Jimmy Massey joined the Marines in January 1992, and served for 12 years with a specialty (MOS) in infantry. He was also an infantry instructor at the boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., and was a Marine recruiter in western North Carolina for three years. Upon the end of his recruiting duty tour, he left Twenty-nine Palms, Calif., and was sent to Kuwait in January 2003, until the invasion in March. He was MedEvac-ed out of Iraq in May of 2003, and received an honorable medical discharge in December.