According to Maj. Kelly Messerli, many of his family members have served in the military. Not only his grandfather, uncle and father answered the call, his brother and sister did also.
So far, Messerli has 17 years service in the Missouri National Guard, with 14 as a commissioned officer and three years enlisted. He signed up in 1994 and made it to Private First Class - E-3, before he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in May 1997. He reached the rank of Major in October of this year. The promotion ceremony was last week.
What initially led Messerli to think about the military was an interest in flying.
"I originally wanted to fly planes and was going to enlist in the Air Force," he said. "Ulitimately, I decided to enlist in the Missouri Guard and fly helicopters."
For more of this story check out the Nov. 16 issue of the California Democrat.