Ozzie Perez

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About SFC Perez, Ozzie

My story starts in Woodbridge, NJ back in 2005. I came up in a home with many opportunities but my father wanted my brothers and I to learn what it meant to earn a dollar. When it came to college, he was the same way so I took out a loan and was heading into my second year of college and decided it was time to join. I would have joined earlier but since I was my mom’s only child, I was her baby and promised her I would at least complete a year worth of college before enlisting. See, I always knew I was going to enlist and so did she. To easy the blow of me joining, I gave in to her terms. My grandfather was retired Military Police and my godfather/uncle was retired Infantryman and I wanted to keep that tradition going, as well.

In the summer of 2005, walked into my local recruiting office in Edison, NJ and talked to SSG Jones. He told me about being a 13F or Fire Support Specialist. He explained I would be the eyes of the artillery sitting on a hilltop telling them where and when to shoot, that in a way, I would be saving lives when things got hairy, and I had a chance to make a difference from the front lines. He also explained that it was a starred MOS (job) meaning it was a job in demand and that I would get a $20 thousand dollar bonus and the GI bill. I told him to sign me up and I shipped out 6 weeks later to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for OSUT or One Station Unit Training meaning I had the same people and Drill Sergeants for 16 weeks for basic training and AIT or Advance Individual Training. Being with the same men for so long created a bond that I could not explain. I still talk to many of the same guys until this day.

My first duty station, and I did not know at the time, was Fort Bliss, TX for the next 8 years as part of 4/1 CAV and later re-flagging to 4/1 Armor Division. During my time there, I deployed 4 times. I went to NTC three times or the National Training Center, Iraq three times, JRCT once or the Joint Readiness Training Center, and Afghanistan once. These tours are actually, what kept me in the Army. I believe that I made such an impact on our day-to-day lives out there that some soldiers came home because of my lethality on the battlefield. This gave me a huge sense of pride and accomplishment. I believe that the reason I came home was my leader’s ability to think outside of the box to get our platoon trained. Everything from doing shoot houses with El Paso Swat to ruck marches up Trans Mountain, which had the same “iffy” terrain that the mountains had in Afghanistan where every step you took, you slid back three got us one step closer to being ready for what was to come. Also, while at Fort Bliss, I got to go schools like JFO or Joint Fires Observation which allowed me to be more lethal in the fight giving me the ability to tell aviation units, specifically jets and attack helicopters, where and how to engage the enemy. I held positions such as SAW gunner or Squad Automatic Weapon which I operated on top of a Humvee, being a team leader meaning I was in charge of two soldiers underneath me, becoming a squad leader meaning having three teams under my care, and operating the main gun on a Bradley, one of the Army’s up armored track vehicles.

My most life-altering event happened while at Fort Bliss though, meeting my wife, Estela, and us having our two girls, Sadie and Briella. They are my life and my drive to do well at what I do.

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