Photo By Master Sgt. Robert Segin | 1st Sgt. Gary Grooms is the first sergeant of B Company, 53rd Signal Battalion,...... read more read more
By Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Rognstad, USASMDC
Twenty years of service to your country is no small undertaking. In a 2011 Department of Defense study, only 17 percent of those who join retire from the military. 1st Sgt. Gary Grooms, B Company, 53rd Signal Battalion, Satellite Operations Brigade, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, is coming up on his final year of 20 years of service in the Army.
“I’ve made a lot of good friends, had a lot of great memories and been through a lot of great training,” Grooms said. “And a lot of development as far as a leader of Soldiers.”
Grooms has been in the SATOPS Brigade for the majority of his career working in Wideband Satellite Operations Centers that execute, coordinate communications payload and transmission of the Defense Satellite Communications System and Wideband Global Satellite-Communication satellite constellations.
He has worked in just about every capacity in a WSOC.
“WSOCs bring reliable communications and dedicated Soldiers to the career field to make sure the job is done right,” Grooms said.
Aside from schools and a couple deployments, Grooms has worked at a WSOC for 15 of his 20-year career.
“I’m proficient at my job, and I can relate to the Soldiers that are in this field,” Grooms said. “It’s been a good career. The biggest highlight is the position I’m in now as a first sergeant.”
Inspired to join the Army by his former Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) instructor, who was a former retired Army first sergeant, in his high school in Latta, South Carolina, Grooms’ long-term goal in the military was to attain the rank of his former instructor.
“He took an interest in me and showed me what right looked like," Grooms said. “He really inspired me to make me want to do something better with my life.”
And just like his former instructor, Grooms wishes to also teach, inspire and lead high school students in a JROTC program somewhere.
“I want to have a broad impact on future Soldiers,” Grooms said. “As a first sergeant now, I am really getting to have an impact on the shaping and molding of Soldiers, and I wish to have that same impact on the youth in JROTC.”
Grooms likes nothing more in life than to have an impact on Soldier’s careers and enjoys leading and mentoring them.
“Some of them will eventually take the position I’m in now, and I want to make sure they are ready,” Grooms said. “It’s my job to make sure all of my Soldiers are ready for their next rank or position.”
Grooms is married and has two daughters ages 18 and 10. He enjoys spending time with his family, beekeeping and woodworking.
| Date Taken: | 06.04.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 06.21.2021 09:51 |
| Story ID: | 399324 |
| Location: | MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 514 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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