1SG (R) Matt Brietzke

1SG (R) Matt Brietzke sat down with me for Heroes I Know. One hundred and three minutes. Being first sergeant in the 82nd. He cannot think of a greater privilege.

North-central Wisconsin. Town of about ten thousand. Hunting. Fishing. Farming. High school 1983. Delayed entry 1982. Seventeen by three weeks when he joined in Milwaukee. Dad had a dozen siblings. Eight boys. All served. Five in World War II. From a young age he was going to serve.

Missiles. Hawk. Nike Hercules. First duty station Alpha Battery, 3-4 ADA. He was there three times. Started and finished in the same battery. Same barracks. Met me in February of 1992. Korea. 2nd ID. The 101st. Cadet command. ROTC instructor.

Selected for E8 in 2001. Instructor at Washington University in St. Louis. Branch called. Patriot battery first sergeant, Bliss, in sixty days. Teddy I. Knight hit the same list. Then an opening at Bragg. Jumpmaster already. He said yes before they finished the sentence. Sergeant Major Ridgeway was incoming.

Jump school Christmas leave. His father had been skeptical. Then he said hey airborne. First jump he could not believe he had just done it. He and Teddy on the doors at Sicily. Maggot was the black-hat evaluator. A P-wack fail. Re-entry slip. He went back through the whole shooting match.

Retired 2004. Seventeen years out when we sat down. Time flies. Thank you, Top. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.