User:Venessa.hernandez

I grew up in the suburbs outside of Seattle, Washington. I lived with my brother, Jason and my mother, Lisa. My mom was a very hard worker and she unintentionally gave us too much freedom to make our own decisions. I was very rebellious- hanging out with much older people, going to rock concerts, festivals, and events at age 14. School became the least of my worries and the events on September 11, 2001 changed my entire outlook on life. I dropped out of High School when I was 17. Two years later I decided to go back to school. I was 18 going on 19 and aspired to be a soldier. I took 22 quarter hours at Lake Washington Technical College, just enough for the Army to let me in.

In August, 2006 I shipped out to Basic Combat Training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. It was at the end of summer, but the air was still hot and thick. The drill sergeants knew my name the first day, and I knew I was in for a long nine weeks. After graduation, a handful of soldiers and me were bussed north to Fort Meade, Maryland. We arrived at the Student Company Barracks on a brisk evening in November. A few weeks later we started basic still photography at the Defense Information School, along with Marine Corps, Air force, Navy, and International Military students. After graduating BSP and Video Production Documentation I received orders for the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany.

On Friday, October 13, 2006 I arrived in Hohenfels, Germany. I was assigned to the VIPer (Visual Information Personnel) Observer Controller Team. Our main mission was to provide visual information support for the after action review of combat training conducted in "The Box", or the training area in Hohenfels. At first I was assigned to the GNN section (Global News Network), where we worked as a fake news reporting team in order to provide soldiers with media training. After my short stint as a reporter, I found my niche as a Rover, filming training, up close and in their faces. I worked on over 13 rotations to include training missions for OIF, OEF, and KFOR with NATO forces, Russians, Georgians, New Zealanders, Australians and countless others.

I am currently on orders to return to Fort Meade, MD, this time to the 55th Combat Camera unit. I will be in 2nd Platoon, which will deploy to Iraq next year in support of OIF. I have decided to continue my education through Thomas Edison State College, where I am working on my BA in Journalism.