There are those who run away from trouble, and those who run toward it. Consider Paul Ballenger among the latter.
As a Marine infantry squad leader, he was part of the American forces that spearheaded Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. While there, he earned the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon. Later, as a member of the Army reserves, he was commissioned as an Army officer and served as a tank platoon leader, a scout platoon leader, a scout troop commander, and as a civil affairs team leader.
After his time overseas, he served as a firefighter and EMT in the city of Beaufort, SC, a job he was attracted to more by a sense of duty than anything else.
"I always had great respect for firefighters, similarly to the military," Ballenger said. "I was definitely inspired by the FDNY on 9/11. I felt that the fire department offered the camaraderie found in the military, and that firefighters make a difference within the community."
Just two years ago, he became cofounder of a physical security firm that has grown to employ some 4,000 people around the United States.
"I love working in the security industry," he said. "We get to help people deal with real problems. There has been a huge uptick in violence and crime over the past couple of years and it feels good to offer help in order to keep people safe."
Additionally, and most importantly, for the last nine years he's been a single father for his daughter, Addison, who's now 13.
While he laments how he's now bound by the constraints of a managerial desk job, Ballenger's lifelong history of service, duty and leadership is extraordinary. And it's taught him to be prepared for anything that life throws at him. Which is one reason why, where he can, he carries either a firearm or a knife just about everywhere he goes.
Ballenger's first knife was a Swiss Army knife, gifted to him one Christmas in his youth by his parents. "I couldn't tell you the brand," he said, "I just remember that it was the bee's knees."
Naturally, for somebody who has used knives virtually all of his professional life (including a SOG SEAL Pup when he was with the Marines), knives are high on his list of gifts to give this upcoming holiday season. He's already thinking about what kind of knife to give his girlfriend to enhance her preparedness. And of course, he knows exactly what he wants in a knife.
"I like a knife that's going to hold up to years of use and abuse," he said. "It's got to be easy to carry and have a well-designed grip that fits in your hand."
But Ballenger doesn't necessarily want any gifts – knives or otherwise – this coming holiday season. It should come as no surprise that somebody with a track record of selflessness like Ballenger is looking forward to giving gifts more than receiving them.
"I'm a gift-giving guy," he said with a laugh. "I grew up an only child, so every time there was a chance to give a gift, we did. Mother's Day. Father's Day. Graduations. Christmas. The whole nine yards." It's quite clear that Ballenger, who's fought wars and fires, who's started a wildly successful business and a non-traditional family, continues to give much.
