I'm a normal guy.
I love music like Modest Mouse, Ok Go, and The XX.
I love hiking and running and snowboarding.
I surf, I box, I'm an avid reader.
I even volunteer at animal shelters.


But at the same time, I'm a US Army soldier.

I joined in 2006 as an Infantryman with the sole purpose of going to Afghanistan and fighting Osama's men. So the Army sent me to Iraq twice instead.

I'm born and raised in Florida, and have never seen snow, so the Army made my first duty station Fort Wainwright, Alaska, where the temperature can get to -45 degrees.

I chose to reclass after my first deployment to be a Combat Medic because I wanted to do more for my Infantry brothers, I wanted to save their lives. Immediately after my second tour, they sent me to a hospital, where my main task is taking vitals of people with colds.

I was planning on my last reenlistment to get Hawaii in my contract, but the day that my window opened, a memo went out saying no more targeting duty stations.

I've had my dreams crushed again and again by the big cog known as the Army. In 2017, my contract ends. I want to do something wild and amazing and new.

At Wudang Mountain in China, there are many schools that accept foreigners. The cost is a little over $7000 a year, room and board, and the school is 3 years. I need money for the flights there and back, and to fund this great adventure to prove to myself there's no reason to let these last 9 years crush all my dreams.