An Update

It's been almost five years since I've written here, and wow has blogging technology changed! I thought I'd give a little update here for those who use to follow the blog. Feel free to send me an email at steven.kiel@gmail.com if you'd like to reconnect or if you have any questions.

I got back from Iraq in December 2005. It was a great experience with a lot of memories. My tour was certainly different than what I had expected. Unfortunately it took a few more years than I would have hoped for things to stabilize there. I still remember our first convoy with very little truck armor, and my door being held on to the 5 ton truck with a ratchet-strap. Good times! Fortunately we stayed safe. I'm sure there are some funny stories in some of my older posts if you feel like exploring a bit.

I went back to school in the spring of 2006, finished my law degree from George Mason School of law that May, and passed the bar that summer. I also returned to The Heritage Foundation and enjoyed my time there until leaving in January 2007. 

In April 2007 Caroline and I got married in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, which is a great place that I highly recommend. We made a bit of an ill-fated move to Chicago that year, but returned to the Washington DC area in early 2008. I became a Judge Advocate in late 2007, went through my training for about four months in early 2008, and am now a captain and trial defense attorney in the Army Reserves.

In my civilian career, I practiced as an attorney for awhile, but just never was interested enough to want to make it a career. I had always been very passionate about investing, and had managed my own accounts, as well as accounts for others, for quite awhile. In 2008 I decided to look at ways to get into a career in finance. Finally, in 2009 I started an investment management firm, Arquitos Capital Management, and have been enjoying managing portfolios for clients. It's been an extremely fun and rewarding career change.

As for some of the soldiers who I served with, a number of them have been deployed again. Not only that, but my younger brother is also on a deployment in Iraq right now. He joined the Army Reserves a few years ago and is, hopefully, enjoying his tour over there. I also have a number of other friends in Afghanistan and other areas throughout the world.

One of the reasons I joined the military in 2000 was to, in a small way, do my part to give back to my country for all the opportunity it had given to me. I started the blog because war-time experiences were a bit hard to come by at the time. I really didn't know what to expect when I found out I was being deployed. There weren't a lot of resources at the time, and as a Reservist, I didn't really know anyone who had been deployed before. in the last five years, that has certainly changed. I've come across friends from grade school who are fighting right now, as well as friends I've made over the last five years. The understanding of the military is dramatically better than it was before I joined in 1999. I hope some of the milblogs helped that along a bit.

We'll see where life leads me in the next few years, but I can say that my experiences over there in 2005 have helped me tremendously. Although they weren't always fun, they were a necessary part of my life, and I have a lot of great memories.

I probably won't be writing here much, or at all, in the future. If you'd like to see what I'm up to, feel free to send me a Facebook friend request (with a note that you're a milblog follower), or you can follow my firm on Twitter at twitter.com/steven_Kiel. I also occasionally write a column at an investing Web site, seekingalpha.com. You can also join my firm's newsletter list by putting your email address in at arquitos.com.

Thanks again for all the support you gave me, and for everything you continue to do for all of the other soldiers who have served.