#VeteranOfTheDay Army Veteran Samuel Ancira Jr.

Army Veteran Samuel Ancira Jr. is today’s Veteran of the Day.

Lt. Col. Samuel Ancira Jr. was born in Flint, Michigan. He enlisted in the Army in 1988 and served in the Army Reserve for one year until he transitioned to active duty. In total, he served for 32 years, covering six different stations and four deployments.

Ancira was an enlisted soldier for six years in the engineer and logistics fields before graduating from Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning in 1994. He was then assigned as a field artillery officer.

From 1989 to 1992, Ancira was stationed in Darmstadt, Germany. During this period, he deployed for the first time to serve in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War in 1991.

Ancira then returned to the U.S. and was stationed at Fort Hood in Texas from 1992 to 1999. Next, he was stationed at Fort Sill in Oklahoma from 1999 to 2006. In 2003, Ancira deployed to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Afterward, he was stationed at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico from 2006 to 2009 before again deploying to Iraq for Operation Enduring Freedom from 2009 to 2010. Ancira then returned to Fort Sill for three years before moving to Fort Belvoir in Virginia from 2012 to 2015, where he was a product manager for Wideband Enterprise Satellite Systems. He returned to Fort Sill one last time from 2015 to 2017, during which he deployed to Kuwait for Operation New Dawn.

Ancira’s final assignment was as the director of tests at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, from 2017 until his retirement in January 2020. In this role, he planned and supported ground tests. He has been married to his high school sweetheart, Stephanie, for over 30 years. Together, they have two children.

Ancira currently works as an acquisition program analyst for the Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency. In this role, he evaluates program requirements and helps his team study and analyze data related to program costs, scheduling and performance. He plans to start a tie collection now that he is wearing suits.

We honor his service.

Nominate a Veteran for #VeteranOfTheDay

Do you want to light up the face of a special Veteran? Have you been wondering how to tell your Veteran they are special to you? VA’s #VeteranOfTheDay social media feature is an opportunity to highlight your Veteran and his/her service.

It’s easy to nominate a Veteran. Visit our blog post about nominating to learn how to create the best submission.

Writer: Alexandra Kaiser

Editors: Nathaniel Scott, Theresa Lyon

Researcher: Timothy Georgetti

Graphic Designer: Kiki Kelley