Highlighting a Veteran each month allows Cook For Vets to share their service, sacrifice, and achievements. Veterans’ stories may encourage others to reflect on their own contributions and inspire acts of service.
This month’s Veteran of the Month is Moses Reynolds, U.S. Marine Corps & U.S. Air Force. Inspired by his first cousin, a Marine tail gunner during the Vietnam War, Moses’ path to military service was shaped early. Though Moses’ cousin spoke modestly of combat, the confidence, self-assurance, and humor he carried home left a lasting impression. Those qualities, along with a deep family legacy of wartime sacrifice, ignited Moses’ call to serve.
Moses raised his right hand on November 20, 1974, beginning 30 years of active service after graduating High School in June 1975. Moses’ service took him across every continent with a U.S. Embassy, as well as to unnamed nations without diplomatic relations. Among many defining moments, Moses highlights his work on a White House–directed counter-narcotics mission under President Clinton, following five years of intensive intelligence training. Moses was selected for the Syracuse University Photojournalism Program, nominated for Photojournalist of the Year in 1978, and completed a 13-month overseas tour in Okinawa, Japan.
Moses served 28 years in the United States Marine Corps where he rose from Private—humorously referred to as a “grenade catcher”—to Gunnery Sergeant. During Moses’ two years with the United States Air Force, he served as a Master Sergeant and Intelligence Operations Subject Matter Expert. Moses’ Air Force service supported Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), and Operation New Dawn (OND), culminating in his role as Senior Threat Analyst at the Pentagon under Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, until a major spine surgery in 2024 required rehabilitation.
Moses shared a powerful truth when asked about his greatest takeaway of serving: complete confidence that anything is possible with determination and focus. That mindset carried him through surviving an assault during a counter-drug mission and helping dismantle corruption tied to international drug trafficking. Moses explained the military shaped his life profoundly, instilling a positive outlook, mental resilience, and purpose. “Without it, I might have given up and settled into being an ancient war relic.”
Moses ended up saying he would serve all over again without hesitation. “My motivation—to be the best in every challenge—was reinforced by my parents’ own wartime service during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. “His father served at the U.S. Embassy in Manila under Colonel William Donovan (OSS) and was imprisoned during the occupation, while his mother survived as a rebel and resistance fighter.
CFV is deeply grateful for Moses’ extraordinary service, sacrifice, and enduring example of what it means to serve with honor, and proudly celebrates Moses Reynolds as Cook For Vets Veteran of the Month!