Staff Sergeant Robert Waples joined the Army in 1994 right out of high school as a stepping stone to becoming a police officer. In 1998 he transitioned to the National Guard and shortly before 9/11, SSG Waples applied for special forces duty, and his unit was activated after the towers fell. The Army then hooked Waples up because of his previous experience, assigning him to an A-Team and sending him to Afghanistan before he even completed the qualification course. After fighting all over Afghanistan, SSG Waples wanted to spend more time with his family, so he transferred to the Maryland National Guard 115th Infantry. But the Army hooked him up again, activating his unit and deploying them to Taji, Iraq. Watch the episode to hear SSG Waples talk about fighting insurgents in the middle east, getting wounded in a complex IED ambush, and then fighting his personal demons following his retirement in 2008.

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