Brantley joined members of the 194th Engineer Brigade of the Tennessee National Guard at Fort Bragg, N.C., in November 2004. The following month, the brigade left for Iraq, where Brantley applied his engineering background to a variety of construction projects throughout the country and earned the Bronze Star for his service.
Word of his deployment reached Brantley about four months before he headed for Fort Bragg. As he got his affairs in order, he faced the prospect of leaving a family he loved and a business he had purchased eight years earlier.