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Zach Pena

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Zach Pena remembers some of the devastation and weapons caches filled with a huge variety of deadly items, from top of the line US TOW missiles to WWII hand grenades, that he saw in the Iraqi countryside. While patrolling the desert, anything goes and once things start to happen, your training immediately kicks in. (9:25)

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While at the hospital of Al-Asad Air Base, Zach Pena faced his first mortar strike. Since he was recovering, he had to think quickly in order to make it to safety. Once he returned to combat, they were doing a lot of vehicle checks and so he had a lot of interesting civilian interactions. (8:17)

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Zach Pena recalls his time in Iraq and feeling like he was ready to come home. He remembers coming home to a greeting from a lot of other veterans and feeling welcomed. (7:14)

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Zach Pena remembers getting the call to go to Afghanistan after President Obama called for an increase in troops. While there, their duties were a little bit different but with a similar mission of securing the area. (10:53)

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Zach Pena remembers some of the most inventive IEDs that his platoon came across as they patrolled the Afghan desert. After one particularly hairy encounter in the desert, his platoon had to secure the area and make it back to safety. (10:27)

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Due to the prominence of poppy, Zach Pena and his platoon found many inventive ways that the plant was hidden. After he got a lower GI infection, Pena was almost unable to return home with his platoon, but fortunately mustered the strength to go home with his friends. (12:36)

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Coming back to civilian life, Zach Pena found his time at University of Tennessee to be a smooth transition. Coming back to civilian life can bring some hurdles but he was able to excel at his new challenges and came out for the best. (7:25)

Zack Knight

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He flirted with the idea of joining the Air Force at eighteen, but flirting with girls distracted him. At twenty one, Zack Knight became a police officer, a job that might have been a little too much for his young head to handle. Then, at the ripe old age of twenty eight, he decided to take his skills to the Army. (5:03)

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It angered him at the time, but Zack Knight's run in with his boss on the police force taught him a valuable lesson that he only realized later. After seven years on the force and with a new college degree, he decided to enlist and take his passion for service to a wider arena. (5:23)

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While in basic training, former police officer Zack Knight sketched out an idea for a business that would make good use of his security knowledge. He got it going in his hometown while undergoing National Guard training and just as it began producing decent revenue, his unit was activated for Afghanistan. (4:09)