MY SAVING GRACE « Jenny La Sala

10 Jun

MY SAVING GRACE

jennysala Uncategorized 0 0

My name is Montgomery J. Granger.

I joined the California National Guard to serve my country, learn a valuable skill and earn a little extra to help repay my college loans.

I served for twenty-two years with the U.S. Army National Guard and Reserves in California and New York, retiring as a Major. My deployments took me to Guantanamo Bay in 2002 and various locations in Iraq between 2004 to 2005. I was trained as a Combat Medic for five years, Officer Candidate for one year and Medical Service Corps officer and Field Medical Assistant for sixteen years. The service experience changed me in many ways. I count my blessings every day. My wife and children are the most important things in my life.

My great, great grandfather was an infantryman with the Union Army and left a diary of his time in the Civil War, which confirmed a soldier’s life is 99% boredom and 1% pure terror. Various other relatives also fought in the American Revolutionary War. Dad was in the Navy in the late 1950’s and served on the USS Saratoga in the Sixth Fleet and told funny stories about being in the Navy. My step father was with the TSGT U.S. Air Force and served in Korea.

The worst part of service was being apart from my hero wife and my children. My greatest fear was being killed or wounded and not being able to come home to my wife and children or becoming a burden to them. But I did come home and received praise for my service, honored and was asked to give speeches. I am now a public school district administrator as well as a writer and author.

With the support and love of my family, I found a way to keep my sanity and dignity intact while working detention and medical duty with the Joint Task Force 160 U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from February to June, 2002. It took a great deal of effort to leave my family and job back home, only to face tremendous emotion and hatred against the inmates that I was charged to protect. We were taking care of terrorists and murderers just months after the horrors of September 11, 2001 and ended up running the Joint Detainee Operations Group (JDOG) at Guantanamo Bay’s infamous Camp X-Ray. I wrote about my experiences in the book, Saving Grace At Guantanamo Bay.

I’m retired in the family photo, but in uniform for a speaking engagement on Flag Day with my family. Front: L-R, Benjamin (Scout uniform), Harrison, Theodore, My wife, Sandra, holding Hermione; Back: Me holding Hamilton.

Benjamin and Harrison, 19 and 16 now respectively are both Eagle Scouts. Theodore, now 13 and born two days before I left for Gitmo in 2002, is now a First Class Scout. Hamilton, is a Webelo’s Scout and is 8 years old, and Hermione is a Brownie in Girl Scouts and now six years old!