Juan Fernandez and Jason Ellis head to kosovo
Fourth quarter student Jason Ellis and third quarter student Juan Fernandez will be leaving Marietta and heading to Kosovo for twelve months of active duty. The two are both 1st Lieutenants of the Georgia National Guard 3rd Squadron 108th Calvary R&S (reconnaissance and surveillance.) Their Squadron will be part of a peacekeeping mission in aiding the Eastern European country.
Juan and Jay have been best friends since the day they met in eighth grade at G.A.R. Memorial High School in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania. Their friendship goes way beyond most friendships. Juan having moved from Puerto Rico to America barely knew any English and fortunately for them, due to the fact that they were seated next to each other in alphabetical order, Jason looked out for him. Their friendship grew as they went through high school. Following graduation in 2001 they both enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard doing their boot camp at Fort Sill Oklahoma. While at boot camp Juan’s father passed away unexpectedly, shortly after that his mother moved to Houston, Texas. Jason’s parents became Juan’s legal guardians.
Such tragedy brought to both young men a tighter bond; they were closer than most biological brothers. Jason and his family took Juan in as a member of the Ellis family. Fernandez was humbled and honored, and from that point until today Jay and Juan both feel like true brothers.
After military training they both enrolled at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. As roommates they took all the same classes together, majoring in Exercise Science. While there they were members of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, graduating in 2007 as commissioned 2nd Lieutenants.
This is not the first time the two have been called to active duty. In the fall of 2003 they were a part of the Iraqi Freedom II mission. They were flown to Kuwait, then onto Qatar where Juan spent six months protecting Central Command as a Military Police officer on the base. Meanwhile, Jason was put on a personal security detail to protect high-ranking officers. They also spent time as convoy security at the Kuwait-Iraqi border before returning to Bloomsburg University to finish their degrees.
In January of 2009 they had a second call of duty. This time Uncle Sam sent them to a more volatile area: Camp Taji, ten kilometers north of Baghdad. During their stay they were responsible for protecting the base from attacks. They returned to their civilian lives shortly, got into Life and studied for six quarters till duty called for a third time.
When they received the orders this third time, the reactions were not the same as before. Jason was upset, at first, because he did not want to leave his wife Devon or school. Juan persuaded Jason to look at the positives: it will be a relatively safe deployment due to the fact that it is a peace keeping mission and the Kosovo military is in charge; after that, the NATO forces give support. The U.S. military is the third line of defense. Juan comforted his friend by saying, “Look Jimbo it’s a cake deployment. We’ll come back with some money in our bank accounts, we’ll get promoted to captains and nobody is going to die. And they can’t touch us for another three to five years so we will be able to graduate from Life.”
The comfort and support that they give to each other transcends all aspects of their lives. One example is the fact that Jason is taking a modified load of credit hours here at Life so his buddy can catch up with him. Juan fell behind Jason when he took time off to go to Ranger School, a childhood dream fulfilled.
Jason’s cousin, a chiropractor in New York State, guided the two to Life University.
The chiropractor asked Juan some questions about the body’s ability to heal itself. Upon answering, the doctor told Juan he had all of the philosophies of a chiropractor. Following that meeting, Juan knew his next mission. He came to Marietta to survey the campus in 2009 right after Camp Taji. After visiting the school he knew this was the site for them. Juan recruited his longtime buddy to study Chiropractic. In January of 2010 the two men came to Life University together in a rented truck pulling Jason’s Jeep.
The two soldiers leave for training on August 31st, and will be in Kosovo by October. Jason will be leaving his wife and his dog Bailey for the 13 months. Juan will be leaving behind his 5th Quarter girlfriend Whitney Wills and their dog Foster. In the meantime, Whitney and Devon, will support each other just like Juan and Jason do, by living together and being there for each other on their wait for their dedicated men’s return. Jason and Juan are looking forward to coming back and changing attire from combat boots to Vibrams and the twice-a-week scrubs for wet lab. The two men ask that Life students stay in touch through Facebook. If you would like to show your support you can “friend them” at Juan Fernandez and/or Jason Ellis.
