SEARCH RESULTS

Zach Pena

---

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)

---

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)

---

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)

---

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

---

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)

---

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)

---

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)

---

The new operation in Afghanistan was named Freedom's Sentinel. Zack Knight was a brand new platoon leader who was told to forget guard duty, he and his men were going straight into combat ops. The rules of engagement had been loosened and they were told to go out and make contact. (3:54)

---

Zack Knight's platoon was stationed at a remote camp in Kunduz Province where there was a small Green Beret contingent and a lot of unreliable Afghan Army soldiers. When bad intel led to a firefight that cost the unit its first casualties, it hit him hard because he wasn't there and he watched it unfold on remote video. (7:05)

---

There were cease fires but the Taliban always did something anyway, which made a farce of the situation. The locals could be friendly and helpful, making short work of a landing pad and painting a mural. To platoon leader Zack Knight, the best were the interpreters, some of whom were killed after the disastrous American withdrawal. (5:14)