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October 5, 2012 - U.S. Army Spc. Patrick Serna is a 23-year-old
native of Corcoran, Calif., who is serving in eastern Afghanistan
with B Battery 4th Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery
Regiment, Task Force 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team,
headquartered out of Bamberg, Germany. Serna enlisted as a cannon
crewmember in 2011 and is on his first deployment to Afghanistan
with the 173rd. Photo by Army Sgt. Michael
Sword
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LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan (10/19/201) – The reasons people join
the military are often as varied as the individuals that are
joining. For U.S. Army Spc. Patrick Serna, a machine gunner for B
Battery, 4th Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment,
Task Force 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, there was only one
reason he left his hometown, his son, Mason.
“He's my main
reason for joining the Army,” said Serna, a native of Corcoran,
Calif. “I knew that if I could join, I could pay bills, go to
college and I'll be able to support him in the long run.”
When Serna, 23, walked into the recruiter's office to pick a
military occupational specialty, what the Army calls their jobs, he
was already leaning toward a job in combat arms.
“I had that
mindset that ‘I need to go to the Army, be crazy and fight the war,'
but, there were no infantry spots open,” he said. “So I picked this
MOS because they shoot cannons and it sounds fun.”
As a
cannon crewmember, Serna originally learned to be part of a team in
charge of firing the battalion's large artillery pieces. However,
here B Battery is in the role of a maneuver unit and he finds
himself patrolling the mountains of Afghanistan's Wardak province,
with the nearly 30 pound M240B machine gun in hand.
“'Embrace the suck' as they always say, but I'll do what I have to
for all our guys to get back,” he said.
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No matter what he's doing, Serna continues to enjoy it.
“I want to excel as much as I can in the Army and get
what I can get out of it,” he said. “My recruiter told me,
‘If you're going to be combat arms, make sure you go to
college,' so I'm going to do as much college as I can.”
Growing up, Serna moved up and down the west coast, so
he's no stranger to being in a new location. But being so
far from home, and especially his son, makes life in
Afghanistan a little more difficult.
“It sucks being
away from him now, but in the long run it will be better for
us,” he said.
When he returns to Bamberg, Germany,
the home of B Battery, Serna plans on reenlisting in the
Army. He hopes to end up somewhere closer to home, but even
if not, he plans on continuing his military career as a
paratrooper.
“Probably my favorite thing about the
Army is doing things you can't just do back home,” he said.
“You can't jump out of planes anywhere else for free.”
By Army Sgt. Michael Sword
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2012
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