Military Service Taught Former Marine Leadership Skills, to Cherish Time With Family

EDITORS NOTE:  This article is part of a series of profiles honoring veterans during November.

When Milan High School graduate Anthony Pegouskie isn’t working as a firefighter and paramedic for the City of Romulus, he might be riding his Harley with his wife, or shooting pool with other veterans at the Legion.

He’s one of about 200 veterans at Legion Post 268, ranging from their 20s to 90s. According to Josh Wieringa, a Past Commander of Post 268, the Milan membership is pretty diverse.

“We have a pretty large younger generation as well,” Wieringa said, “Every branch is represented in Milan.”

Milan is a patriotic town where the majority have served in the military or know someone who has, Wieringa said.

Service

Pegouskie’s path to military service started as an 8th grader when terrorists attacked the Trade Towers on Sept. 11 

“I’m glad I did. Even if it was just being there for the guys left and right,” he said. “You literally depend on each other with your life.”

Pegouskie served in the U.S. Marines as both active and reserve service for 14 years. His first assignment overseas was as a mortar man in Iraq and he later trained militaries in Central Africa and served as a platoon sergeant in Afghanistan.

“I grew up really quick. I was 19 years old and I went to Iraq,” he said.

Pegouskie decided to leave military service when COVID-19 resulted in lockdown the day before he was supposed to leave for an assignment.

Family

While he would love to have served six more years to earn his retirement, he thinks he made the best choice for his family. 

Between the first two assignments overseas, Pegouskie married Milan High School and Eastern Michigan University graduate Chante Knoedler. When he left for his final assignment in Afghanistan, their first child was three months old. When he returned, she was 14 months.

“I’m sure [my daughter] was like, ‘Who is this guy?’ It was a weird transition for me. I was used to a kid crying at night and came back to her sleeping through the night.”

For his current job as a firefighter, he works 10 to 11 24-hour shifts a month, giving him a lot of time home with his family. He said this is especially nice in the summer when his kids are home from school and his wife, who works as a parapro at Paddock, is off work.

“I absolutely missed out on a ton of firsts, but maybe that made me want to be there for a lot more. Now my daughter and I are really close.”

In addition to his daughter, Reagan, 8, he also has a son, Maverick, 5, who he enjoys spending time with.

Skills

In the military, Pegouskie said he found structure and developed leadership and people skills he’s carried into his current job and volunteer work. 

His childhood friend Wieringa, who served in the Army, said they kept in touch over the years while they alternated deployments. Wieringa said Pegouskie pushes to make everything he does better, whether that’s serving in the military, coaching wrestling or serving on the firefighter’s union–and often his family is working right alongside him.

“He’s not just showing up doing the job,” Wieringa said, “He’s finding ways to improve the systems he’s in.”

Honor

Pegouskie’s grandfather Paul Black served in the Air Force as a mechanic, stationed in the U.S., during the early years of Vietnam. Then military service skipped a generation until he and two of his cousins joined the Marines. He said he feels like younger veterans like him are better appreciated—and they signed up for their service– unlike some of those drafted to fight in Vietnam.

Still, he said there are some hard things about serving in the military and he volunteers both through the Legion, which works to make sure veterans get their promised benefits, and Foundation 14, which provides Harley-Davidson motorcycles to combat veterans healing from PTSD. He got his own Harley when he was 30 and loves the freedom he finds.

“The wind beneath your knees, just me and the road,” he said. “You don’t get that feeling in a car.”