I sign in and meet my team. These guys have been training together for six months, and there aren't a lot of new guys in the room. It's scary enough … - Matthew O. Williams

My father instilled hard work, integrity, selfless service, and other values in my upbringing. I've always had a willingness to serve, but the military wasn't something I thought much about until 9/11. After that, I went about my business, learning as much as I could about the different branches of the military.
When I graduated college in 2005, our nation was at war. I settled on the US Army's 18X program, which allowed me to go to Special Forces assessment and selection right off the street. I liked the Green Berets, their mission and motto, De Oppresso Liber. It means "free the oppressed." Giving people the opportunity to fight for themselves is very important.

The team is awarded ten Silver Stars and one Air Force Cross. What still stands out for me that day, what I've learned, is that when everything hits the fan and it's game on, if you have trust and real camaraderie with a really well-trained team, your capabilities alone and together are pretty astounding. I know I'm going to constantly seek out this level of camaraderie and team building throughout the rest of my military career.

My first mission will be village clearance with some older Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) personnel. I load up in the helicopter in Bagram and fly out. As we're hovering over the target, everything around me completely browned out, I look down at the dirt, half expecting the bad guys to rise up and attack. And that's when it hits me. I'm in Afghanistan, and this shit is for real.