Life, Liberty & the Pursuit: SPC Jocelyn Fenelus

Coming home for Specialist Jocelyn Fenelus, an Army gunner, was not easy. The math major had to catch back up after the semester he missed while overseas.

“I have to back track a little bit, just to review and get it because I took a semester off,” Fenelus said. “I have to back track just to kind of remember what I learned.”

Despite the tough learning curve, Fenelus said he is enjoying being back home.

“It’s been fun,” Fenelus said. “I have seen friends and family.”

Fenelus’s time is currently split between his school and his friends.

“(On) the weekdays it is pretty much about homework, but the weekends are about friends,” Fenelus said.

A Haiti native who now lives in New Jersey, Fenelus said that he does miss the team he worked with while in Iraq.

“We had a pretty good team,” Fenelus said. “We had a lot of fun on the road. We trained together (since January) and grew together as a team and then we put that training to the test for five months in Iraq.”

The National Guard is a family affair for Fenelus. Two of his older brothers are also in the army.

“My father (told us), ‘give something back’,” Fenelus said. “We did not come (to America) to cause trouble, but to be a help.”

HEWETT is the news editor.