Keith Porter retired last month from the military after serving multiple times overseas.
Porter has been a Jefferson City Police Department officer since 1996 and works in the community services unit serving as a DARE instructor and school resource officer.
Porter entered the military service as an Army ROTC cadet with the Lincoln University Blue Tiger Battalion and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the infantry branch in May 1989 in the Army Reserve.
He later transferred to the Army Transportation Branch. He then achieved what he called the "highlight of my career" when he was assigned as commander of the 428th Transportation Company, which was deployed to Iraq in 2004.
While in Iraq, Porter's unit engaged in more than 50 "serious incidents," received more than 20 Bronze Star medals, more than 60 Army Commendation Medals for Valor and seven Purple Heart medals.
Porter deployed again in 2009 to Afghanistan as the executive officer of the 484th Transportation Battalion and the liaison officer for the 143rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command.
His final deployment was in 2012 to Afghanistan as the team chief of the 455th Terminal Supervision Team and chief of the Distribution Operations Center with the 1184th Deployment and Distribution Sustainment Battalion.