JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -As a child, Pvt. Jose Rodriguez pieced together plywood and wheels to make his first skateboard. Two years later, he received his first real skateboard on his 13th birthday.

"I begged my mom for a skateboard and I was so happy when she got me one," said Rodriguez, a food service specialist, assigned to I Corps.

He has been skateboarding for more than six years and enjoys it more every time he gets a chance to do it, alongside his full-time job in the Army.

"Since I have been in the Army I haven