About me.
I was born and raised in Watertown, Wisconsin, located in Dodge and Jefferson Counties, in between Madison and Milwaukee. I was raised by a father who was a law enforcement officer and a mother who was a letter carrier for the US Postal Service (USPS). I am the oldest of four and my siblings continue to live in Watertown. My entire adolescence was spent in the Civil Air Patrol as a cadet, where I engaged in aerospace education, leadership education, and became qualified/trained in the emergency services and served as a ground team member during US Air Force sanctioned disaster relief missions and missing aircraft searches across Wisconsin.
I graduated from Watertown High School in 2000 and entered US Army Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri in August 2000. From there, I went on to Fort Huachuca, Arizona where I graduated the Army’s All-Source Intelligence Analyst course in April 2001. Soon after, I arrived at my first duty assignment with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Carson, Colorado. For a brief time, I served as an analyst with the Regiment’s 66th Military Intelligence Company before being transferred to Regimental headquarters later that year to become the Regiment’s security manager and intelligence analyst, where I spent the remainder of my first enlistment.
In addition to deploying to Egypt as part of Operation Bright Star immediately following 9/11 in 2001, I deployed with the unit to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom I and II in 2003. Based out of Ramadi in the Al Anbar Province, located in the Western half of Iraq, I was responsible for the Regiment’s intelligence and security programs and also traveled between Fallujah on the unit’s eastern border to Al Qaim on the Iraq/Syria border to provide intelligence and security support to combat operations and Iraqi Defense Forces recruiting operations. I also frequently volunteered with the Quick Reaction Force and patrol/boat units, earning my gold combat spurs. The unit redeployed to Fort Carson in April 2004, where I separated from the Army in August.
After returning to Watertown, I began an associate degree program in criminal justice at UW Waukesha, reported to my Army National Guard Unit in Madison, and met the woman that would become my first wife, all in the Fall semester. I soon learned that my unit would be deploying to Afghanistan and was offered the choice of remaining with them or returning to active duty. For several reasons, I decided to return to active duty and reenlisted in April 2005. I returned to Fort Carson and was initially scheduled to meet my previous unit in Mosul, Iraq but was intercepted by 7th Infantry Division and assigned to the Division’s intelligence section as an intelligence sergeant and the Fort Carson Security Manager where I performed investigations into mishandling of classified data and oversaw a force of 10 Department of the Army police officers. In July I married, and by the end of the year I had volunteered for recruiting duty in order to return home to be with my wife. In July 2006, I graduated from the US Army Recruiting and Retention School and headed to Baraboo.
For over three years I was a field recruiter and station commander out of the Baraboo Recruiting Station for the active duty and reserve components. My wife gave birth to our daughters in 2008 and 2009. In that time, me and my small team of recruiters enlisted over 200 Soldiers. Despite attempting to remain a recruiter for the remainder of my career, I was sent to Fort Hood, Texas in January 2010. Upon arriving at Fort Hood, I was assigned to A Company (Military Intelligence), 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division as a platoon sergeant and Master Analyst. However, in those years since Iraq, some physical and psychological injuries sustained during the deployment worsened, and the military heath care system was too late to respond. Unfortunately, despite my efforts, I was medically retired in January 2012. Upon my return home to Watertown, I struggled to determine what to do next in terms of education and occupation. Because I had initially joined the Army to prepare for a second career in state or federal law enforcement, I was devastated to learn that I no longer met the physical qualifications for law enforcement.
I soon began a bachelor degree program in psychology, in part due to my experiences with the military health care system and a new desire to become a clinical psychologist. By the end of those three years, a growing desire to provide direct therapeutic services to veterans and other adults struggling with addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) replaced my initial goal with that of becoming a substance abuse counselor and social worker. Immediately following my graduation with a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology in 2015, I began an associate degree program in human services at Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) in Milwaukee. In 2017, I graduated with my Associate’s of Applied Science in Human Services with the Substance Abuse Counselor Certificate. That fall, I began the Master of Social Work (MSW) program at Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin. Unfortunately, due to some family- and work-related issues, I had to withdraw from the MSW program in Spring of 2018.
While continuing to live in Watertown, I worked in Milwaukee as a Substance Abuse Counselor – In Training before taking a job with Rogers Psychiatric Hospital, now Rogers Behavioral Health, in Oconomowoc. Earlier in 2017, my wife and I divorced after a several years long divorce process. Towards the end of the year, I met Ashley, who worked as an adolescent therapist for Rogers. Soon after, I learned that she grew up in Richland Center, which I had not visited since my time as a recruiter between 2006 to 2010. We married in September 2018 and welcomed our daughter, Aizlyn, in February 2019. Because we were already traveling frequently between Watertown and Richland Center, we decided to open our own behavioral health clinic in Richland Center. Work on the clinic began in July and the doors opened on January 2nd 2020. Over the past six years, we have served and treated hundreds of individuals collectively through our outpatient, intensive outpatient, and day treatment programs. Also in 2020, I picked up where I left off with my MSW, this time through Arizona State University.
In February 2022, Ashley, her family, and I began a non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) business to provide medical transportation to Medicaid beneficiaries. While my initial involvement with that side of business was limited, I took over daily operations and planning that Fall as the result of a family member’s severe medical issue. Engaging in daily route planning and management of 15 drivers required me to step away from the clinical side of things, though I continued with my clinic administrator duties. Unfortunately, my work load also led to withdrawing from the MSW program with under three quarters of a year remaining. Despite that, I did enjoy the driving and providing a much needed service for our area. Unfortunately, it is my belief that the NEMT system is broken and favors some people over others. In October 2024, we closed that business and returned my focus to the clinic.
Since, I have returned to clinical work. Because most of my previous course work was expired, or about to expire, I have started over at UW Milwaukee’s MSW program. Regardless, I have been able to focus on what I am trained and educated in. I continue to treat individuals with substance use and addiction problems, but I am also trained in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and work with individuals who struggle with PTSD. Additionally, I am trained and certified through the Wisconsin Association of Certified Domestic Violence Intervention Professionals (WACDVIP) to provide assessment and treatment to individuals who have engaged in domestic violence. The clinic is also involved with certain county agencies and provides peer support, critical incident stress management (CISM), and support to the first responder agencies in Richland Center.