Major Dan Derringer has spent more than a decade of his life preparing himself and training others to serve this country well when called to duty.
Now, he’s been deployed to Iraq and the 32-year-old Michigan National Guardsman is ready to go.
‘It’s all part of the job,? said Derringer, who’s lived in Oxford Township for two years. ‘It’s what you volunteer to do.?
Derringer, who serves full-time as a training officer at the 177th Military Police Brigade headquarters in Taylor, will leave for Fort Bliss, Texas sometime between mid-April and early May to receive a couple months of special training for his next stop ? Iraq.
‘We don’t know what our specific mission is yet,? he said. ‘The Military Police do a multitude of things.?
Derringer could find himself training Iraqi police or providing security along the road for convoys or even supervising detention facilities for insurgents and terrorists.
Or he could end up doing something totally unrelated to Military Police work.
‘Anybody can end up doing anything at anytime,? Derringer said.
But he’s not complaining.
‘Yes, war is scary. Yes, the things we are doing as a military aren’t necessarily what people or their parents want them to do,? Derringer said. ‘But there’s a certain amount of pride in being able to stand there and say you’ve been there, done that.?
‘Maybe it’s not initially what I joined the Army to do, but as you sit, watch, train and see other people go . . .it’s like being on the football team and practicing all the time, but never getting into the game. Now, we’re allowed to go to the game,? he explained.
Derringer admitted it will be hard to leave his family behind. He and his wife of 10 years, Karoline, have two children ? Julia, a third-grader at Oxford Elementary, and Dylan, a first-grader at Daniel Axford Elementary.
‘They don’t like it, but they understand it’s what I do and they’re ready for it,? he said.
‘We are an Army family. We knew what to expect and when to expect it. We structure our lives for them to deal with the eventuality of this happening.?
Derringer is quite grateful to the Army for all it’s given him.
‘You get out of it what you put in to it,? he said. ‘I decided to work hard and it’s rewarded me greatly.?
When he signed up for regular active duty in 1993, Derringer only wanted three things ? ‘computers, travel and education.?
He got the first two when the enlisted Derringer was stationed in Germany and working as a software analyst. He also gained a wife for that’s where he and Karoline met.
Following Germany, Derringer won the Army’s Green to Gold Scholarship which allowed him to leave active duty for 3? years while he attended Central Michigan University to major in management information systems and minor in military sciences.
The latter allowed him to become a second lieutenant upon graduating and returning to active duty.
No longer a software analyst, Derringer was now a field artillery officer. This gave him the opportunity to serve in Kuwait as part of Operation Desert Spring from August 2000 until January 2001.
Derringer has spent the last five years on active duty with the Michigan National Guard.
He’s part of that ‘small cadre of active duty personnel,? about 800 or so, that ‘make it possible? for the 9,000 National Guardsmen in the state to ‘show up for one weekend a month, two weeks a year.?
As a training officer, Derringer is responsible for 2,500 soldiers (engineers, military police, etc.) in battalions from as far away as the Upper Peninsula and western Michigan to as close as Taylor, Pontiac and Owosso.
‘I supervise their training, what they’re doing to get ready for their missions eventually,? he said. ‘We are a brigade level organization that supervises battalions.?
Military service seems to be a family affair for Derringer.
His father served in the Marines for four years in the early 1970s and currently serves in the Air Force Reserves based at Selfridge. Derringer’s stepmother served in the Navy, which coincidentally is where his wife’s sister and her husband currently serve, and his brother served in the Marines.
‘It’s just kind of part of the family,? he said.
Derringer said he’s got another 10 years to go before he retires from the Army.
He was working toward earning his master’s degree in public administration from Oakland University, however, he had to put that on hold due to his deployment.
Eventually, Derringer said he would like to be involved in local government.
‘I’ve been to a few of the meetings in the village and the township,? he said. ‘I pay attention to what’s going on, but I really can’t get be active right now.?
To anyone thinking of pursuing career in the military, Derringer said it’s not only a good place to earn money for education and learn valuable skills, it’s also a ‘fantastic opportunity? to ‘learn a lot about yourself.?
‘It’s made me who I am.?