Spc. Dominic Moriarty, A Battery, 1st Battalion, 19th Field Artillery, is waiting for a top secret clearance to move on to Advanced Individual Training as a geospatial analyst. In the meantime, he is able to see his uncle, Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Mo...
FORT SILL, Okla.-- Typically Army training takes a Soldier away from family, but that's not the case for the Moriartys.
Spc. Dominic Moriarty, who graduated Basic Combat Training, is just across the train tracks from his uncle, Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Moriarty, Field Artillery School CSM.
"It's cool because since I've been here I've gotten to see him a lot more," said Dominic. "He was always doing something, he's busy with deployments, so I didn't get to see him too much before I came here."
"Nobody knew he was my nephew," said CSM Moriarty.
He didn't want his nephew to get attention, positive or negative, because of his rank and status in field artillery.
"Either you're going to make it on your own or not," he said.
Moriarty didn't want to disrupt Dominic's BCT so he waited until end of cycle testing to see him.
"I visit training quite a bit anyway, so I just made it like I was visiting. It was great seeing him."
Moriarty said his nephew is following his footsteps on the enlisted side, although he wished he had chosen field artillery.
"Even if you come in for a little while, why not progress as far as you can? In the artillery you know we move up a little faster in a combat MOS."
He laughed and added, "They need the next field artillery command sergeant major Moriarty, so that could've been him."
Dominic said his uncle influenced his decision to join the Army by sharing stories of his career.
"I remember back in the day when I was 11 or 12 he would always send us pictures, I believe it was from Fort Sill. He told me some stories, and I kind of looked up to him because some of the things he's been through are incredible."
Dominic joined the Army to be a geospatial imagery analyst. He has been waiting on a security clearance since he graduated BCT two months ago.
"I specifically came into the Army to do intelligence," said Dominic. "I always wanted to be a Soldier, and I also wanted to go into the law enforcement side. While I'm young and graduated from college, I can do the Army and see what it's all about. If I do four years that's great, but if I decide to do 20 that's even better."
His goal is to work for the federal government in the criminal justice field and eventually work for the National Security Agency.
As a clearance hold, he said he's getting his first test in resilience.
"You have to be mentally strong. It's like Groundhog Day every single day. You know you're going to wake up and they'll give you some task to clean something."
His duties are mainly in 1-19th FA but on occasion he gets to clean in Snow Hall, where his uncle works. Of course, he still maintains his military bearing and shows the proper respect for Moriarty while in uniform.
While Moriarty is nearing his 30-year mark in September, his nephew is simply looking forward to the next phase of training. Dominic said although he has only gotten a taste of the basics, he feels changed by it.
"I feel a lot more disciplined, a lot more organized. You know I wasn't that immature before I came here, but I feel more mature. I went home on holiday block leave and everything is so high speed in the Army and you get home and it's like, 'What am I going to do now? I do believe it has changed me for the better."
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