Veterans - A Modern Perspective
Nethaniel Aaron Gjesdal ’18 Lives currently in south College Station with his dog and works is the Senior Partner at Farrell Gjesdal Strategy Group as a political consultant and digital marketing strategist. Born on 06/08/1988 in Alexandria, LA. Grew up in West Monroe, LA and graduated from high school in 2006. He joined the U.S. Army (Active Duty) at age 17 as an Airborne Combat Medic and was stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC in the 82nd Airborne Division (1st Brigade). He deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Enduring Freedom before being station at Ft. Polk, LA at the Joint Readiness Training Center as an Opposing Force task force member to assist in the training of Army brigade combat teams preparing to deploy and conduct combat operations overseas.
After completion of his military service contract, he moved to San Antonio and completed an Associate’s degree from St. Philip’s College then he moved to College Station and enrolled at Texas A&M. He served as the President of the Student Veterans Association at Texas A&M and completed a Bachelor’s degree of Science in Sociology, summa cum laude in 2018. In 2020, he completed his Master’s degree in Public Service and Administration from the Bush School of Government.
Ashlyn Sharp ‘18 - Senior studying International studies with a focus in communication and media, with a language focus in Mandarin Chinese. Serves as the current Student Veteran Association President and Aggie Network Student Ambassador. Works at the Veterans Resource and Support Center as a communications and marketing student worker, along with working as a communications assistant at The Division of IT at A&M. Born in Fort Worth, TX. Came to Texas A&M out of high school and joined the Corps of Cadets Air Force ROTC, and Squadron 21. Decided college was not for her but wanted to see what the Air Force had in store for her, so she enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard. Started out as a bioenvironmental engineering technician for 3 years and went to school at The USAF school of aerospace medicine but decided to cross train to photojournalism and has been serving in that capacity for the past few years.
She came back to A&M 2 years ago to finish her degree and was the Scholastic Officer for Delta Company in the corps of cadets. She serves as the public relations officer for the enlisted advisory council on base, along with leading worship for chapel on Sundays at drill. She plans to study and intern abroad in Taiwan in the spring, finish her last semester before graduation, then move back to DFW to be near to family.
Eric Gonzalez was born in Temple, TX on August 22, 1983. As a life-long resident of the Brazos Valley, he grew up in Navasota, TX and graduated from high school in 2001. He joined the United States Marine Corp (Active Duty) at age 17 and was sent to boot camp just 3 days after graduation. Eric’s MOS was Aircraft Rescue Firefighter and after graduation from fire school, he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. In 2003, he was stationed in Yuma, AZ in preparation for deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, deploying twice to Iraq before the end of his service contract.
After completion of his military contract in 2005, Eric came back to the Brazos Valley and began his career in retail Asset Protection/Loss Prevention working for various companies. After 15 years of work in the retail Asset Protection industry, Eric founded and created his own company, Radiant Asset Protection Solutions, a licensed security contracting company specializing in camera system design and installation as well as retail loss prevention consulting and job site surveillance. Eric and his wife Carly have been married almost 10 years and enjoy spending their free time with their 2 dogs, Diesel and Pearl. They enjoy working out, hunting, and fishing, and spending time at the beach.
Chandler Alisabeth ’21 was born in Houston, TX and after graduating high school, chose to attend Texas A&M to pursue a degree in Animal Science. After finishing her junior year, she chose to enlist in the Texas Army National Guard as a 35M Human Intelligence Collector. Following AIT, she attended the Defense Language Institute to learn French. Chandler then returned to College Station to complete her degree. She served out of Seguin, TX with the 636th EMIB teaching tactical questioning and interrogation tactics to other soldiers. Chandler completed her service obligation in July and is set to complete her Master's of International Affairs at the Bush School in May 2021.