JBER Public Affairs
2/12/2015 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- At the age of 18, the Lake Tahoe, California native wanted to become a police officer, but did not want to wait three years to carry a firearm legally.
He decided to join the Marine Corps, but his grandfather convinced him otherwise.
Instead, he went to an Army recruiter, but did not meet the requirement to join the Special Forces.
He then approached an Air Force recruiter, after watching a single video, he was sold.
In September 1998, he left home for the first time. The 6-foot-5-inch scrawny teenager who struggled to do 10 push-ups would support multiple deployments, earn a Bronze Star Medal, become a single father, and supervise Airmen.
Military members have to balance their personal and professional lives.
For Tech. Sgt. Jerimiah Brock, 673d Security Forces Squadron resource protection noncomisssioned officer-in-charge, it's a constant struggle, but one he manages.
Military and Deployment
"Filling out my dream sheet at basic military training [Lackland Air Force Base, Texas], I put in every base there is in California, hoping to get stationed close to home, but I was sent across the world to Okinawa, Japan and spent four years there."
On September 1, 2001, while stationed at Kadena Air Base, Japan, his first child was born.
Brock came home from Oman, his second deployment, just in time for the birth of his son. Ten days later, 9/11 happened and he knew he would once again deploy after getting a chance to see his family for a only a couple of weeks.
Things became stressful for the first-time parents as they were taking care of a premature baby and facing a pending third deployment to Spain.
When the war in Iraq kicked off, Brock was on his way to his fourth deployment.
"We were the first Air Force convoy in the country," Brock said. "It was a huge shock to me because it was my first time in a war environment and a different rule-of-engagement mindset."
It was at Tallil Air Base, Iraq that Brock saw death up close.
"I had never seen a dead body before and I watched him die in my arms," Brock said. "His eyes glazed over as if his soul had left his body, and I felt him take his last breath.
"I was covered in blood."
While there Brock and his team were shot at and mortared, found improvised explosive devices on Main Supply Route Tampa and had grenades thrown at them.
When he returned home, he was a little different. He can still remember the eyes and smell of the local national man who died, he said.
He and his wife were unhappy and requested a base of preference so she could be closer to family and friends.
While stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, the operational tempo started to increase once again. The veteran was home only four months of the year and did two more tours in Iraq and Turkmenistan.
His fifth deployment to Iraq was when everything went bad. They were rocketed frequently and IEDs were becoming the norm.
In a one-week span, Brock and his team were shot at while on a convoy mission, handled riots at Camp Bucca, and dealt with personal issues at home.
Remembering vividly, Brock said he was just doing his usual routine at Camp Bucca, a detention facility near Basrah, when one of the detainees asked him "'Mr. Brock, Airman died today, yes?" I said 'I don't know,' and the detainee said, 'Yes, Airman died today.'"
That was before the team received word they had lost two of their members, Senior Airman Elizabeth Jacobson and Army Sgt. Steve Morin, when their convoy was hit by an IED.
He said during his time in Iraq things began a downward spiral. Brock, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, thought the Iraqi people were rude, ungrateful and did not understand what they were doing.
"I was called a baby killer, spit on while in uniform, and told we were just there for the oil," Brock said. "There was a lot of anger built up."
Back on the home front, the communication was bad. His wife invited her friends to live in his house; his money was gone, leaving bills unpaid; his house and car were being repossessed.
"I was ready to kill myself, ready to pull the trigger," Brock said. "I was at my lowest low. As for the suicidal thoughts, I had lost everything I had built; everything I planned for the future was no longer. I figured my kids were the only thing I had left and didn't want them growing up in a broken home.
"I thought it would be better if I died in the combat zone and they would think I was killed in the war and not think of it as a divorce, he said.
"My buddy walked in and saw what I was planning. He sat me down, talked to me about the positives - though few from my perspective.
"Then he told me about the serenity prayer and said from here there was nowhere to go but up. I listened, I followed, and I lived my life," Brock said.
He filed for divorce after his deployment.
At his 10-year Air Force anniversary, while he was stationed at Fairchild, the father of five thought about getting out of the military.
"As a single parent, I had to send my children to my parents when I was away," Brock said. My children were bouncing around everywhere with no solid foundation."
However, he decided to stay in the interest of steady employment. His leadership offered him another duty location that would not deploy him as often.
"The main struggle was service before self [and] understanding it 100 percent was not service before family," Brock said.
During his down time, the father of five is always trying to make up for the lost time.
"I would spoil my children with gifts, take them to their favorite restaurant," Brock said. "On days off, we were constantly camping, fishing, boating and riding ATVs as an escape from hardships - that was our solitude."
Taking advantage of being stationed in Germany, Brock and his children Cole and Dixie would travel to numerous countries to see the different cultures and scenery.
"We went to every kid-friendly festival we could," he said. "I was basically trying to get to know my kids again and they were trying to get to know me."
Brock did not deploy again until 2013, when he went to Afghanistan.
Balance
The balance between personal and professional life comes with planning, organizing and leaving one or the other at the door on the way out, Brock said.
"The logistics are always the hardest," he said, "The important items on either side get prioritized, and you do what you can to share those 24 hours between the two.
"If the Air Force takes time away, I owe my family time, and do what I can to make up for it."
After another marital setback and divorce, Brock remarried again and his children finally found a mother figure.
Hoping his children will understand his job, Brock invited his children to his office so they could see first hand what he does and talk to his Airmen.
"My kids pulled me through the toughest times of my life," Brock said. "I have been in debt to them ever since."
One of his Airmen, Staff Sgt. Madonna Henard, 673d SFS base defense operations controller, said her supervisor will remind them they work as a family, go home as a family.
"We are his family and he is ours," Henard said.
"It's a constant tug-of-war," Brock said. "My troops [Airmen] are also my family and I try to balance both."
"The military is just a chapter, every struggle is a chapter; just keep turning the pages," Brock added. "You can only control what you can control, and do your best every day."
His struggles remind him to take it a day at a time and keep moving forward.
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