Julio R. VargasJorge's Page

Julio,

Well it sure sounds like you've been both busy, and continued to have a meaningful impact on people.  Good for you!

As for me, after D Co, I moved to Mortars and stayed in the battalion until Nov 89.  I PCSed to Ft. Lee, (was involuntarily branch transfered to QM) and went through the QM Advanced Course.  I PCS'd right back to 1AD, and was assigned to the 47th FSB in Erlangen.  I deployed with the 47th to Desert Shielf/Storm, as Bn S-4, and about 6 months after our return, I took command of the A Company there.

Left Erlangen in 1993, PCS'd to Cleveland and did two years as a Recruiting Company Commander, then PCS'd to Heidelberg and Army Materiel Command- Europe.  I spent 3 years there, as the Executive Officer, an Operations Officer, and deployed to Bosnia as the Commander of the Logistics Support Element -Forward.  I was something of a LAO for Task Force Eagle.

Left AMC-E in Oct 1998, and PCS'd to Ft. Hood, as the Corps Ammunition Manager within the 4th CMMC, 13th COSCOM.  I was only at Ft. Hood for about 13 months, however, because I was selected to become a Psychological Operations officer, and moved to Ft. Bragg for the training "pipeline" for that skill in January 2000.

The training pipeline for PSYOP is about a year long, and after that year, I was assigned to the 4th PSYOP Group (ABN), and deployed to Sarajevo from the 6th PSYOP Battalion (ABN) within the group.  I was in Sarajevo on 9/11, watching it unfold on CNN.  In Sarajevo, I also met Maria (Mia) Mattsson, who would become my 2nd wife.

When I returned from Sarajevo after 14 months, I PCS's across post to the 82nd ABN Division, as their Division PSYOP Officer.  I deployed with them to what would become OIF in February 2003, after getting married for the second time just 11 days before.  After a year in Iraq, came back in April 2004 and PCS'd across post again, to XVIII Abn Corps, where I served for 3 years as the Corps PSYOP Officer, including a year in Iraq as the MNC-I PSYOP Officer.

After 7 1/2 years assigned to units on Ft. Bragg (including over 3 years deployed) we moved in June 2007 to Naples, Italy, where I was assigned as a PSYOP Officer on the NATO staff there. (Allied Joint Forces Command- Naples).  I also deployed for 6 months to Afghanistan as the Chief of Staff, Rule of Law Field Force - Afghanistan.

We PCS'd up here to Stuttgart and US Africa Command last September.  Despite being the senior PSYOP Officer in theater, I'm not doing PSYOP, or Information Operations, or even Strategic Communications, rather I'm in the J7 Directorate, in the Exercises Branch, a the Joint SOF Exercise Planner.

My wife (Mia) and I have 2 kids, Olivia is 6 and Max is 4.  I also have a son from my first marriage, Jackson is 17 and lives in Alabama.