 My name is Staff Sergeant Ashley Fiemster, currently 43 years old, and I enlisted into the Army Reserve when I was 22 years old and went through boot camp at age 23 that summer. It's a broad spectrum as to why people do things, why people make big decisions such as going to college, joining the military, or a certain branch for that matter. I joined because I wanted the satisfaction of knowing that I served and the experience of serving and plenty of benefits, who doesn't want benefits. I wanted to better myself, I wanted to better my resume, better my career, want some college money and just want to better myself all the way through and I want to meet new people. I first joined up in 2000 and with that I started my college career after basic. I was a little nervous but I got through everything, done a year of college, got out of college to do my AIT truck driver training because well I thought that was just the neat thing to do for a college kid and the AIT was short. Long after I'd done some time at a community college in Appalachia State University and at that point my Army Reserve unit deployed. I was nervous, a lot of prayers lifted up. I had a neat experience with that, some ups and downs. I made it back home, glory be to God for that because many people did not make it home. Soon after that I decided I wanted to try something different so I gave the Navy Reserve a try and they put me in construction electrician, something I didn't know very much about. I could turn a lot switch on and off but that's about it. I got adequate training. After three years I knew it was time to go back to my roots. I wanted to go to a closer unit in the Army where I knew some people. 2009 I joined the National Guard and that's when a lot of doors opened up to me. I've become a member of the Military Funeral Honors where we honor veterans who have done past on. I did one state active duty time before this in 2009 pulling some folks out of snow and checking to see if anybody was in danger of that. With my career winding down, no deployments with the National Guard, this state active duty come up and I knew it would be an honor and a privilege to jump into this, jump into the unexpected, have a little adventure and to go out with a bang and have something to remember. I knew that my time is running short. This is a grand opportunity for me to get out and be with some soldiers, work with some soldiers, work with some airmen that are here so that's been a great experience. It's just been good to know that I'm doing my best to live out my faith in God and country, make a difference, get the supplies out wherever they need to be and make some memories because these are times that we'll never get back again or I know I'll never get back again because I'm about to call it a career and be 21 years exactly, almost and in 2021, March or April, I'll be getting out officially with my 20 year letter at 21 years and it's been a great ride and it goes by very fast. I know I have my scary beginnings. I wasn't sure if I made the right choice, career choice, life choice and with a lot of prayer and faith, I moved forward. I conquered it, I conquered my fears, I conquered my doubts, I accomplished my goals such as earning rank, finishing schools, different military schools, finishing college, meeting the right one for me, starting a family while serving and meeting other soldiers, getting a hold of some equipment, using that equipment and going out to the different adventures, different camps, different trainings, different facilities. There's just so much to see and so much to do and I can't regret any of it because it helped shape and make me who I am today.