STAFF SERGEANT MICHAEL DEVAUGHN

Staff Sergeant Michael Devaughn: I'm Michael Devaughn, I'm a student and a Soldier in the Army Reserve. My MOS in the Army Reserve is a 31 Bravo, which is a Military Police Officer. The Army Reserve definitely showed me the career path I wanted to take. If I have any questions about law enforcement, you know, I seek those police officers that are in my unit. It's really great to hear feedback from them. It really motivates me even more to want to be a police officer. Honestly, the people that made me confident have been my leaders in the Army Reserve.

In the Army Reserve, they definitely built me into the leader, the NCO that I am now. I was out to prove to everybody that, you know, this young guy, you know, at 20 years old, can do it. It's kind of the mentality that the Army Reserve builds into you. You know, you want to let everybody know that you're fully capable of making decisions. And then once I was a leader, you know, it rubbed off on me. I give my Soldiers certain tasks and they go out of their way to prove to me that they were able to handle these tasks.

Well, I could say I'm a better student because I've seen both teaching and being a student from both sides now. I can understand what the teacher's trying to do and take it in as a student. My security job is really only a step in my whole law enforcement career. I feel I'm staying refreshed. I'm staying constant with enforcing rules in police departments. And they have a lot of loss-prevention police officers. I'm just gradually climbing this ladder to better myself so I can eventually hold the title of a police officer.

When I go in for a job interview, for instance, the employers definitely get right to my military experience. They're interested, they're like "Well great, he's in the military, he's got discipline, and he's got all these great things he can contribute to our company." And it's just like, another one of those tick marks about being in the Army Reserve that sets you above everybody else.