FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- A month before his scheduled retirement ceremony at Fort Drum, Command Sgt. Maj. R. Ray Lewis, his wife Guin and son Spencer started going through their belongings to see what they wanted to put in a garage sale before the movers came to pack their household goods to ship to their new home in California.

"It's like going down memory lane," Lewis said, looking at old photos and other mementos from previous assignments.

As friends, neighbors and shoppers came by, he sat outside and told the story of how 17-year-old Rodney Lewis came to be Command Sgt. Maj. R. Ray Lewis, finishing his 33-plus-year career as senior enlisted leader for the 10th Mountain Division (LI).

Lewis grew up on a small farm in Hillsborough, Ohio. His father, who worked at an auto factory for 45 years, showed him the value of hard work and an appreciation for the outdoors. He had his heart set on being a park ranger as he entered his senior year in high school, planning to take a course in wildlife / park services management and attend a technical college that specialized in forestry.

"But then I met my first wife, and we had our first child," he said, chuckling. "I was 17 years old and clearly couldn't afford college, and joining the Army was basically a way to finance my kid."

He enlisted in August 1982 and entered One-Station Unit Training in October. The story of how he arrived at Fort Riley, Kan., as a mortar man and how he met his first squad leader got mixed reactions from Soldiers during speaking engagements as he traveled throughout eastern Afghanistan during his Operation Enduring Freedom XV deployment in 2014.

"He asked me if I had ever gotten high with a squad leader before," Lewis would tell Soldiers.

The event, which would seem impossible now, was something he shared to emphasize how important it is to be a leader and to know the influence one has on others for their entire lives.

"If I had followed that squad leader, I'd probably be in Ohio, and who knows what I'd be doing?" he said. "It's a poor leader."

Lewis said he spent the first four years at Fort Riley doing "nothing," and he basically wasted his time with the poor example he followed.

"That was my perception of the Army then, because it wasn't just him, it was everyone," he said. "I thought, 'this is what I got to look forward to?'"

Although he had the desire to strive for greater things, being a mortar man in a heavy infantry division didn't allow for the young corporal to seek out Ranger School. However, he did earn the Expert Infantryman Badge as a private.

As a corporal, he went back to Fort Benning, Ga., to reclassify to 11B, infantryman, and attended Airborne School en route to Hawaii. The decision would be the "turning point" in his career.

It wasn't until he arrived at the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii that he would meet the person who showed him how to Soldier. Although Lewis can only remember his name as "Staff Sergeant," he credits his brand of leadership to a Staff Sgt. Pablo, his squad leader, who, with tough love, took him under his wings and showed him how to take care of Soldiers.

There's not much Lewis remembered about Pablo other than he was great Soldier, Family man and leader. With Pablo's example, Lewis said he made a commitment to be a Soldier and started to see a return on an investment of hard work. He went on to participate in multiple exercises throughout the Asian / Pacific Theater, and he thought, "This Army stuff is pretty cool."

"He's the one who got me motivated to go to Air Assault School; he's the one who got me motivated to go to Ranger School," he said.

Although earning his Ranger tab wasn't the toughest challenge in his career, it definitely changed his path.

"Having a Ranger tab is like having a pass key or a master key in the Army, because it opens up so many more doors that you wouldn't have access to without it," he said. "I didn't realize the importance of it being a leadership school; I just wanted that 'key.'"

At A Company, 321st Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, Lewis said there were only two other sergeants with a Ranger tab. As he saw those two routinely take the lead on training events, Lewis remembered that he wanted to lead in the same way.

The training and NCO guidance he received in Hawaii helped him get through pre-Ranger and eventually Ranger School as a first-time go. He learned more about himself, and he led and motivated other Soldiers to accomplish the mission. Lewis learned that he could do more than he thought he could.

Upon his return from Ranger School, he was immediately given his own squad.

When he arrived as an instructor at 6th Ranger Training Battalion at Florida Ranger Camp, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., he was on a mission to go through the U.S. Army Combat Divers Course, and that proved to be the most difficult training in his career.

The water was extremely cold, and the course was challenging. Yet, it was the negative reinforcement and constant head games from an instructor that made him press through and complete the program through sheer will.

"I remember thinking, 'I can't do this. I just don't have the leg energy for this,' because it's just so hard on your body."

But then he remembered one instructor telling him that another instructor said Lewis wasn't ready to complete the course.

"'There's just no way, man; there's no way I'm quitting," he recalled thinking. "You're going to have to pull me out of here with a hook if you have to, but I'm not stopping."

For Lewis, it's been just that type of headstrong approach to things that helped him convince his future wife Guin to go on a date with him.

Lewis was serving as operations sergeant in the Long Range Surveillance Detachment at Fort Campbell, Ky., in 1995, when he met Guin Oleari.

After 12 years in his first marriage, Lewis said he had forgotten how to ask someone out, but eventually they began dating. They were married at Fort Campbell one year later and have been a Family for two decades.

As a new Family, with Guin's two daughters, Stephanie and Emily, and later Spencer, they traveled back to Hawaii and later to Eglin AFB. Lewis took a first sergeant position in Korea, and then they traveled to Germany, where he served as a first sergeant and deployed for the first of six times.

"The Army has been great, and we have seen the world," Guin said.

Even through the hardship of deployments, she remained positive.

"You don't get used to them; you just accept them," she said. "They don't get any easier, but even with those, it has been awesome. … I have loved every minute of being a military spouse."

Through multiple moves over the years, Guin has done her best to get the Family excited about assignments in new locations and to enjoy those opportunities.

"My advice to any spouse is to be positive, because you're the driving train for your entire Family," she said.

Throughout their quarters were framed photos of past assignments and travels to the other countries. One year they were at the Great Wall of China for July 4th with the kids, and the next year, they were in Paris.

"I think the kids are better for it; they are really resilient," she said.

Looking back at their assignments, they realized that it was not about where they were, but more about the people they met along the way.

"I have wonderful friends from all over," Guin said.

For Lewis, his assignments and deployments were spent training and continuing the business of being a Soldier and a leader, but as a first sergeant of Headquarters and Headquarters and D Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, in Vilseck, Germany, he took his company to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom II at Forward Operating Base Normandy in 2004. He had been in the Army for almost 19 years at that point. He likened it to being a football player and going to practice every day and never playing in the game.

"Up until that point, all I did was 'play Army,'" he said.

Remembering the Soldiers his battalion lost, the enthusiasm of combat had seemed to lose some of its romance with Lewis. As an infantryman, his first combat tour was what he needed to validate his craft in his profession, but his memory tells another story of the pain of losing friends in combat.

"I lost some good buddies," he said solemnly.

He and his battalion fought hard alongside 1st Marine Division in the Battle of Fallujah. His battalion sergeant major was their first casualty of that battle.

"Some of the parts of fighting -- the scenes -- were graphic; you can't recreate that on TV," he said. "And just coping through the losses" was difficult.

Lewis said he had great Soldiers and a great company commander. Together, they made a "pretty good team," he said.

"To me, it was an honor to lead Soldiers in combat during a time of war," Lewis said. "I cannot think of anything greater to leave behind as a legacy than that. I was so thankful to have that opportunity."

While still in Germany, Lewis made the sergeant major list, and he went back to the place he started his career: Fort Riley. There, he served as operations sergeant major for 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, and he deployed again to Iraq during OIF 09-11. Lewis was selected to be command sergeant major of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, and he deployed to Iraq during Operation New Dawn.

In 2012, Lewis served as senior enlisted adviser of 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Ala. The Lewises enjoyed their time and made lifelong friends there. As Lewis entered his 32nd year in the Army without a follow-on assignment, he submitted his retirement papers, but then he received a phone call in late 2013 as 10th Mountain Division was on its way back to Afghanistan's Regional Command-East at Bagram Airfield.

The call from Maj. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, who commanded the division, was a pleasant surprise. Leading up to the phone interview, Lewis admitted to not knowing too much about the division or its commander, although everyone he had asked thought highly of both.

When he learned he got the job, Lewis was elated and quickly withdrew his retirement packet. He took over as the division's command sergeant major Jan. 16, 2014, and soon deployed to Afghanistan.

Townsend said he wanted someone like Lewis as his senior enlisted adviser.

"I wanted an old-school, senior NCO's CSM -- a fit, hard, blunt, straight-talking, straight shooter, and not some highly polished CSM who looks, sounds and acts more like a colonel or a general than a division's senior sergeant," said Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, XVIII Airborne Corps commander. "With his barrel chest, flat top and straight-forward style, I got just what I was looking for."

Lewis said he was "blessed" to have the command relationship he shared with Townsend.

The transition from Fort Drum to Afghanistan was quick for Lewis, and Guin and Spencer made the physical move to the North Country without him.

Across the ocean, Townsend and Lewis had a divide-and-conquer approach as they traveled around eastern Afghanistan and forged their bond as a command team.

"When we arrived, I would go into high-level meetings, and he would grab the NCOs and go find the Soldiers to inspect security, machine guns, range cards, etc.," Townsend said. "Command Sgt. Maj. Lewis always ensured that NCOs were taking care of NCO business."

The 10th Mountain Division redeployed at the end of 2014, and Lewis reintegrated with his Family.

In November, Lewis deployed for the last time to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, until he returned for his change of responsibility ceremony Jan. 22.

He thanked Fort Drum and North Country community members for their hospitality and friendship. Lewis said his Family has never been so at home in their travels around the world.

As for the 10th Mountain Division, Lewis said simply that it is the "best division in the Army."

From his somewhat humble beginnings and hard-learned lessons in Soldiering, Lewis has left his unique brand of leading and caring for Soldiers.

He described the events that led up to his enlistment was "fate." Even though his career took a late start, Lewis said he has no regrets. Although a young Lewis never thought he would make a career of being a Soldier, he and his Family persevered and made the best of what they were handed.

"If anything in my life would have been different, I would not be where I am at today, with the Family I have today," he said proudly. "Maybe it didn't happen the way I envisioned it growing up, but I wouldn't change a thing."

As Lewis and his Family make their long drive west, to a small, northern California community, Lewis plans to slowly return to his original dream of working as a park ranger.