Luke was arrested again...
...only a week before joining the Army National Guard and going to Basic Training. He was not charged at that point but released to the custody of his dad.
His dad took him straight from the detective’s office to the church to speak with the pastor. He told the pastor that they should get the elders together, take Luke behind the church, and beat him with sticks. His dad was at his wit’s end and didn’t know what else to do. In true Luke fashion he began to rap. Right there in the pastor’s office. He just busted out into a rap while they looked on in total confusion. They must have thought he had a demon.
Luke was lonely and insecure. He was confused and angry. He didn’t know what he wanted or needed, nor how to ask for it if he had. He did make it to Basic Training and graduated. He finished Advanced Training in Ft. Bliss, and came back to Oklahoma. It didn’t take him long though and he was back to his old ways. He graduated from breaking and entering to selling drugs because now he had rent to pay.
About a year after coming back from Basic and AIT he found out that he had gotten a girl pregnant. Some of his family threatened to disown him if he did not give the baby up for adoption, which he ultimately did. (A decision that he still struggles with sometimes.) So he signed away his right to this unborn child and decided to finally go Active Duty Army. His thought was, “If I don’t go right now, I will end up in prison.” Many of his friends were getting locked up and though he always avoided arrest; it was only a matter of time so he went from National Guard to active duty a few months before his son was born.
He decided to be an MP (Military Police) because he thought...
...that would help him change his outlook on Law enforcement, it didn’t. Months after being stationed at Schofield Barracks in HI he started smoking weed and eventually selling it. He was disciplined with restricted duty twice for insubordination and recklessness before eventually going AWOL for 4 days. This earned him severe disciplinary action and he was close to being kicked out of the Army altogether.
Luke knew there was a problem even before his AWOL excursion. He tried to explain it to his commander who ordered him to see a counselor. His military appointed psych counselor put him in Anger Management classes, alcoholics anonymous, Drug abuse classes, and mental awareness classes. None of this seemed to help at all. Don’t get me wrong, Luke did a lot of good and had many healthy relationships. He was always the person his friends would come to for advice, even married ones would come to him for marital advice. He was outgoing and friendly and even a very hard worker. He was ambitious and a natural leader. Which is why, while he was in the process of being kicked out of the army, SSG Guevara stepped up and took him under his wing. He saw potential in Luke and convinced the unit commander to not kick him out.
SSG Carlos Guevara was the first person to invest in Luke. He spent his time trying to mentor this young man. He identified with his struggles and helped him see things from a different perspective. He saw Luke as a strong, intelligent young leader and essentially put his money where his mouth was. The deal was, put Sinclair on my squad and let me work with him instead of releasing him from the Army. If he messes up again it will be on me. It is hard to write about the darkness over Luke’s life when there was so much light. It’s as if there were two Luke’s. One was confident and friendly, outgoing and hardworking, intelligent and relational. The other was dark and depressed, confused and broken, insecure and angry. He was in constant struggle to figure out who he was and how to be who he wanted to be.
"I have to take a moment here and say...
*** to Carlos Guevara; the decision Luke made that lead him to prison is in now way a reflection on you. You poured into his life and opened your home and family to him and he is eternally grateful for every moment he had with you. You were the first person to really see him and take personal action to help.
Carlos is not the only person from Luke’s military days that impacted his life, there were many. There was Gabriel Martin who has been a close friend to Luke for decades. Scott Bostic, Julie Peloquin, Heather Gordon, Ana Mossman, JC Yow (PIP), Christina Billingsly, Marlon Mackey and many more who encouraged him and were always there for him to talk to. He also remembers Carlos’ brother Danny and sister Alba who welcomed him like family.***
