In Class Book

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FORT KNOX, Ky. – She still left her initial love – New York Metropolis – for her Soldier in the rolling hills of Kentucky, and took a vocation leap by joining the 1st Theater Sustainment Command. That move has brought her a legitimate perception of objective in her function.

Andrea Peña, a financial administration analyst in the unit’s G-8 directorate, 1st TSC, gives a unique standpoint to the Very first Team, getting occur from the New York global tax environment. Known to her friends as Andie, she’s worked for some of the nation’s premier and most prestigious accounting firms.

Peña labored as an accountant at Deloitte LLP, KPMG LLP, and invested 10 many years with the American Intercontinental Group. She worked mainly in mergers and acquisitions, shareholder taxation, and intercontinental tax with AIG.

Her education organized her for the tax planet and intercontinental tax is typically in a significant city, so which is how she landed in New York. Peña has a bachelor’s diploma in accounting from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and was awarded a full-ride Scholarship to the College of Denver, exactly where she earned a master’s degree in taxation.

While residing in New York, Peña loved observing the New York Town Ballet and was a member of the Museum of Present day Artwork. She also routinely delighted in are living tunes and embraced all that would make it the “city that by no means sleeps.”

Peña was also overworked, putting in 70 to 80-hour get the job done months, and living aside from her spouse. So, immediately after 16 a long time of dwelling in the Massive Apple, she packed up her items and headed to Fort Knox – where she discovered a massive alter in her overall health the moment she arrived.

“I am the happiest and healthiest I’ve been in 20 years,” she proclaimed. Obtaining embraced so considerably of what the Fort Knox area offers, Peña contributes her rejuvenated everyday living to shelling out far more time outdoors, suffering from accurate operate/lifetime equilibrium, and last but not least dwelling with her husband of nine many years.

Given that arriving, Peña picked up operating and has appreciated looking at the wildlife on publish. She primarily runs early in the morning and sees deer, fox, rabbits, and many hen species. She has even been noticed running with the device, and has concluded the Military 10 Miler for the previous two yrs. Peña also likes working out and worked as a individual coach for seven many years.

The Colorado native likes hiking in her free of charge time, and now she has a good deal more of that.

In addition to the function/existence stability, Peña enjoys a lot of other pros of being a Department of Defense (DoD) staff. Nonetheless, her true gratification is observing the effects of her operate.

“I experience genuinely appreciated right here and that would make me want to get the job done really hard and give the best that I can to men and women,” she proclaimed.

Peña wasn’t confident how her schooling and practical experience would translate into a DoD civilian career, and crafting that initial resume was challenging. “I identified it tough to translate all of my knowledge into a complete 7-10 site resume,” she claimed.

“It’s so unique than worldwide tax,” she shared. “There, every thing is shareholder driven and you sense like you are doing the job your self to loss of life for something that doesn’t even profit you or any person you know. It’s for the CEO, board of directors, and the company’s earnings per share.”

Peña said that she gets a lot much more personal fulfillment functioning in this article. “With tax accounting, I was helping firms navigate or get all over tax regulations. It wasn’t always black and white.” She likes how the Army adheres to Typical Working Procedures and Economical Administration Restrictions.

As a spending budget analyst at 1st TSC, Peña will work mostly with the Standard Fund Company Enterprise Process, conducting analytics for money administration reporting, obligating money, and examining contracts and Government Acquire Card use. “If it involves dollars with the 1st TSC, then it arrives by our business,” she mentioned.

Andie also contributes considerably of her perform gratification to her terrific staff. “I am very lucky in G-8,” she claimed. “Boredom is the kiss of death to me, and I can’t be bored in G-8.”

“Getting into a new occupation discipline is really invigorating to me, and manufactured me want to study a lot more,” Peña explained. “I learn a thing new each working day at 1st TSC.”

Peña shared that whilst she isn’t generally the smartest person in the area, this tends to make her strive to always force herself to broaden her expertise base. “I had to study the acronyms and vernacular in addition to the funds cycle and appropriations,” she stated. She pressured that her leadership and staff has been vital in teaching and answering queries.

“After my 1st yr in this article, I made the decision that I needed to finish my vocation with DoD,” Pena emphasised. With her husband serving in the Army, Peña likes that she is supporting Soldiers.

Now residing on write-up with her spouse, Sgt. 1st Course Michael Hammon, who is effective at Army Human Assets Command, Pena reported, “It was really superior to transfer in with each other and establish a plan.”

The couple satisfied by a mutual mate, courted extensive length, married and lived aside, till they at last joined forces when she moved in this article to be with him. She left New York just in advance of the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the metropolis.

Their mutual pal believed they’d like each and every other, simply because they have widespread passions. “I’m a comedian reserve geek,” Peña proclaimed.

She attended New York’s Comic Conference yearly, and invited Hammon to show up at with her. “He even wore a costume,” she said. “I considered, all right, you might just be my perfect match.”

That match became her partner. Having said that, combining homes just took them more time. “Now my close friends say that I glow and appear more healthy,” she reported. “I feel like my shoulders finally arrived down, and I am capable to consider a move back and loosen up.”

In addition to her spouse, Mike, Andie shares her property with a exclusive companion. Mr. Pinkerton is her beloved cockatoo who made the trek with her from New York to Fort Knox.

“I like birds,” she reported. “I set up a couple chicken feeders for me and for Mr. Pinkerton. It’s develop into meta, she laughed.”

He would travel on the New York subway with Peña. Now he watches birds and other wildlife outside the house. She explained him as a magnet for men and women.

“I made use of to get him out in his mesh carrier and people cherished chatting to him,” she reported. “He utilised to dance and flap his wings with the performers in the subway.”

“As quickly as I walk by means of the doorway he says, ‘Come here’,” she stated.

He also says, “Hey, Pinkerton,” and “I appreciate you.” Because Peña tells him that he’s a great boy, he also says, “I’m a excellent boy.”

“He’s more entertaining than tv,” Peña reported.

Chook in tote, Peña made that go listed here which has modified her everyday living.

“Now I am carrying out something that I actually love and enjoy, and I never care as a lot about the cash, she stated.

Though she normally misses the significant city, Peña emphasised that, “This is the place I am intended to be at this stage in my existence!”