Honoring Veterans: All Gave Some, and Some Gave All

Southside Bank is proud to support our veterans, especially our veteran team members. Today, we want to spotlight Brian Hebert, our Branch Manager in Bullard, Texas. Brian shares his story about his time in the United States Army and what serving our country means to him:

In November of 2005, I enlisted and was shipped off to the U.S. Army Military Police training facility at Ft. Leonard Wood for 23 weeks of training before being sent to my unit. In early 2008, we were notified that we would be deployed to Iraq by the end of summer. We spent time in Mississippi and Kuwait to prepare for the deployment, and we were in country as planned.

During my deployment to Mosul, Iraq, I was our fire team’s machine gunner and our squad’s designated marksman. We ran Police Transition missions that encompassed training new Iraqi Police (IP) recruits, training current IPs, and running real-world missions with the IPs. We also assisted with local internment facilities that housed enemy prisoners of war. After my deployment, I made team leader and finally squad leader. I entered the Individual Ready Reserve in late 2012 and was honorably discharged in 2013.

I have a very high level of respect for our veterans and even more for those who didn’t make it back home. One such soldier was a 1^st Lieutenant whose platoon from the Tennessee National Guard was attached to our unit during my deployment. We had several wounded during our time downrange, but this soldier made the ultimate sacrifice which had a great impact on me. As a country, we have great support for our U.S. service members, and I hope that continues. So, if you see a Veteran while you’re out, I hope you’ll acknowledge their service to our great country. All gave some, and some gave all.