Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Rognstad | Staff Sgt. DeAndre Jackson, the operations/training room noncommissioned officer in...... read more read more
FORT CARSON, Colo. - Staff Sgt. DeAndre Jackson, the operations/training room noncommissioned officer in charge for Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade, grew up the in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was the late 90s/early 2000s, and Jackson pretty much did what he wanted growing up, learning how to navigate life and the social complexities of urban America. Skills he would later use as a Soldier.
“My childhood was FAFO (fumble and around and find out),” Jackson said. “Execute and see what happens. It was supervised, but not enough to where I still couldn’t get hurt. Luckily, nothing bad happened. It was analyzing what was happening in my immediate surroundings and adjusting to whatever came my way.”
After joining Job Corps in highschool, an Army recruiter at the Treasure Island Job Corps Center turned Jackson onto the Army. Jackson joined in 2007 to create a new future and to follow in his dad’s footsteps, a former Marine.
He became a generator mechanic and after basic training and AIT, went to Fort Hood, Texas, for his first duty station. He soon deployed to Iraq in 2008 with the Combat Aviation Brigade of the 1st Cavalry, and then to Afghanistan in 2010. His deployment experiences shaped his early life and gave him a positive outlook on life.
“We had constant indirect motor fire in Iraq,” Jackson said. “I was 19-years old and scared, because it was my first time in a war zone. A mortar has no name on it, so if it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go. It obviously wasn’t my time, so I went on living, and life is good.”
In Afghanistan Jackson said the weather was one of the wildest aspects of the deployment, adding it would change on a dime, and cycle through extremes rapidly. Much like his current duty station, Fort Carson, Colo.
Jackson returned from Afghanistan and after some personal hardships, was assigned to Kaiserslautern, Germany for five years. He loved the assignment and thrived in the culture.
“They had to force me to leave,” Jackson said. “I traveled all over Europe, I really got to know myself as a person a lot more."
After winning the Army’s Best Warrior Competition at the battalion level while in Kaiserslautern, he competed at the U.S. Army European Command BWC, and also in Modern Army Combatives tournaments at every opportunity.
“I’ve been competing in combatives since my first deployment,”’ Jackson said. “I like the idea of me being able to prove myself to myself, and myself alone. For the Best Warrior Competitions and the combatives tournaments I am in a constant competition with myself. I try to zone out all the competitors, because if you’re worrying about them, it’s just expending energy in the wrong direction.”
Near the end of his time in Germany, Jackson heard of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, and was transferred to 1st Space Brigade for his next duty station in 2018. He started out in the brigade motor pool as a mechanic then transferred to 1st Space Battalion’s orderly room tracking personnel records and schools and assisting the company with all things administrative.
“It’s been a good ride for me,” Jackson said of his time in the battalion. “I’ve enjoyed my commanders, liked the work for the most part, and have been surrounded by the smartest Soldiers thus far in my career.”
And as far as the rest of his career, Jackson plans on retiring when he hits his 20 year mark in five years. He wants to get into real estate with his wife and stay in Colorado.
“I figure it’s about time to move on and begin the next chapter in my life,” Jackson said. “I know whatever I do, it will be like when I was a kid - ‘execute and see what happens.’”
| Date Taken: | 05.10.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2022 18:31 |
| Story ID: | 420419 |
| Location: | COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 315 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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