghanistan we were the only finance company in Afghanistan, and we had, I’m trying to recall, at least five companies underneath us of finance detachments. We had support all over Afghanistan, there was over 130 locations.

Connor: So moving on a little, How long did it take you to get to your bases from America?

Scott Hentz: For us to go to Afghanistan, we did all of our training, because the National Guard gets much more time to prepare than they used to, but we spent a month and a half or two months in Southern Indiana at a camp. We went from there to Fort Campbell, Kentucky because we flew over and supported the 101st airborne when we were in Afghanistan, and we were assigned to the 101st Sustainment Brigade, and so we went from there to Fort Campbell Kentucky, and flew on a chartered flight which was like any other American flight, just like you’d see at Harrisburg but it was all soldiers, and all of our gear was underneath us, but everything else was flown over by the air force, but we flew from there to Bangor, Maine, Bangor, Maine to Shannon, Ireland, Shannon, Ireland to Budapest, Hungary, and Budapest, Hungary into Kuwait. We spent a day or two in Kuwait, and then we flew in a military flight on a C-17 flown by the Air Force into Afghanistan.

Chris: How different were the conditions where you were stationed? How different were they from here?

Scott Hentz: I don’t know where to start? I lived in a plywood hut. Because of my rank I shared my room with my first Sgt. which my room was about half the size of this dining room, so I had this much living space ( Motions towards a space) and my first Sgt. had this much. But normally four guys would have to share this for the junior soldiers, so it’s really tight, and there was no insulation, there actually was butterfly board or particle board which is what the buildings are made out of, so it got very cold, and in the summer it got very hot. The bathrooms were tractor trailer containers, and were stacked on top of each other, and the boilers for the heat were downstairs.The showers were upstairs, and then the bathrooms were the same way, there was a long 20 foot metal container, and that’s just how the military did everything. Everything was modular. We’d cut them and modify them, and that’s what our bathrooms were like. The walls were a half inch thick, no insulation, and you didn't want the windows open because of the sand that could blow in. And it was always so cold. So we had one little heater above our door, which was a wooden door, and we had a box fan that was sent over from home. We would use that to blow heat to the back of the room, and in January and February I could sleep in my long underwear, my under armour long underwear in a sleeping bag. You could still see your breath. You had a roof over your head, but I guess it was better than sleeping in a ditch

Connor: So what is your overall conclusion about the conditions over there?

Scott Hentz: The way I lived was better than the photos put out about guys and girls when they first went into Afghanistan and Iraq that were sleeping on the ground and vehicles, so I was thankful at least I had somewhere I could get out of the elements.

Chris: How much did you use basic training knowledge?

Connor: Basic training is something we have to maintain all the time. We might have been finance, or we might have other guys that aren’t my company, but no matter what your job is you are always a soldier first, so you have to maintain those soldier skills throughout your career. The older you get, and the more rank you get, you get additional skills you have to know. But your basic soldier skills you have to keep, and we use. Like we have handheld GPS systems. They were called daggers or pluggers. It is an acronym, don’t ask me what it means… But if the batteries went down or it stopped working, we would have to know how to use a compass, how to use a map. All that stuff is put in our vehicles now with a program called blue force tracker and it tracks all the vehicles and such, but if that were to go down, we would have to know how to get from point A to point B, so we always had to have a backup. Map reading is one of the things that comes from basic training. How to keep and maintain our rifles clean is part of the basic training taught to us, that’s a key to survival in a combat zone. If you let your weapon get dirty, and you let it get rusty you aren’t going to be able to defend yourself. So all those things tie in throughout your career. Does that make sense?

Connor: Yeah that makes sense. Did you face any combat situations during your deployment over there?

Scott Hentz: I never had to return fire, I was never fired upon directly, although one of the bases I was at would periodically get a mortar, or a Chinese Rocket, or things. We had a big voice thing they would call it, and they would say get to your bunkers or hardened areas, and we would. I was on many many convoys and never got blown up. I might have been on a road one day, and the very next day say the Polish were on that road and they got blown up. It was always a chance you took and you never knew what day it was going to be, so I always said a prayer.(19:12)

Christopher: (19:15) Did you ever make any lasting friends?(19:20)

Mr. Hentz: (19:23) Some of the men I were with, and ladies, on that deployment I’m still friends with today. I have friends in other countries. When we were in Afghanistan we were co-located with the New Zealand forces so I have friends that live in New Zealand. that I e-mail and stuff, but I may never get to see them because it costs a fortune to go to New Zealand. But we shared space with them, and we did things outside of work to keep our spirits up. Volleyball and cook outs and things like that. There food was better than what the army was giving us.(20:13)

Connor: (20:16) Did you keep a journal or diary of what happened while you were deployed?(20:21)

Mr. Hentz: (20:25) I started a journal when I was in Afghanistan I probably did it for about a month. Then I got so busy and I went back and looked at what I was writing. It didn’t seem like it would be very interesting for anyone to read. Mostly me complaining about being away, and not being able to do what I wanted to do. I started it but kept up with it.(20:58)

Christopher: (21:02) what did your uniform looks like?(21:09)

Mr. Hentz: (21:12) Well my uniform back then we had converted from the desert camouflage uniform which everybody remembers from the first the first Iraq war. We went to ACU, army combat uniforms, which is the current digital pattern you see everybody wearing now today. That is what we wore over there now in Afghanistan they wear what is called multicam, which is I think eventually what all of the army will go to. But I wore ACU’s or army combat uniforms. We also wore protective ballistic plates. They were called SAPI plates Spelled SAPI you can look it up to see what it stands for, but those were what protected us from any small arms fire. The vests we wore used to be called an IBA, Individual body armor. Then they went to what is called an IOTV which is a lot more comfortable to wear because it wasn’t just pressed on you the weight was distributed. It also had a special ring in your collar so that if you got hurt and needed to be evacuated. My gear weighed 63 pounds with all my plates and all my stuff. I’m a somewhat big guy and add another 63 pounds to it and its quite a lot dead weight per say to move somebody. So this new body armor had a pull ring and when you pulled it the vest would just fall apart, then you could just leave it and take the person away.(23:19)

Connor: (23:24) So can you explain a little more about what gear you had on you?(23:31)

Mr. Hentz: (23:36) We always had water. when we went out, even if it was for a two hour meeting we packed like it was three days. Cause we never knew if we would get hit, we’d always have enough ammunition, enough food, enough water. We always knew to call out hey this is where we’re going. It was important that we always checked in like hey we’re in route we just passed. I don’t know if in orienteering you have checkpoints along the way like A or B. OR maybe waypoints when you doing your GPS. So as we got to certain checkpoints someone who was in charge would call in and say we just passed checkpoint one or checkpoint bravo so they knew where we were. I’m trying to think what else. I always carried a camera, I kept it in a pocket in my armor that was right here. so I just wanted to capture whatever, you didn’t know what you would see. I’m trying to think what else. I always had a Camelback. I always had my side arm because I was a sergeant major, we don’t carry a rifle we carry a pistol. I always wanted to be with somebody with a rifle because a pistol doesn’t shoot that far.(25:02)

Christopher: (25:04) When did you finish your tours?(25:09)

Mr. Hentz: (25:12) Like I said the one for supporting Desert Storm I got home in June of 91. In Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan I got home in November of 2008. Then going back I came home in November, no July of 2013(25:38)

Connor: (25:42) A kind of follow up question how did you get home from your tours?(25:53)

Mr. Hentz: (25:56) Same way we got over it was. Except for Kuwait because Kuwait has an international airport and we would fly commercial right from there. Afghanistan was exactly the same way we would all get about four hundred of us in the back of a C-17 with a couple pallets of our gear. I don’t know if you’ve seen they show pictures every once in a while, Its just pled full and you’re like this, for five hours flying into Kuwait and then from there we would get on a commercial flight the same way back.(26:47)

Connor: (26:52) So moving on a little, after deployment did you earn any medals?(27:01)

Mr. Hentz: (27:05) Yeah I have with almost thirty years this year will be my thirtieth year I’ve had an opportunity to earn quite a few medals that have to do with my deployment. When I was in Afghanistan I earned, a NATO medal for service in Afghanistan, it has a little, the one on my uniform doesn’t but the hanging one has ISAF. Which means International security and assistance force. SO anybody there supporting or trying to assist the Afghanis got that medal. I got the army meritorious service medal I got four of those. I’m trying to think what else. I have a lot of state ribbons because I’m in the army national guard for Pennsylvania. I’ve been called up for state active duty for snow storms, and there was an oil spill in Pittsburgh before you guys were born. I was brought on state active duty by the governor to process all the payrolls for those people. So I had a recruiting ribbon from Pennsylvania for keeping my unit strength up for so long. National defense service medal, I have a what’s the one for outstanding volunteer service medal I do that for, I got that many years ago for being involved in Scouts, and in my community, and helping coach baseball. So I was recognized for stuff I do outside my service in the military. I got a lot. I think I have seven army achievement medals, six or seven. Every time you get an award like that someone has to recommend you and you have to justify it with all these kind of statements of actions of what did you do to earn them. I never thought I’d have that many.(28:39)

Christopher: (28:44) What items have you brought back with you from your tours?(28:56)

Mr. Hentz: (28:59) I have all types of things. The military itself you aren’t allowed to have any war prizes or anything that would be owned by the government or by the people. You can’t just go into somebody’s house and say thats cool I want that I’m going to bring that home to my house. It has to be something that would be available for purchase. In Afghanistan they cater to the military with open markets. I have Lapis, Lapis is a stone and it’s found in Afghanistan and it’s really cheap. My wife and daughter both have Lapis jewelry. I have a walking stick that i brought along with mother of pearl inlet, thats hand made. the bottom is ham, hand hammered, thats hard to say I have a Russian belt buckle that I brought along. If you know you’re history the Russians were in Afghanistan before we were. There’s lots of Russian scrap vehicles and stuff like that laying around the country. If you wanna be, I wouldn’t expect the Afghanis are doing everything they can to make money. So you can go to a local bazaar and there was always a guy who had one or two belt buckles.(29:57)

Connor: (30:01) We know that you’re currently in the national guard, what is your unit?(30:09)

Mr. Hentz: (30:11) My headquarters unit is based out of spring city, down below Morgantown near Philadelphia(30:23)

Christopher: (30:25) What rank are you currently in the national guard?(30:32)

Mr. Hentz: (30:35) Currently I am a Command Sergeant Major, and that’s as high as I can go. I am a Battalion Command Sergeant Major, which means I work for a lieutenant colonel. If I were to receive a greater assignment I would still be a Command Sergeant Major but I would work for a full bird colonel. So my bosses keep getting higher and higher in rank but I don’t earn any more money. that’s how it works I just have more responsibility. I have six or seven, seven companies, and they’re spread all over Pennsylvania.(31:22)

Christopher: (31:26) Did you see anybody that you met on your tours recently?(31:41)

Mr. Hentz: (31:44) I don’t think so probably not in the last couple months, because I’m no longer in that unit I was deployed with I don’t see those folks on a regular basis, and they’re not one of the units I’m responsible for today. I might see something maybe on Facebook or whatever but personally I haven’t seen them in a while.(32:35)

Connor: (32:59) Was readjustment into civilian life hard at all?(33:06)

Mr. Hentz: (33:08) The first time it was hard. The second time I kinda knew what to expect, but life goes on when you’re not home so there would be conversations. Don’t you remember when we did this, and I’m like no I wasn’t here. Aw yeah you’re right. I missed birthdays and I missed holidays, I missed Christmas. I missed things at school whether it was musical or football games. You miss a lot stuff. In over thirty years I’ve missed not as much of that but I missed weddings, and a lot of things I would have liked to been able to do. That’s just part of what we do. I missed home cooking, and other than missing time things you miss a lot of other things you miss your own bed. The biggest thing for me was human contact, because it’s not very masculine in the military to walk up and hug another guy. As a senior person I have to be careful of perception. I can’t just walk up to, even though we may be the best of friends, I can’t walk up to a girl, hug her and say how are you doing today somebody might misconstrue that. The professional thing to do might be to shake hands or whatever. I went to church every Sunday, at least in church I could get a handshake we could hug each other. It’s a little bit different environment, and thats what kept me going. Missing a hug was probably the biggest thing. To hug my wife or kids, that was the biggest thing I missed(34:27)

Christopher: (34:31) Did you have any bad memories from your deployment?(34:42)

Mr Hentz: (34:45) I try to stay busy. I don’t think I have very many negative memories or impacts from my deployments, Not any more anyways. I can’t just turn on the TV and watch, like i couldn’t go see American Sniper. I can’t watch black hawk down again, I already saw that once. I just can’t, and it’s not like i can’t control its just I have nightmares and stuff like that. But it is what it is. I’m thankful I love where we live, I think Myerstown is a great place to grow up. I grew up here and my kids have grown up here(35:18)

Connor: (35:19) I love myerstown(35:21)

Mr Hentz: (35:21) Yeah I do too(35:23)

Connor: (35:25) If you could go back to when you were joining the service would your decision remain or change?(35:34)

Mr. Hentz: (35:39) Honestly when I signed up in 1985 I never thought I would have the experiences i’ve had to today. I don’t think i have any regrets, although I don’t treasure the time I was away from my family but i’m proud of my service. I think its not for everybody, but I think I would do it again. I way surpassed what my goals were as a young private. I thought it would be really cool just to be a sargent. I used to have a poster in my room that the recruiter gave me it had a sergeant on it. I thought one day, one day I’ll be a sergeant, and I never thought I would obtain the rank I have today. I’m thankful for a couple guys who saw a potential in me, and mentored me throughout my career. They both obtained the same rank as me, and then some. It’s just higher levels of sergeant major. But I thought it was a very positive experience. I don’t think my children will be in the military because of that, but that’s okay too.(36:21)

Connor: (36:23) Thank you for your service to our country, and thank you for doing the veterans history project with us.(36:35)

Mr Hentz: (36:38) You are very welcome.

Scott Hentz Narrative

By: Christopher Habowski Connor Shaak

Command Sergeant Major Scott Hentz was born April 27, 1968 in Myerstown PA, and graduated from Cedar Crest High school. He enlisted to the military right out of highschool. He always had an idea that he was going to join the military one day. He swore into the National Guard on December 30, 1985. In the summer of 1986, Scott Hentz left for basic training In Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Mr. Hentz wanted to be an accountant, so he signed up to be a finance management technician. “ I wanted to be an accountant, and there was a finance unit right down the street in Lebanon. I was a recruiter’s dream!” said Mr. Hentz.He served in Afghanistan and Kuwait. Kuwait is located in the Middle East southwest of Iran. Afghanistan is in the Middle East, but East of Iran, and west of China.

Mr. Hentz was in basic and specialized training. He said “I was in decent shape, but not good enough shape.” He had to do 10 push ups for every letter he received, and one day he received 10 letters. He did his finance training at Fort Ben, Indiana. Mr. Hentz worked his way up in his military ranks, and is now currently a command sergeant major.

The operations and war conflicts that Mr. Hentz served in were Operation Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom. In Operation Desert Storm America wanted to help Kuwait from being invaded by Iraq . Iraq lost control of Kuwait. Operation Enduring Freedom was just the operation name for the war in Afghanistan. The Original name for this operation was "Operation Infinite Justice" .

Mr. Hentz is in the army branch of service, but really he is in the National Guard, and to be even more specific he was in the National Guard of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania National Guard is only one branch of the total U.S. National Guard .  They are civilians who want to provide protection to our community, and our nation.

The (MOS) of my veteran Mr. Hentz was 36B. 36B is The finance management technician. These men and women deal with receiving, reviewing, and sending documents, contracts, check payment, finance reports, and etc. They also prepare obligations and payments according to budget systems and with differential government regulations.

Lastly, a lot of soldiers earn medals when they do something important or show a good quality in teamwork, responsibility, and etc. Mr. Hentz has a lot of good qualities obviously because he has earned many medals while in the service. The one he says that he is most proud of though is the Meritorious Service Medal from Afghanistan. The medal is presented to members of the [|United States Armed Forces]  who distinguished themselves by outstanding meritorious achievement or service to the [|United States]. It definitely is a very major achievement.

Throughout his 30 years of service Mr. Hentz has earned the rank of Command Sergeant Major. This is the highest of a rank that he can obtain, however he can move up in his rank and work for higher bosses. Currently in the Pennsylvania National Guard Command SGT Major Hentz works for a Lieutenant colonel. He is currently based out of spring city Pennsylvania.

When Command SGT Major Hentz came back, he brang multiple items with him. Even though he was able to bring certain things, “ You can’t just go into somebody’s house and thats cool I want that I’m going to bring that home to my house.” said Mr. Hentz. But he was fortunate enough to bring some cool items. Some of those items include handmade walking sticks with mother of pearl inlet. He also brought back Lapis Lazuli jewelry that he bought for his wife and daughter. In the Bazaars he found numerous Soviet items and brought some belt buckles back with him. Finally he brought back many good memories and a couple more friends. Mr. Hentz was very happy to come home though.

He has never fully readjusted to civilian life yet, although he is very involved in his community. “ I try to stay busy.” He is an Assistant Scoutmaster for myerstown Boy scout troop 420. He is also the vice president for the Myerstown Recreation Board. He has two kids, an older daughter and a younger son. Mr. Hentz is still in the military this day. He still lives in Myerstown, and believes it is a great place to raise your children. “I’m thankful, I lover where we live, I think Myerstown is a great place to grow up. I grew up here and my kids have grown up here as well.” He said.

Mr. Hentz has no regrets of joining the military. He stated, “Honestly when I signed up in 1985, I never thought I would have the experiences I’ve had to this day.” Mr. Hentz is proud of his service and so is his family. He is thankful for everyone’s support and the couple guys who saw potential in him, and mentored him throughout his career.