In this latest episode of “A Tribute to Our Heroes,” we talk with Air Force Veteran Carlos Cervantes, who is currently in the retirement process and serving as an intern for Soldiers’ Angels.

Carlos shares about his 25-year Air Force Career, from deployments to Iraq alongside his father to his biggest advice for Military families and his favorite places to travel.

You can view our full video interview with Carlos below.

Q: What made you want to enlist?

A: I grew up as a Military dependent and almost knew it was going to be in my future. Right out of high school, I decided not to try it out and go a different route. My dad was in the Army; I grew up under his rules in an Army household. He was strict, he was hard on us, a lot of discipline… I’m the oldest, so I kind of had to figure out life, but I tried for two years. I was a knucklehead kid, I didn’t know what I was going to do, and I didn’t really have any direction. I was just messing around. My mom was the one who said, “You better do something, join the Military,” and that was the start of it. I told my dad I wanted to join the Military, and he heard, “the Army,” and we went to the recruiters’ office together. I figured out pretty quickly that my dad and the recruiter had a conversation, and I was just a side conversation. I was like, “You know if I really want to join the Military, I’m going to have to venture out and see what I can do.” I went to the Air Force [recruiter], saw what they can do as far as jobs go, and said “Sign me up.” I went home and told my dad, “I joined,” he was all proud, “The Air Force,” and he was like, “What?!”

Q: You were in for 25 years, obviously you joined at a very young age, is there a moment in your career that sticks out to you the most that highlighted the biggest change in you?

A: Absolutely, there are specific moments in my career that I won’t forget. I can call them out by year, like 2009 and 2013. Those are the years that really stood out to me in my entire career. In 2008-2009, I was deployed with my dad in Iraq. For the first 15 years of my career, I was on active duty status with my dad. My dad spent 35 total years in the Army until the Army said, “Sergeant Major, you’ve been in a little too long, and it’s time for you to leave.” Being in Iraq with my dad was a unique experience. We were with two different units, two different branches. I was in Baghdad, in the green zone, at the U.S. Embassy. My dad was up North in Baqubah, which has more activity than the green zone. I did some work on the admin side but more on personal security detail, so I was stepping out of my career field into uncharted territory where I had no experience, and I was a driver for a gun truck. I was always on the phone with my dad, getting his insights on things, and he was always checking up on me. It was just a great experience. We crossed paths in Iraq about three times: one was [both] my birthday and Thanksgiving. My birthday is on November 15. We had a small stint where we were able to see each other, and he went back through and saw me again. Who can say that they spent their birthday and Thanksgiving, in Iraq, with their parents? The second event, 2013, I changed career fields to Equal Opportunity, my oldest son was born, and I was promoted to Master [Sergeant]. That’s three things in one year that all happened at once.

Q: What was it like in Iraq in 2008-2009?

A: We still had mortar attacks, things like that, in my area, there were 41 recorded mortar attacks. We’d get in-bounds and we’d have to duck and cover or go indoors, but for the most part, we had controlled ECPs for routes we’d take. There was still some activity, but other than that, inside of controlled areas we were pretty safe.

Q: You ended up getting married and having two kids while in the service, do you have any advice for Military couples?

A: My wife and I have had a phenomenal marriage, we did get married when we were a little bit older; I was 30, and she was 26. That also helped, being a little older, I can’t say I was fully mature, but still. With marriage, one of the things that really helped us, being a military family, constantly moving, was trying to stay resilient. I mean, trying to home-school our kids while I’d be TDY and gone for a week, in fact, when I was at MEPCOM I was TDY for half of my assignment, one week out, one week back, one week out… I think it’s being present, just being there for each other, to support each other is one of the things that if you’re not careful life can get the best of your time, best of your family. It’s unfortunate to say this, but one of the human factors that we’re interested in higher levels of leadership in the Military is the divorce rate. The divorce rate is a big deal because people in the Military tend not to stay together or retire when their families are already broken. You have to stay aware that those are the challenges you face with your loved one. Some of the things that we do as a family are 1) Never cuss at each other, 2) Never name call, and 3) Give each other grace to make mistakes. One more to add for deployments. One of the things I’ve learned is we have technology now, we have video chatting, so I’d dedicate some time to chat with my family. The chaplain had a room where you could record yourself reading a book with your kids. You have to get creative.

Q: Where is your favorite place you’ve traveled to?

A: That’s hard because I’ve had a pretty good journey in my Air Force career. I’ve been to so many neat places. I love Korea, but some people hated being in South Korea. It was a remote tour, but being overseas was pretty neat, seeing different cultures was really awesome. Stateside, Peterson Air Force Base was my playground, so the Colorado Springs area. Rock climbing, snowboarding, and camping with friends, it was amazing, that was a great assignment, I had a lot of friends there. Then, [Misawa] Japan, I was there for three years, and then when we got married we added an additional year there.

Q: Do you have thoughts on how the civilian population can come to understand Veterans and Service Members a little bit better?

A: Being in the Military is very unique, it’s not just the Service Member that serves, it’s the whole family. There are huge sacrifices that are made, you miss anniversaries, birthdays, and weddings because you are out serving our nation. The things that we don’t always understand, like Military pay, things like that. With the cost of living continuously going up, when was the last time that Service Members’ pay was looked at, and we compensated Military members appropriately to survive? We’re in challenging times right now, as a whole nation, but on the Military side when you really calculate how much a Military member gets paid, you know we’re on call 24/7, we don’t get paid as much as some folks think. Less than 1% of Americans serve in the Military, I think last year it was 0.4%, so when you think about our Veterans and the sacrifices that they made, take care of them, take care of their benefits, take care of them. They’ve given a lot to our country. That’s a small price to pay for the huge gratitude for our military. opportunity.

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