FORT MONMOUTH, N.J. -- Staff Sgt. Raymundo Ogoy said one of the best things about being stationed at Fort Monmouth were his trips to New York City.
The CECOM LCMC Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year took in the sights and was deeply affected by what he saw.
"Seeing the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero brought it home to me. What became apparent when I saw each of them was just what freedoms I am defending," he said.
Ogoy serves as a Network Sensor Switching Maintenance Operator, Senior Instructor with the Logistics and Readiness Center.
He was born in Manila, Philippines; grew up in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and moved to the United States when he was 13 years old. During his formative years he attended an international school and spoke three languages.
At home he said he spoke Filipino; he spoke English in school and Pidgin language on the playground.
"That was how I needed to communicate if I did not want to be alone. When we got to the United States, everyone made fun of me because I had an Australian accent. Papua New Guinea was part of Australia and I had this [different] accent. I was sent to speech school to get rid of it," he said.
Upon graduation from high school, he moved to Stuttgart, Germany where he worked as a heating and cooling apprentice on U.S. military installations for two years.
Ogoy enlisted in the Army in 1995 as a Network Switching Systems Operator Maintainer. He completed basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., and attended advanced individual training at Fort Gordon, Ga.
He's served in Germany with the 440th Signal Battalion and in the Republic of Korea with the 2nd Infantry Division.
Ogoy's assignments stateside have included Fort Huachuca, Ariz., with the 86th Signal Battalion; Fort Stewart, Ga., with the 3rd Infantry Division; and a tour as a recruiter in Philadelphia, Pa.
His overseas deployments include Operation Joint Endeavor in the Balkans and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
"That was the first time I had been deployed to a war torn country. I worked as a dispatcher near Kabul," Ogoy said. "I tried to regard it as just another deployment. By the time I got there, there was not a lot of evidence of the Taliban, but it was good to bring supplies to the schools and see the kids in school and made you really appreciate all we have here in our country."
Currently, Ogoy's brother Remy is deployed to Afghanistan, to a different part of that nation.
"It is hard being in a place like that, but you get used to it," he said.
Ogoy said he believes he was selected as the CECOM LCMC NCO of the Year due to his knowledge of the Army, his physical training skills and the mission he performs in maintaining electronic systems.
"All the equipment I help rebuild and repair is going to Soldiers. Everything has to be perfect," he said.
His short-term goal is to complete his associate's degree in General Studies with Central Texas College where he's 12 semester hours shy of his degree.
His long-term goal is to eventually retire as a first sergeant and then continue to work as a defense contractor working on communications equipment.
Ogoy is moving on to his next assignment in Germany where he hopes to ride through Europe on his motorcycle. As for his time here in New Jersey, he said he's enjoyed the shore but won't miss those "Jersey jughandles." (A jughandle is a ramp or slip road on the right said of the road used for making left turns and is shaped like the handle of a jug.)
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