Joey Yeh

I became acquainted with Joey Yeh through the Rutgers Veteran Mentor program; I am an Army vet, and have drawn closer to the University in recent years; this involvement was another way to reconnect, and in this case, serve someone who enlisted to serve his country out of an upwelling of protectiveness for his country and as a step toward working in an important national security related career. This is a man of sterling character, thoughtful, focused, personable and hard-working. I am proud to have gotten to know him, to speak to him and to maybe help him a little in his adjustment to the civilian world of work as a recent college graduate.

Bill:
Joey, thanks for taking the time to speak with me, and thank you for your service from a fellow vet. I'd like to ask you why you chose to enter the service.

Joey:
Bill, After witnessing the 9/11 event, my heart was burdened to protect the citizens of this country. I knew right away that this world does not have room for terrorism. Terrorist acts are completely evil in my perspective and goes against my virtues. I foresee that if terrorism is not suppressed overseas, it can be spread to local communities. In order to defend this country, we have to do it from abroad.

I value the people in this country. I love this country for teaching me the values in life, mostly from the church. I am the person today, all due to the lessons I've learned from my personal life experiences and the people who set good examples to me throughout my life. Not saying that everyone I encountered were good people, but I've learned from them and was able to overcome a lot of struggles in my life. I don't want anything to disrupt this peaceful environment where people can grow and become an example for others.

Bill:
We met through the veteran's mentoring program at Rutgers while you were still an undergraduate, and I recall from our first conversation that you are motivated to serve in government at some point during your career. Would you care to tell us a little about this?

Joey:
The impact on my life from 9/11 was not subtle. It changed my career path. Before, I didn't even know what I wanted to do with my life. Afterwards, I realized I wanted to protect people or help people in any way possible. I grew up an only child and was separated from my mother for more than half of my life at an early age. I knew I needed a job where I can be challenged and has a meaningful purpose for this society.

I read some books and did some research and realized being either a clandestine or special agent is very attractive to me. One needs to be bright, but at the same time needs to be well-rounded. People who work in those fields know how to perform the role as well as other job skills such as accounting, finance, language, technical, etc. Best of all, they all should have a sense of justice and loyalty which are very important to me. For that reason, I sought out federal agencies like CIA and FBI. My original plan was to get into CIA by studying Economics and Chinese. I checked their website and back then, military experience and overseas residency were requirements to become a clandestine officer. I realize the competition for that position, so I broadened my decision to the FBI as well. Now, I'm currently trying to get a couple of years of experience in finance so that I can work for the FBI.

Bill:
What lessons do you remember from your basic or advanced training?

Joey:
I recall one time my battle buddy forgot to leave his locker combination at 0. The drill sergeant dumped everything out of his locker on the second floor and had me recover everything for him. I learned the lesson of accountability.

Bill:
I can see that type of drill sergeant behavior, and the motivation behind it, happening in my era too; the need to build solid unit cohesion is so crucial in high danger environments, and I remember all the ways they tried to instill that in basic and AIT. Yes indeed.

Joey:
I've also experienced moments when I feel upset over other people's mistakes. One time a soldier was caught using a cell phone, which everyone is well aware of not to use, and everyone was punished for that reason. I learned that one's anger cannot settle any problem, the only way to prevent mistakes is by taking action.

I used to be afraid of heights, but going through the obstacle course where you have to climb over a two story net rope allowed me to overcome my fear.

Bill:
I hear you; the physical challenges that are baked into military training, especially for combat arms, can be life-changing. For me, it was marching in full pack during AIT to a bivouac, then spending all day qualifying on a course that had all types of stations, first aid, mortar, gas mask, etc., then marching back overnight, 26 miles, in the dark and rain. I did it and my estimation exploded of what I was capable of.

Joey:
Most of all, during the deployment, I was assigned as a squad leader at one point to be accountable of 5 soldiers. I was the youngest one in that position and had doubts of my ability. In the end, I managed to keep track of all of them and help them train with a patient, understanding, and leadership mentality which is the reason to why I was promoted to a sergeant today.

Bill:
You are fluent in English and Chinese. Name something about each language that you like

Joey:
English is a simple language that anyone can learn easily. One can also pick up a lot of the European languages because of similarities. It's also used more prevalently around the world so makes it easier to communicate with people when traveling.

Bill:
Yeah, one fancy name for this globally functional and useful language is lingua franca, which through its Latin name refers to the fact that during the Middle Ages French was the language of international diplomacy, so it was like the English of its time. Please go on.

Joey:
Chinese is a little more complicated and complex, however the writing style is interesting. For this reason, it gives more value to each character. Most people don't have the exact same names, so everyone has a distinct identity when it comes to name. A lot of the characters symbolize virtues and other concepts so people sometimes use Chinese characters to represent themselves. It's also very interesting to look back into the language and discover how each character developed to the way it is today. Let's say the character sky, it started out looking like a person, it had legs and arms and they were referring to a godly being. The character today still looks somewhat similar to it.

Bill:
Thanks for that insight; I love language and the languages, such as Chinese, that are based on symbols are fascinating.

Joey Yeh, what challenges do you think confront your generation of Americans?
I personally think that my generation's biggest struggle is to find motivation.

We live in a society where everything is given to us. Compared to back then, we no longer have to worry too much about not having food on our plates or living under a roof.

Some of us have become indifferent. There is no need for some of us to be motivated to do anything when everything that we need is taken for granted.

On top of that, our other struggle is temptations. There are a lot more distractions today, and people can easily lose focus on what needs to be done. Worst of all, competition is becoming even more fierce in terms of job placement. Jobs are shrinking due to technology and downsizing.

Some American teenagers only want to enjoy life. Working too hard is the last thing they want in their life. Fewer people want to take on less interesting job fields such as engineering and science when they can become athletes and superstars. Maybe it's the way the parents raised us. They gave us too much freedom and not much discipline in life.

Bill:
Thanks for your candid opinions and for your service, and best of luck to you, young man. Somehow, I don't think you will need much, as you are one impressive individual.