 Hello, I'm Captain Shayna Koss. I'm from Fairfax, Virginia. I have a Bachelor's of Science in Kinesiology from West Point. I graduated in 2016. I'm currently serving as the Executive Officer for Headquarters and Headquarters Company in Third Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. My infantry path has been pretty typical. I attended iBollack right after graduating from West Point. After finishing Ranger School, I PCS to Fort Bragg, where I almost immediately took a rifle platoon. Then six months into my platoon leader time, I applied to Ranger Regiment upon graduating RASP by PCS down to Fort Benning and then almost immediately deployed to Afghanistan, where I took a Ranger platoon in combat. What inspires me as a leader is just the men and women that serve alongside me every single day and just waking up, trying to be the best leader that I possibly can for them. I chose infantry because the branch's mission to close within and destroy the enemy was the most appealing to me. Additionally, I did a personality assessment at West Point and I found that my individual skill set directly aligned with what the infantry was looking for. The most iconic infantry experience of my career was probably taking a Ranger platoon well deployed in a combat zone or exiting Kara Troopers from a C-130 during a night combat equipment jump. What helps me to be successful is every day just trying to live up to the Ranger Creed and knowing that my job's not complete until I've given absolutely everything that I have. My biggest inspiration has been my father who was a career infantryman himself. Other role models for me were my first company commander at Fort Bragg because he always included me as a member of the team and he directly mentored me every single day. Additionally, Captain Christian Grice who was a company commander in my battalion at Bragg was a direct role model for me having joined the Ranger platoon already. The best piece of advice that I could give newly branch infantry cadets is to understand that your branch expects you to attend and graduate from Ranger school. You can't call yourself a leader in the infantry without volunteering for and successfully completing the toughest course we have to offer.