POWERGRAMS

7 When Paul Taylor joined the Army as an 18-year- old, he saw a way to put himself through college. He never dreamed it would turn into a secondary career spanning 30 years and take him across the U.S. and around the world. Taylor was a high school junior when he signed his name on the dotted line for his country. "We had a recruiter come to the school, and he talked about the great benefits the military had to offer and that you could retire in only 20 years. That got me interested," said Taylor, Greene County Steam Plant security team leader. "I knew my parents didn't have enough money to put both me and my twin sister through college, so I decided the military was the way to go." Taylor didn't waste any time. He went to basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, the summer between his junior and senior years. After his high school graduation in 1986, Taylor was assigned to a military police unit and was immediately deployed to Seoul, South Korea, where he was stationed for the next two years. As a private first class in Bravo 501 Company, he spent his days in the Demilitarized Zone, patrolling the border between North Korea and South Korea. "It was a new and different experience," said Taylor. "But the soldiers who had been over there a while took me under their wing and showed me what I needed to do to move up through the ranks." After Korea, Taylor's unit was sent to Germany for eight years. Although he spent most of that time checking passports and other documentation at the Berlin Wall, he said it gave him the chance for sightseeing and travel to countries, including Spain, the Netherlands and Kosovo. Middle East becomes second home It wasn't all smooth sailing for Taylor, who was deployed to the war-torn Middle East five times. While his unit was stationed in Berlin, Taylor and his comrades were dispatched to Iraq in 1990 as part of Operation Desert Storm. Their job was to check the coalition forces through the border between Iraq and Saudi Arabia to ensure they were on the approved personnel list and were carrying the proper equipment and documentation. "It was very stressful because you never knew if the Iraqis who were crossing the border were carrying bombs or guns," Taylor said. "I was very afraid for the first three or four months. I kept thinking, 'Am I doing the right thing? Why did I join?' But over a period of time, that stress goes away and it just becomes a job." After eight months, Taylor returned to Frankfurt, Germany, where he remained until his tour of duty ended in 1995. He then joined the U.S. Army Reserve, followed through on his long-ago dream and received his associate degree in criminal justice from Georgia Tech in 2002. While in the Reserve, Taylor, a sergeant in the 287th Transportation Company, was deployed to the Middle East in 2000 and stationed in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, Iraq, for 21 months. Then, after only three weeks back on the job at Greene County Steam Plant, he received orders to return to Iraq. In 2008, Taylor shipped out again, this time to Baghdad, the epicenter of the conflict. Taylor worked as a heavy equipment operator during all three deployments. His unit was responsible for moving tanks, armored vehicles and heavy equipment, and providing security for American soldiers. Taylor and his comrades drove 25-ton 18-wheelers from sunup to sundown, often into the night. Although it was mostly business as usual every day, Taylor remembers one instance that turned "hairy" fast. "We were in a firefight in Fallujah for three days," Taylor served country for 30 years, with five deployments to Middle East

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