The long-sought Spanish-American War statue and a gigantic C-130 surprised Capt. John Quin when he returned this spring to the Ike Skelton Training Site in Jefferson City after deployment to Afghanistan.
The Missouri National Guard public affairs officer served as the press desk officer in a joint command office. He deployed as an Air National Guard member and worked under an Army colonel and with three sailors and three civilians.
While at the NATO headquarters, he worked with representatives from Romania, Portugal, Iceland and Sweden, as well.
"The Guard prepares you for joint environments," Quin said. "It was weirdly familiar."
Within the Missouri Guard, there are four separate units with a public affairs mission. When guardsmen respond to natural disasters and other events, those units may interchange personnel and work cohesively together, he said.
"Everyone has the same skill sets and training," he said.
Quin arrived home just eight days before his wedding to Amanda De la mater. But he was also eager to return to his day job at the training site, he said.
The additions in front of the Museum of Missouri Military History were a welcome surprise, he said.
The museum, which falls under the responsibilities of the public affairs office, has been a major effort in recent years. From relocating the museum to a larger, more accessible space to acquiring new pieces of Missouri military history for display.
But the key involvement for the public affairs office is community relations and promoting events, Quin said.
The museum now is working toward the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I in 2017. Earning his undergraduate degree in history at Washington University, Quin appreciates the role the museum plays, he said.
"You realize how much you don't know when you come down here," he said.
Growing up in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Quin said he knew he wanted to be in the military some day. He imagined being an embedded correspondent, which he learned while serving in Afghanistan was an extremely rare position.
While seeking his master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, he was offered an internship with the Missouri Guard public affairs office.
The internship turned into a two-year civilian job in public affairs at Fort Leonard Wood. Fortuitously, as that job was winding down, an opportunity to join the military in public affairs emerged.
"It was the easiest decision I ever made in my life," Quin said. "I was in the right place at the right time. Things have worked out incredibly well."
He enlisted in April 2009, training at Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama, then at Fort Mead, Maryland.
Two years later, he returned to the Missouri Guard public affairs office. That was 2011, the year of the blizzard, Joplin tornado and Missouri and Mississippi rivers flooding.
"From April until August, it was like one continuous mission," Quin said.
In the field, as a lieutenant, his job was to coordinate with local media and to support the enlisted public affairs soldiers in the field, he said.
"As a lieutenant, I learned quickly how good the enlisted soldiers are and I learned from them," Quin said.
Civilians may think only of the military's physical response, like filling sandbags or helping after the tornado.
But "working with the media helps us to complete our mission," too, he said. "It reassures people we know what we're doing."
The longer he serves in public affairs, the more he realizes the importance of communication, Quin said.
The job also offers flexibility and exposure to a variety of places and situations.
Quin has been to Panama and Honduras for annual training and partnership programs.
"In the last 10 years, I've seen things people don't (normally) get to see," he said. "I like having a job where I know I'm making a difference to someone."