I was born in California but raised here in Oregon. I didn’t fully appreciate how great our State was until I joined the military in 2010.

I spent a lot of time in Texas between basic training and my tech school. The hot, dry, flat environment made me miss the beauty of the Willamette Valley. I got lucky and spent the first part of my enlistment stationed in England at RAF Lakenheath. Being in England gave me a lot of travel opportunities. I had the opportunity to go to Oktoberfest in Munich for my 22^nd birthday. I also had deployments to Italy and Djibouti.

After my time in England I got moved to a Squadron in North Carolina. The Unit I was a part of was a training Unit which had a much slower work tempo, which was a relief after the fast paced, mission ready pace of my Unit in England. After getting out of the military I returned to Oregon and started going to school.

Since returning I’ve also started working as a firearms/security/Red Cross instructor and I’ve started a mildly successful YouTube channel.

I’m hoping to use the classes I’m taking toward a multimedia design degree to improve the production quality of my videos and increase my overall online presence.

by: Ryan Miller