Officer Joseph Al-Shaer hails from Wichita, Kansas, but has spent much of his adult life on the road. He joined the Kansas Army National Guard when he was 17 years old, spending six years as an infantryman before moving on to finish his college education.
"I was looking for careers in law enforcement or security management," said Al-Shaer, Fort Jackson's 2016 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. "The opportunity presented itself and I took it."
His law enforcement career began at Fort Riley, in his home state of Kansas. In a way, he said, it felt like both a homecoming and a new experience. After graduating from Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training, it gave him a new perspective on the world.
"Army life is a completely different world than the civilian side," he said. "I remember feeling out of place when I came back from (BCT) and AIT. I felt different ... everything seemed different."
He said he felt a similar dissonance when he returned to the Army in the uniform of a police officer. This time, though, experience was on his side.
"I was familiar with the Army," Al-Shaer said. "But taking on a different role in the military as a civilian was a little bit challenging. Dealing with a Soldier as a Soldier is different than dealing with a Soldier as a civilian."
In between, he stopped at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where he graduated from the Army Civilian Police Academy. Not surprising, he said, it was "a lot like military training."
"It's not as rigourous as military training, but it is demanding," he said. The end result is producing law enforcement officers whose "ethics have to be beyond reproach."
He spent three years at Fort Leonard Wood, before taking a promotion that lead him to Fort Greely, Alaska. It was a different world with different demands. Most of the time, he said, police dealt with alcohol-related incidents and mischief created by local wildlife. These incidents -- and the people involved -- were spread out over great distances.
When his wife took a permanent change of station to Fort Jackson, he took a job with the post's Directorate of Emergency Services as a traffic collision investigator. While Columbia isn't usually thought of as a sprawling metropolis, Al-Shaer said it was a huge culture shock coming from Alaska.
"Here, the streets are crowded, the highways are busy ... I wasn't used to being around that many people," he said.
That was three years ago and, since then, he's been busy. Military communities offer their own strengths, challenges and opportunities, which can make for a very different experience than civilian law enforcement.
"Our military community is a little more disciplined (than a civilian community) and that helps us out quite a bit," he said. "In addition to state laws, we're also responsible for enforcing UCMJ and federal criminal laws. It requires a little more knowledge about the specific laws we enforce. It's a different type of community."
Among those varied experiences: He took part in escort duties for a delegation of Iraqi police officers who visited the post. Al-Shaer said it was also exciting to meet then Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning during his recent visit. He was also working the night of the flood that transformed Semmes Lake into the grassy barren it is today.
"I've always had a desire to help people, and this is just another career where I'd be in a position to help people," Al-Shaer said. "I think that's the biggest reason I love service jobs and working with the public."
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