Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CW3) Charles Bartz and his wife, Captain Loretta Bartz, both served in combat. They are shown at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq around Valentine’s Day in 2004. CONTRIBUTED

MADISON – After joining the U.S. Army in 1987, Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CW3) Charles Bartz started his career as a Private in basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. in 1988.

“My initial assignment was in HHC 1/15 Infantry BN, 3rd Infantry Division in (then) West Germany,” Bartz said. “I was reassigned to Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga. in 3/160 Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne).”

In 1996, he moved to 2nd Forward Support BN in 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea. He returned to Fort Rucker to Warrant Officer Candidate School.

His next assignment was Fort Hood in 544th Maintenance BN. “I served there until summer 2001, and it was off to Division Support Command (DISCOM) in 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea,” Bartz said.

After returning to Fort Hood, he reported to 15th Forward Support BN, 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. “We deployed to Iraq for 14 months. I then moved to 15th Sustainment Brigade in Support of the Cavalry Division. I deployed again to Iraq for another 14 months (2006-2007). Upon my return to Fort Hood, I retired from active duty (whew!),” Bartz said.

Bartz retired as a Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CW3) in May 2008.

He and wife Loretta both served in logistics specialties. “When those kinds of civilian jobs began to dry up (around) Fort Hood, we moved to Redstone Arsenal in mid-2012. BRAC brought many logistics jobs here, and we figured to move here for work and be closer to my wife’s home state of Kentucky,” he said.

Charles grew up in McIntosh, Minn. but considers Killeen, Texas as home. He earned a bachelor’s degree in general studies from Excelsior College and a dual-specialization master’s degree in organizational and project leadership from Regis University.

He and Loretta both work as senior analysts with CALIBRE on Redstone Arsenal. Their daughter Mariah, 19, is attending Texas A&M University – Commerce. Their son Lafe is almost three years old.

Charles holds membership with VFW and American Legion. “I like most ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Star Wars’ movies and follow college men’s basketball,” he said.