CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait – One of the greatest assets available to the U.S. Army are families with a strong legacy of service in the military. U.S. Army Capt. Joshua Paille, commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 1109th Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group, attached to Task Force 22, is a Soldier from a long line of service.
Members of Paille's family have served in different branches of the military in World War II, the Vietnam War, and now both Paille and his father, U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Andre Paille, a project manager with the Louisiana Air National Guard's 214th Engineering Installation Squadron, attached to U.S. Air Force Central, serve the military today. Joshua and Andre Paille recently had a unique opportunity to see each other while they are both deployed in the Middle East, and they reflected on their family's history of service.
"My dad was in the Navy, so when I was young I wanted to be in the Navy," said Andre Paille. "And my granddaddy, although he couldn't serve because he had a medical issue, he contributed a lot to the war effort in World War II. And I think him, more than anything, made me want to serve."
Andre Paille has spent most of his 32-year career in the military with the 214th EIS, serving on three significant mobilizations and multiple shorter missions throughout the years.
He began his career as an antenna installations and maintenance technician who entailed building antenna towers, digging trenches for cables and installing communications equipment wherever the Air Force needed it, said Andre Paille. He is now in charge of a team of Airmen who install that equipment for U.S. forces throughout the Middle East.
Just as Andre Paille was inspired by the service of his father and his grandfather's hard work, Joshua Paille wanted to follow in his father's footsteps of military service too. After he graduated high school he was accepted into Norwich University and joined the Army, where he eventually found his way into aviation, said Joshua Paille.
Joshua Paille has been in the Army for 11 years now and plans to continue serving for a long career like his father.
"It's exciting and fulfilling," said Andre Paille. "It's good to know that he wants to continue, I'm grateful that he can serve."
Both Andre and Joshua Paille recently deployed to the Middle East, and their separate missions allowed them to cross paths in Camp Arifjan on Andre Paille's birthday weekend. They spent a day together touring the airfield where Joshua Paille works and appreciate the circumstances which allowed them to be together for a short time while they were so far from their families.
"Fate just brought us together," said Joshua Paille. "Probably one of his last deployments and the beginning of many for me."