SPC ANTOINE GRIMES - PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

See why Antoine and his mom Phyllis decided the Army was the right choice for him and how life in the Army has provided opportunities for success.

ositive direction. According to Phyllis, that's what Antoine needed most. He had graduated from high school, but she felt an advanced education could help him get on track for a solid career. She knew the Army would give him just that.

The Grimes family tree is a proud one—it's populated with Army veterans. So Phyllis directed Antoine to the most recent veteran: his older brother, Kevin.

“I thought I would see if Antoine wanted to go out there and just kind of visit with him for a while and talk to him to see if the Army would be of interest to him.”

— Phyllis

Antoine was interested. He
liked what his brother told him
so much that he met with an
Army Recruiter and, at age
20, took the first step on his
new path. He joined
the Army.

Flash Version

Over the next few years, Phyllis watched her son become a Soldier, meet his future wife
in the service and dutifully
perform his job specialty:
Human Resources Specialist.

Through rigorous Army
training, Antoine gained the
skills and developed the
leadership abilities that
Phyllis always knew were
inside of him. His training
also helped prepare him for a
deployment to Iraq in the spring of 2003.

"Once I found out he was going to be
deployed, I was not a happy camper. I was very nervous... but I just had to have faith that things would be okay," she says.

Things were okay. Antoine's Iraq experience was a hard test, for both him and Phyllis. Yet he came home safe and sound—ready to start planning his future.

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Continue Antoine's Story >

Phyllis: When Antoine graduated from high school, I was just kind of concerned about what direction he would want to take, and I knew that my son Kevin had already experienced the Army.

Phyllis: So I thought I would see if Antoine wanted to go out there and talk to him, to see if that's something that would be of interest to him.

Antoine: Well, originally I was going to look at all the branches. Marines, Air Force, Navy. And I finally set on the Army because my brother gave me a lot of good influence on that.

Phyllis: I was really interested in him just getting some direction in life, and I knew that education is very important to our family. I figured that he would get a chance to get a job and education, and just kind of have a basis for the rest of his life.