{"id":353439,"date":"2025-01-14T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=353439"},"modified":"2025-01-15T15:26:51","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T15:26:51","slug":"philadelphia-born-soldier-and-lifelong-eagles-fan-reenlists-in-army-on-his-birthday-ahead-of-nfl-playoffs-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=353439","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia-born Soldier and lifelong Eagles fan reenlists in Army on his birthday ahead of NFL playoffs showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. – Staff Sgt. Michael C. Graves (left) reenlists in the U.S. Army on Jan. 14, 2025. Maj. Jacob LaGue, Joint Program Executive Officer (JPEO) Armaments and Ammunition Executive Officer (right) administers the oath of enlistment.
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PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. \u2013 Staff Sgt. Michael C. Graves, a self-proclaimed \u201cmilitary brat\u201d born in Philadelphia, Pa., reaffirmed his commitment to the U.S. Army while professing his love for the Eagles football team alongside friends and family during a reenlistment ceremony, Jan. 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiterally my whole life, being a military brat, I\u2019ve been bleeding green.\u00a0And being an Eagles fan my whole life; I\u2019ve been bleeding green,\u201d Graves said prior to the ceremony held in the office of Maj. Gen. John T. Reim, Joint Program Executive Officer (JPEO) Armaments and Ammunition and Senior Commander of Picatinny.<\/p>\n

Maj. Jacob LaGue, Reim\u2019s executive officer, administered the oath of enlistment, making Graves\u2019 commitment official. LaGue knew that Reim also was a lifelong Eagles fan and presented Graves with the opportunity for the Soldiers and their families to make the occasion more memorable by wearing team gear.<\/p>\n

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\n PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. – Maj. Gen. John T. Reim, Joint Program Executive Officer (JPEO) Armaments and Ammunition and Senior Commander of Picatinny (right) presents a challenge coin to Staff Sgt. Michael C. Graves (right) after he reenlists in the U.S. Army on Jan. 14.
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\u201cThere is no one I would rather have administer the oath of enlistment than you,\u201d Graves said to LaGue while friends, family, and the general looked on.\u00a0\u201cFrom the moment I arrived at Picatinny, you have welcomed me, my wife, and our entire family.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his 29th birthday, and with his wife Katie, and their daughter Kayleigh by his side, Graves extended his contract indefinitely.<\/p>\n

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\n PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. – Maj. Gen. John T. Reim, Joint Program Executive Officer (JPEO) Armaments and Ammunition and Senior Commander of Picatinny (left) and Staff Sgt. Michael C. Graves, with Graves’ friends and family.
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The Career Status Program, known as the Indefinite Re-enlistment Program, provides Soldiers ranked E-6 and above with 10 years or more of service, a sense of security by eliminating re-enlistment deadlines.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy last reenlistment was six years ago, and I was a single Soldier.\u00a0Now I am grateful for this opportunity as I can provide for my family until my retirement.\u00a0This is special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graves\u2019 father served in the Army for more than 21years and achieved the rank of sergeant first class.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a military brat, I grew up moving to a new duty station every two years. I graduated high school in Germany, and to put it in perspective, I lived in seven different states and moved 11 times as dependent to my dad. Today it is similar for my daughter as she is only three years old and has moved two times already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graves is currently assigned as a recruiter Newark where he is attached to the North Jersey Recruiting Company, part of the U.S. Army\u2019s Mid-Atlantic Recruiting Battalion. As a recruiter, he is charged with informing applicants of the more than 200 jobs to choose from. Soldiers can find their purpose and pursue their passions through a wide range of interest areas, from infantry and aviation to engineering and music and beyond.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays its home games at Lincoln Financial Field in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, not far from where Graves grew up.<\/p>\n

The team will play the Los Angeles Rams this Sunday in Philadelphia.\u00a0The NFC Divisional Playoff game will determine which team will move on to the Conference Championships to play the winner of Saturday\u2019s game between the Detroit Lions and the Washington Commanders.<\/p>\n

The Eagles have a win-loss record of 14-3 this season opposite the 10-7 Rams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like the Rams will not be ready for the cold weather,\u201d Graves said while making a prediction for the contest.\u00a0\u201cThey are playing for more than themselves this year,\u201d he said in reference the wildfires burning in Los Angeles. \u201cBut overall, I think it is not going to be close in the second half.\u00a0I predict the score to be 35-10, Eagles.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on re-enlistments and extensions, Soldiers should contact their career counselors.<\/p>\n

The opportunities offered to those who willingly, voluntarily join the military are unmatched, so if you are thinking about joining the Army, visit GoArmy.com<\/a> or call 1-888-550-Army.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. – Staff Sgt. Michael C. Graves (left) reenlists in the U.S. Army on Jan. 14, 2025. Maj. Jacob LaGue, Joint Program Executive Officer (JPEO) Armaments and Ammunition Executive Officer (right) administers the oath of enlistment. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Todd Mozes) VIEW ORIGINAL PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. \u2013 Staff Sgt. Michael […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353441,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-353439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=353439"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":353445,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353439\/revisions\/353445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/353441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=353439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=353439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=353439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}