CATONSVILLE, Md. — Sylvia Moore served in the U.S. Army in the early 90s. Joining at the age of 19, she was ready to leave California and spread her wings.
Little did she know where that new path would take her.
"I was active duty. It was quite an experience, very different from what we have here," Moore said.
Inspired by her dad, who was also in the army, he served in Vietnam.
"So I was a 52 Delta, which is a generator mechanic," Moore said, "When I signed up and I came home with my paperwork so excited it dawned on me and him that our jobs were the same."
Her first deployment was to Somalia. When they landed, she said it changed the way she looked at life.
"We started making a convoy towards where we were staying and I can recall seeing a child running towards us, smiling, waving, and I'm like why is he so happy? His country is dirty, it's filthy, it stinks, it's everything and then it occurred to me, this is his home," said Moore.
A memory that has stuck throughout the years.
"I can still feel it if I close my eyes. Looking at you I can still feel the heat, the smell, the everything seeing him smile, it all comes back," Moore added.
The next deployment was Haiti.
"Six months in Somalia and four months in Haiti, and where I was stationed in Fort Drum it was a high deployment area. So, it made me proud to show them what I could do," said Moore.
As her time in the military was coming to an end after serving almost four years, she wanted to take her love for the military and put it into her next chapter in life. That's when fitness came into the picture.
"I was actually still going to the gym when I was in the military and one of my coworkers came up to me and said, can you help me work out? So then I proceeded to work her tremendously hard, not realizing that I was then setting the foundation for what I would love to do for the rest of my life," Moore said.
After traveling around working as a fitness instructor at different locations, she landed at a Catonsville retirement home where she found her niche, teaching fitness and yoga classes.
I was naturally drawn to the veterans, to most veterans, and it just became a love. They realize that I was a combat veteran and they are combat veterans," Moore added.
That's when she was invited to join the Veterans of Foreign Wars. She is even being recognized for still serving.
"Hashtag still serving is a campaign launched by the VFW in 2020 to help honor and showcase men and women veterans who served bravely and continue to serve our communities," said Moore.
Now, she serves as a senior vice commander of the VFW post located at the retirement home.
"Even though my time of service has ended, working with all these veterans if they need help with maybe joining or finding their discharge papers or ordering their cover, I'm there," Moore said.
At times, she says it becomes a mutual healing between the other veterans and her.
"That's the great thing about being a VFW person. I know what he went through, he knows what I went through, I know what what she went through, she knows what I went through, even though our conflicts come from different parts of time, points in time, we all know what that felt like to serve," continued Moore.
At the end of the day, she wants all veterans to know one thing.
"They are not forgotten. Absolutely, they are not forgotten. They are loved, they are needed, we are here for them."