Staff Sgt. Rogness enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve in his senior year of High school in 1999, following in the rich family tradition to serve their country and its military. His older brother served in the Army National Guard as an Infantryman. His father served in the Air Force as a C-130 mechanic at Bein Hoa Airbase during the Vietnam Conflict. Both of his grandfathers served in the U.S. military during WWII. One of his grandfathers served as an Army Infantrymen and was assigned in the Philippines, while his other grandfather served in the Navy onboard the Shamrock Bay Escort Carrier in the South Pacific. Growing up in a family that has felt called to serve, Rogness felt no different and was eager to join the family tradition of service to a nation that had given so much to his family.
Rogness grew up in Hopkins, Minn., a town that still holds true to small town traditions and values near Minneapolis. As part of the High School wrestling team, he learned the discipline, determination, and dedication it takes to accomplish goals, the importance of doing your best, and the importance of sacrificing personal priorities for the greater cause of a team. He has carried those values with him wherever his life has taken him–through college, deployments, and mobilizations throughout the world. The values he has been taught growing up have assisted him to persevere through whatever the trials have been in his life.
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