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Date: 11/12/2020
HOLYOKE – Florentino Rodriguez III grew up in the Jarvis Heights neighborhood in Holyoke.
Rodriguez, who goes by his middle name, joked that because he shared the same name as his father and grandfather he prefers Junito. He said he grew up “in a house with six kids, four boys and two girls.”
He said while his upbringing “taught me a lot,” it was at times difficult. “Growing up how I did, we didn’t have much. Vacation was going to like Chicopee or Hampton Ponds or something,” he said. “We didn’t have the money.”
Rodriguez said that after graduating from Holyoke High School in 1994 he planned to go to Westfield State University and enroll in their urban education program. However, instead, after high school he enlisted in the Army. This, he said, made him grow and showed him a world he never dreamed of seeing.
“It made me grow and realize there was a bigger world. Back in the mid-90s the Internet wasn’t like it was now,” he said. From there, he said, he’s been around the world and visited countries such as Germany, Kuwait and Afghanistan where he is currently based and working as a contractor.
"I can’t say I’ve been grounded in America for too long,” he said, laughing.
Rodriguez said he knew he had the leadership qualities to excel in the Army following high school. “I knew I had the potential to be a leader. In high school I was the first two-time captain as a junior and senior for football. Joining the military I had the traits to be leader,” he said.
He said after joining the Army, he “embraced” his upbringing, his life and did his best to share his knowledge and experience. “I embraced [my] growing up and my life and tried to share my knowledge, teamwork and knowledge with people in different backgrounds and different states,” he said.
After almost 21 years serving in the Army, Rodriguez retired. He said for a short time he was living in Florida and working for the University of South Florida. However, when COVID-19 hit the area, it caused positions to be cut and dynamics to change. “They wanted me to do two jobs for the price of one,” he explained.
He said while he enjoyed his work, he made the decision to leave his job at the university following the changes. This led him to working as an independent contractor in Afghanistan. There, he said, he’s been working as a training coordinator to develop leadership development courses to be used by businesses.
“It’s general, overall education for people. Trying to educate and promote from within. How do you do that? Teach them to be better leaders,” he said. The goal of the courses he’s creating and teaching, he said, is for those seeing the presentation to “take the knowledge and share it with people beneath them, to the left and right of them.”
He said teaching people how to be leaders and educating them, leads to identifying candidates within their own company and promoting them. “I believe in promoting from within. I know what he/she brings to the table, let’s promote them,” he said.
He added that the material in the courses can be beneficial to employees, even if they should leave the company. “If you leave the job, you can still have the same benefits or mentality or approach. How do you handle the worker that chooses not to come to work or [comes in] late,” he said. “How do you stop that to maintain comradery?
“It’s neat because I have an impact,” he said.
He said he plans to move back to Florida when his contract is up in Afghanistan, but didn’t say when that would be. While a significant portion of his family still lives in Western Massachusetts and he visits often, he said he had no plans to relocate back to the area. “I love Massachusetts, but there’s a thing called snow. I’ll take my chances with the hurricane,” he said, laughing.
Ultimately, Rodriguez said he was thankful for the time he’d served in the Army and the experience he’d gotten from it. “I’ve had a rewarding career, met great people that have had great influence,” he said.
He said while some people think he’s just lucky, he doesn’t believe that’s the case. “I love my life, I’ve been fortunate. Some people say I’ve been lucky, but I don’t think going to Afghanistan [and] Iraq is lucky,” he said.
He also said he wanted people to understand that those who serve in the military are “by no means rich” and that they work hard. “People think you work Monday to Friday, but you work 24/7. You get higher up in the food chain, your phone never stops ringing,” he said. “You’re a marriage counselor, you’re a mom, dad, brother, sister, husband. We are by no means rich.
“I didn’t have much growing up, didn’t have the all–American life. My parents didn’t finish school, my father still works in a factory. My father said ‘You gotta do whatever you do in life, it’s your life and you have to live it,’” he said. “I took the value of not having stuff and appreciating it. If I needed new shoes, do you pay a bill or get new clothes? That's what my parents had to do, I never wanted to be like that. That’s the lesson and value of hard work. Nothing is free, you have to work for it. What you put into things is what you get out of it.”