A Veteran’s Story

In my community, I am often asked to speak at events honoring veterans and first responders. A common message I have is to tell them to share their stories.

As we approach this Veterans Day, I decided to take my own advice and share, briefly, my own story as a veteran.

I retired from the Army in 2013 after serving in both the New Mexico Army National Guard for three years and on active duty for 24 years. Two incorrect assumptions that people make are that I came from a military family and that I always wanted to make the military a career.

While my grandfather, John S. Aragon, served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, and my father, Robert P. Chavez, served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, it is only through photographs that I have any understanding of their military service.

Although I attended New Mexico Military Institute for both high school and junior college, it was not my career goal to serve in the military, much less make a career of it. It was a last-moment decision to stay at NMMI for junior college and to seek a commission in the United States Army.

With a bald head and Army fatigues, I turned 18 years old at Reserve Officer Training Corps basic camp at Fort Knox, Ken. A few months later, I contracted with the Army to complete officer training in exchange for military service.

Two years later and after another summer of training — this time at Fort Riley, Kan. — I was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserves. I was now in a steady relationship with my now 37-year spouse, Holly, and I had no plans to go on active duty. I instead planned to meet my military service obligation in the New Mexico National Guard.

While completing my bachelor’s degree at New Mexico State University, I was assigned as a platoon leader in Truth or Consequences. It was a great leadership experience leading soldiers, most much older than me. To this day, I count this experience as one of the best leadership development periods of my life.

As I approached college graduation, I applied for active military service. Now married and with two daughters, my wife and I decided to take this step while she finished her own degree. Fortune smiled on us as the Army assigned me to Fort Bliss, Texas, and my wife was able to complete her degree at New Mexico State University.

Fortune is a two-way street and shortly after coming onto active duty I was deployed to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield and later moved through Iraq as part of Operation Desert Storm. Holly held down the home front, unknown to us it was the first of many times to do so.

Returning from the war had its own challenges but our little family navigated them, adding a son to the rolls. I completed this first assignment at Fort Bliss as a personnel officer. Germany followed where I served as a logistics officer and completed my first command assignment.

After returning to Fort Bliss for a second command assignment, I deployed twice more, both times to Kuwait. Again, Holly held the home front. We were approaching 10 years in the Army, and with my service obligation complete, we questioned if this was the right time to depart the Army. With promotion to major, we decided to go for a 20-year career and retirement.

School at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, a master’s degree in human resources, two tours of duty in Korea, an assignment at the Pentagon, promotion to lieutenant colonel, battalion command and a return to Fort Bliss made quick work of the next 10 years. In that time, we added two more sons to the family, one born in Korea, and the other in Bethesda, Maryland.

On promotion to colonel and completion of a second master’s degree at the U.S. Army War College in 2010, the nation had been at war for a decade. Again, I left the family behind and deployed to the Middle East. Working out of Qatar, I oversaw air defense operations throughout the region and found myself crisscrossing the region for the entire year.

Upon return to Fort Bliss, Holly and I decided this would be our last assignment. As I worked out my final years in the Army, we began preparations for retirement.

The span of 27 years was over in the blink of an eye. Temporary duty in places like Moscow, Morocco and Guam all added color to the story while soldiers, peers, superiors and friends gave it texture. These life experiences built the foundation for my second current career as a magistrate judge.

Although my military career was unplanned, it was a rich one. My fellow veterans, please share your story.

(Magistrate Judge John R. Chavez is the magistrate in Belen. He is a native of Valencia County and is a retired U.S. Army colonel.)