Tanner Cheek

I grew up in Tennessee, and have lived all over before settling down in Virginia. I joined the U.S. Army in 2003 as an Infantryman and ended my career as a sargeant sniper team leader in 2008. During those 5 years I was stationed in Italy and completed two tours in Afghanistan; one of which the two movies Restrepo and Korengal and the book War were based on.

I have debated on making this an annonomous blog as I intend to talk about struggles with PTSD, deployments, and depression that I have only ever talked about with my wife. But decided not to because I doubt anyone will actually read this anyway :)

After being discharged (honorably) from the Army I attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University earning a B.S. in Human Factors. I then became a Systems Engineer under a Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) contract as a Systems Engineer.

Over the past year, I have moved away from the defense industry and am now a Project Manager with Hewlett-Packard taking night classes to earn a M.S. in Engineering through Johns Hopkins University.