Espinoza crosses career finish line
By Douglas Mallary, NMNG Public Affairs
SANTA FE, N.M. – Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jesse Espinoza, a perennial marathon runner, has crossed his career finish line after 36 years.
Espinoza has begun terminal leave in anticipation of his retirement effective date of Jan. 31, 2021.
Espinoza enlisted in the New Mexico Army National Guard on May 24, 1984. He joined as an M-42 Duster crewmember assigned to Bravo Battery, 3rd Battalion, 200th Air Defense Artillery, in Belen, N.M.
“My older brother was already in the Guard. I knew I wasn’t going to college. This was a way to serve my country,” Espinoza said. “Once I joined, the opportunities opened up.”
Entering the Active Guard Reserve program in 1985, Espinoza became a Personnel Administration Center clerk assigned to 3rd Battalion’s Headquarters and Headquarters Battery.
After working his way up to the rank of Sergeant First Class and graduating from Air Assault School, Espinoza decided to take a break from the Guard’s full-time force. While still serving as a traditional Guard member, he spent 10 years working as a Quality Assurance Manager at an environmental consulting firm.
Having become a warrant officer, Espinoza returned to the Guard fulltime for mobilization in January 2003. He went on orders to work as a liaison for NMARNG units supplementing security at New Mexico’s Air Force bases and later White Sands Missile Range.
After the mobilization orders ended and Espinoza finished his transition leave, he rejoined the AGR program as the Property Book Officer for 3rd Battalion.
Espinoza became the officer-in-charge of the Medical Detachment in 1999 and helped implement a new way of doing business.
“They hadn’t been spending their money. We started executing the budget and got brand-new equipment,” he said. “Then we started traveling and visiting units. We would fly to places like Raton to administer vaccinations to Soldiers.”
The Medical Detachment subsequently won the Piñon Level New Mexico Quality Award.
“I believe that we were the only Guard unit to ever win that particular award,” Espinoza said.
Espinoza remained with the Medical Detachment until 2007. He then volunteered for a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan as part of a 16-member Embedded Training Team.
Aside from a stint as the AGR Manager in the Human Resources Office, Espinoza spent the remainder of his career in the Directorate of Personnel or G-1, retiring as the Deputy Military Personnel Officer.
Espinoza became a marathon runner in 1992 “only because of the Guard,” he said. “I saw something that said the Guard was looking for marathon runners.”
On his own, Espinoza completed the now-defunct Tempe Marathon in Arizona to qualify for the 1992 New Mexico National Guard team.
Representing the NMNG every year, Espinoza would represent the entire National Guard when he was selected for the All-Guard Marathon Team in various years. He also won in the master’s division twice.
Espinoza has finished 27 marathons. That’s 707.4 race miles. Espinoza estimates that he has logged in 50,000 training miles over his running career. His smartwatch shows that he logs an average of 3,000 training miles each year.
Unfortunately, a back injury and knee problems have ended Espinoza’s career as a marathon runner.
Espinoza assumed the role of coordinator for the NMNG marathon team with the added responsibility for recruiting and mentoring new team members.
“You have to encourage and educate younger runners,” Espinoza said. “They’ve got the talent, but not all the knowledge. You can hurt yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
With his military and marathon careers behind him, Espinoza has no shortage of activities to keep him busy in retirement.
First comes spending more time with his wife Dolores and daughters Arlene, Christine and Lori and four grandchildren.
Then comes home improvements.
“I’m taking it day by day,” Espinoza said. “I’m enjoying doing stuff around the house, going to see my mom and dad and doing stuff around their house, then going to see my in-laws and doing stuff there.
Espinoza said that people are what he’ll miss most about the Guard.
“You meet so many people in your career,” Espinoza said. “The current team in G-1 is the best team that I’ve ever worked with.”
He also feels a deep sense of satisfaction for the work he has done in uniform.
“Taking care of Soldiers—that was the number one thing. That was fulfillment for me—helping Soldiers, whether directly or indirectly through the people I supervised,” Espinoza said.
Summing up 36 years of service, Espinoza said, The Guard has been a great adventure for me and my family and I have no regrets about joining the Guard.”
(Courtesy photo by Spc. Bekki Cecil, Digital Production System Technician, Administrative Services Branch)
