Hello everyone! My name is William Spradling and I am currently a sergeant in the U.S. Army National Guard. My job in the army is fire direction control, or FDC for short. FDC members calculate the launch conditions that must be met for an artillery shell to hit a target accurately for various artillery pieces such as the M109A6 (Paladin), M777, and M119.
M109A6 (Paladin) M777 and ammunition
I joined the Army in 2010 and spent four years of active duty service with two of my years in Schweinfurt, Germany; a year in Paktika Provence, Afghanistan; and a year in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The lessons I learned during my active duty service are invaluable and I can truly say that it was the greatest learning experience I have had so far in my life.
(Personal Photo from 2011) A picture of me (left) and some of my platoon
conducting a counter fire mission in Afghanistan
After I finished my four years of active duty, I decided that it was time to go back to school and finish a degree using the benefits of the Post 9/11 GI Bill that I had earned. I came to the decision to go to the University of Oklahoma to pursue a degree in Chemical Engineering. I was immediately drawn to the wide range of topics and problems that a chemical engineer would be exposed to and now as a senior in the program, I have concluded it was without a doubt the best choice of major I could have picked for my personality. My short term goal is to finish my degree and get a job somewhere in the chemical field, preferably in polymers. My long term goals include moving to Colorado and becoming a lead engineer at a chemical company. My biggest dream would be able to move back to Germany and work for BASF.
I am about to be married to my beautiful fiancé, Makale, in March of this year.
(Personal Photo from 2016) Makale and I in Vail, Colorado.
Makale and I have been living together for about two years and we just recently moved to Moore.
We also have a crazy dog together by the name of Jax, who is half blue healer and half American bulldog, and he thinks he is a small lap-dog even though he is 80 pounds.
(Personal Photo from 2015) Jax with his most prized possession.
I hope you have enjoyed this small introduction to my life!
