Meet Michael Spencer — 2016 Veteran
My name is Michael W Spencer and I live in Rome, Maine.
I have been a mechanic, a woodcutter, carpenter, shoe shop worker, cable installer and many other things in my career life. I have three children: Tyler 22, Michael 12 and Hope age 1. Yes, they call me the decade Dad. I have lived a very differed and sometimes very hard life trying to better myself along the way the best I could. My life has always been about service and helping those in need whenever I could as my father taught me and I have taught my children.
I started my Military career at the age of 36. I suppose it was a midlife crisis and felt kind of lost. I accidently took a wrong turn one day and drove by an Army recruiting station and as I continued driving I just couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to go back… So I did. At the time, the recruitment age had been raised to 42 and I was able to sign up and although it took some doing to get all my affairs in order, starting at the age I did, I was accepted and was sent to Fort Sill Oklahoma for Basic.
I was concerned about being the "Old Man" and I was right. I took a lot of ridicule from the young troops for the first few weeks being called gramps and Old Timer. That changed shortly after the other "Old Man" of 42 and I started to outdo all of the youngins in all of the training. They now called me Bionic and tried their best to keep up and I never heard another criticism after that.
I then went to Aberdeen, Maryland for my Advanced training with the same outcome, but when you can run two miles in 14 minutes at age 37 the comments stop pretty quickly. I was trained as a mechanic and was assigned to the 1136 transportation company where we had just gotten the word we were deploying in less than a year.
So no sooner than I was out of training I went right back into more training, but this time as Force Protection for the Kabul Cluster in Afghanistan. Big change from being a Mechanic. I served there from 2010 to 2011 and it was one of the best learning experiences I ever had. And I never once heard the words "Old Man" but rather became a father figure to most of the younger troops there.
I am now out of the Service and have purchased a new home. I am married to a beautiful caring woman and we raising our new daughter. It is hard sometimes being home with all the changes that have happened in my own mind. I have quite a bit of anxiety and some days my PTSD can get the better of me. I am fortunate to have a very supportive family and support system, but even with that it is rough at times and I need someone other than people to talk to. I have always had a good relationship with critters and look forward to having a companion that can help me find "me" again.
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Jeff Anderson
CEO/Founder, Rebuilding Warriors
