"He lived only nine minutes from my house, so I drove him to school every day," said Giberson .
The 21-year-old tankers are now not only assigned to Company "Crazyhorse" C of the 2nd "Lancer" Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st "Ironhorse" Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, but also serve on the same tank crew.
Throughout high school, the friends discussed the option of joining the military, but never decided to enlist together.
Graduating in 2011, the two Soldiers didn't leave for basic combat training until 2012.
Sladen, a driver, enlisted first, and left for BCT in March 2012. He chose to be a tanker because the job sounded more appealing to him than an unmanned aerial vehicle operator.
While going through the enlistment process, Giberson, a loader, asked Sladen which job he should choose, and Sladen recommended he enlist as a tanker. Six months later in September, Giberson left for basic training to do just that.
Joining an organization of over 500,000 active duty personnel, the two never thought they would end up being assigned together.
"(Giberson) sent me a letter from basic training telling me he got 1st Cav.," said Sladen. "We were pretty stoked."
Not only were they excited about their upcoming reunion, but Giberson said their families were glad they would be together again.
After graduating basic training in December 2012, Giberson went home and reunited with Sladen over Christmas, and the two flew into Fort Hood together.
After in-processing, Giberson received orders to the Lancer Battalion.
Sladen said he was attached to 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd "Greywolf" Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division when he received word he would be serving side-by-side with his friend.
"I wasn't expecting to hear he would be coming (to Crazyhorse)," said Sladen. "I was pretty excited."
Even more remarkably, the two now find themselves serving on the same tank crew while Crazyhorse conducts gunnery operations.
"We didn't request it or expect to be on the same crew," said Gibson.
Completing 10 out of 10 engagements, they received a distinguished score of 942 out of 1,000 on Table VI -- preliminary main gun training -- getting a few points docked for taking too much time on single targets.
But their friendship doesn't end at work.
"It isn't uncommon to see us neck-deep in water fishing or hunting," said Sladen.
Neither Giberson nor Sladen have deployed, but are looking forward to their battalion's mission as part of the Ironhorse Brigade's regional alignment with the U.S. European Command.
Giberson and Sladen plan on re-enlisting to keep their friendship intact. Their goal: Hawaii.
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