CINCINNATI — Heath Garcia grew up telling friends his family was "the true story of Saving Private Ryan, but with a happy ending where all the brothers came home."
Garcia was talking about his grandfather, Tony Viessman, one of six brothers who served active duty during World War II and Korea. Their two brothers-in-law served as well.
The family's military tradition started in Missouri, but some of Garcia's relatives live in the Tri-State area. Garcia remembers volunteering at the Cincinnati Zoo as a teenager.
His family's service always had a certain pull for him.
"It was kind of something that was always in the back of my mind growing up cause just hearing things that my grandpa would say, things that he did in a short amount of time, you know, jumping out of airplanes, right? I thought that was the coolest thing ever," Garcia said.
WATCH: Learn more about the Garcia family's tradition of service
Garcia did what felt natural and joined the Army at 18. He would have enlisted earlier, but his mother wouldn't let him when he graduated at 17.
"Essentially infantry, but with explosives, right? And I was like, OK, that's cool," Garcia said.
But that's not the whole story. What Garcia would ultimately spend the most time doing was training dogs.
"We're kind of like a jack of all trades. We worked off-leash. We did roadways, open areas, vehicles, buildings, the whole nine yards," Garcia said.
Most of that time was spent with his dog, "Luci."
"We did have a couple of finds on our first deployment and you best believe I rewarded her with a cheeseburger or a steak, right? Because not only did she save my life, but she saved the life of the individuals that were with me," Garcia said.
Garcia and Luci's time wouldn't make the final edit, but other members of his unit were featured in the 2012 Animal Planet documentary "Glory Hounds."
Garcia left the Army after seven years, mostly because three months after his daughter was born, he left for his second deployment to Afghanistan and knew how much he'd miss.
Now he's in Houston, working and reminiscing on his time in uniform. On this Veterans Day, he's thinking about the ones who wore it first.
"He (Viessman) was in for three years, and he never saw a general. I saw a general the day that I graduated from basic and AIT, and we would just joke about it till the day he passed away. We would joke about that moment, right? And it's just building a stronger relationship with my grandpa, and it's just things that I never thought that I would have done that I ended up doing in my life," Garcia said.
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