At 16 years old, Daniel Padgett became interested in serving his country as a member of the military. He attended Youth Challenge Academy — which is a military school program — and then met a friend of his family. 

That family friend helped Padgett with his start in the military, too. 

“After graduating, I had a family friend, who had served in the Army, become a mentor to me,” Padgett said. “He told me about his time in service and helped guide me through the whole process and also helped with choosing my MOS.” 

Padgett served 10 years (from 2002-2012) in the Georgia Army National Guard. He explained what he did during his time of service. 

“My MOS while serving was rotary wing aircraft electrical repair. I traveled to many different places to maintain and repair aircrafts during missions,” Padgett said. “Many of my missions were for disaster relief around the nation as well as one tour to Iraq.” 

He comes from a family, too, where many relatives served across different branches. 

Padgett’s grandfather served in the Marines during Korea while his father served in The Air Force and brother served in The Navy. Several of Padgett’s cousins are presently serving in different branches, too.

Additionally, Padgett mentioned he met people during his service that he remains in contact with today. 

“I still keep in touch with friends that I made during my time,” Padgett said. “We all served together and built a close bond over the years.” 

Presently, Padgett works with Mobile Hydraulics — a mobile hose repair company — and he has been there for the past five years. Padgett is also one of the company’s lead technicians. 

Padgett said he had been in the mechanical field “since I was young.” So, when he returned from his tour in Iraq, he landed a job similar to Mobile Hydraulics. Padgett worked there for a few years as well as at other jobs in the mechanical field.

Soon thereafter, Padgett came across Mobile Hydraulics. 

“I really wanted to get back into hydraulics so I looked up Mobile Hydraulics online and called the office,” Padgett said. “After speaking with Joey [Holloway] and finding out more about the business and the values he had in place, I knew this was a company that I could be proud to work for. After five years, I still feel the same and don’t regret joining the team.” 

Padgett shared that the favorite part of his job is the “unknown day-to-day.” 

“I never know what kind of machines I will be working on or where the jobs will take me,” Padgett said. “I really enjoy helping our customers when they are in need and being able to get them running again.” 

Victoria Holloway told The Covington News that the company takes “pride in hiring service members.” 

She even stated that the company has had dozens of former military employees. 

Padgett said Mobile Hydraulics’ emphasis on hiring military members was a bonus in his decision to come work there five years ago. 

“Knowing that service members take pride in their work let me know that I was joining a team of professionals who shared a sense of pride as well as our core values,” Padgett said.