This summer I had one of the best of my life. I was given the chance to travel across New York, to places familiar and new, serve my community through the National Guard, and spend quality times with loved ones. The summer was my first college summer and I was pleasantly surprised by the length. Although, as I sit in my dorm room I do wish that it was longer. However, a summer vacation stretching from mid-May to the end of August was certainly an improvement from High School.

The first part of my Summer was my involvement in National Guard activities. After school ended my girlfriend and I attended the Lilac festival in Rochester, my hometown. The Lilac festival is a wonder Rochester tradition, highlighting the stunning and fragrant lilacs that grow in Highland Park. It was my girlfriend's first time at the festival and she had a wonderful time. A few days later I attended drill weekend, and it turned out differently than anticipated. The event was supposed to be three nights and four days in the woods of Fort Drum, spanning from Friday to Sunday afternoon. However, on Friday afternoon, I was strongly suggested to be activated to respond to the sever flooding of Lake Ontario in Rochester. I was all too eager to leave Fort Drum and go assist my hometown.

I responded to Rochester at 7:00 in the morning, after driving nearly three and a half hours back to Niagara Falls and then driving another hour and a half back to Rochester. On the first day we just did in-processing, however on the second day we went to a suburb of Rochester and spent the entire day filling sandbags for local citizens to pick up. I worked with soldiers from New York city filling these bags, and we learned a lot from one another. The citizens who picked up the sandbags were incredibly grateful for the bags, as many were elderly and could not have possibly filled the bags themselves.

The next day we were sent to another suburb of Rochester, but this time we were doing field work. That meant drudging through waist deep water to build sandbag retaining walls in order to keep the surging lake back. Again, we worked mostly with the elderly populations, people who could not possibly build the walls themselves. This work was certainly more difficult, as we were waist deep in sludge waters struggling to lift heavy sandbags into place. Walls were built quickly however, due to a massive team effort.

The opportunity to serve my community was one that I had been waiting to do since enlisting in the National Guard, I was honored and humbled to be able to assist those who needed it.

Next week I will detail the exciting trips I took and my misadventures in Fort Drum.