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Army veteran looks forward to a new career and giving back to Williamsburg community

Virginia Gazette - 4/9/2021

Apr. 6—Brooks Rembert and his family have grown to love Williamsburg over the years they've lived in the community. As the Army major looks ahead towards his retirement later this year, he and his family are also looking forward to giving back.

Rembert, 46, and his wife Buket Rembert first moved to Williamsburg in 2012. They have two children Lara, 12, and Ryan, 6. They lived in Williamsburg till they moved to northern Virginia in 2016, but kept their Williamsburg home and rented it out until they moved back in August 2020, Rembert said in a phone interview.

Rembert said he likes the small-town feel of Williamsburg, which calls back to his childhood in Conroe, a suburb of Houston, Texas.

He said there's not many places where neighbors can become really good friends, like the Williamsburg friendships that he and his wife have kept in recent years.

"It's a really good place to make lifelong friends, and to raise your kids," Rembert said, with plenty of kid-friendly activities such as Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, and spots with hiking trails including New Quarter Park.

Rembert has spent about 23 years in the military, starting with four years in the Navy in the 1990s, right after he graduated from high school.

Part of his motivation to enlist was his fascination with the Navy, inspired in part by films around that time like "The Hunt for Red October," he said. He also said he didn't have any immediate plans to go to college, and so he thought that the Navy would be a good start to post-high school life.

"I was the first person in my family that had ever even joined the military," Rembert said. "I don't know where that desire to join the military even came from, but I always had that just bubbling under the surface."

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After the Navy he enrolled in Texas State University and graduated in August 2001 — three weeks before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Rembert said. It was after the attacks that he decided to enlist in the Army, where he would be eligible to become an officer.

"I think everybody that lived through that, (and) that had any sort of desire to serve, was trying to jump back in," he said.

He began Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, in January 2002 and continued to serve in the Army, with a break from 2006-2009, during which he served in the National Guard, he said.

In March 2020, Rembert got his Virginia real estate license and started working out of the RE/MAX Capital office on Jamestown Road in August 2020.

He explained that he had a good experience renting out his family's various Virginia properties during his military career, which is why he decided to be a full-time Realtor after he retires from the Army. "Over the years, we just really kind of liked real estate," he said.

Despite his military service coming to an end in November, Rembert's desire to serve others remains. He said that drive comes from decades in the military.

"I think it's just kind of slowly grown over the years," he said.

When the family made the decision to move back to Williamsburg, they wanted to find a local organization they could support, which lead them to Williamsburg House of Mercy, which provides supplies, food and services to local residents who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

House of Mercy was one of the many organizations who had to adapt their services to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, which included adjusting their regular food distributions to a drive-thru system.

"I like the fact that it's a local organization, (and) they sort of run the gamut of helping the homeless, the needy and the food insecure," Rembert said.

Rembert made his first donation to the House of Mercy in January, using a portion of his sales commissions as a part-time Realtor. Rembert volunteered on-site at the House of Mercy for the first time in March, when he helped out during one of House of Mercy's drive-through food distributions.

He said his first day volunteering there was an "amazing" experience, as he saw the immediate impact of the help the organization offers to people in need. He plans to volunteer there again this month.

"You are literally on the front lines, and you see it — you interact with the people that just have nothing, and you're able to hand them a meal, and you can hear the appreciation in their voice that they're going to be able to eat that day," he said.

Another important goal for Rembert and his wife has been to instill that sense of volunteerism into their children.

His daughter Lara followed her parents' example when she decided to use her allowance money to purchase items from House of Mercy's Easter basket list in March, which were put together for their client families.

Ellen Boyko, volunteer coordinator for Williamsburg House of Mercy, said Lara ended up donating about 7 pounds of candy for those Easter baskets. "She's a very sweet girl," Boyko said.

Rembert said a couple days after that, she approached the principal of her school, Queens Lake Middle School, to ask if she could set up a food drive for the Williamsburg House of Mercy. The food drive began this week, and will continue until they reach their goal of 100 pounds of donated food, he said.

"I'm happy that she has seen and witnessed her mother and my sense of service and giving, and that she has sort of incorporated that into her life, as well," Rembert said.

Alex Perry, 757-285-9397, alexander.perry@virginiamedia.com

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