 High stress situations, such as JRTC, often forge a family-like bond for military organizations. But for Master Sergeant Jerry Hankins and Staff Sergeant Matthew Hankins, it's also their reality. My inspiration for joining the military would be my father. He had deployed two times before I got into the military and I kind of felt at that point that he had done his time and served his country and it was time for somebody else to step up to the plate. My grandpa was a drill instructor at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, and that was kind of my inspiration to come into the military. I think every father hopes that their sons follow in their footsteps for sure. I think that a lot of people do automatically set a higher standard for me, knowing my dad and knowing who he is and what he's accomplished. But I also do think that having kind of that higher standard pushed me to become better than what I even thought I could be. Master Sergeant Jerry Hankins agrees that he held his son to a higher standard. I've had to learn to step back and let him be his own person. I think he has forged his own path. As I have forged mine, I think he's did that on his own. We both deployed as Alpha Company BSTB to Afghanistan for nine months. My father being there definitely helped me a lot, helped get me through that, and kind of made the experience a little less frightening. That trip home for him to experience that, that feeling of coming home was probably one of my favorite memories. Some of the rewards of serving with my father have been, I always have a good mentor to always turn to, someone I can always trust to call. When you endure something such as this, it does strengthen the bond. When you endure it together and then after it's over you can talk about it and reflect back on the hard times, the rough times and the good times, and I believe it does bring us closer together. For this father and son, serving together has been a great experience. I'm proud of him, keep pushing, be the best that he can be and the skies will let him. You can do whatever it is you set your mind to do, you can do it.