When American veterans return home, many bring back more than stories of service. They return with discipline, resilience, and a mission-focused mindset — qualities that translate naturally to beef production.

For two veterans, the path from military service to raising beef cattle reflects a journey of identity, rebuilding, and finding their purpose. Their stories differ in timeline and terrain, but they share the same values of devotion to their country, family, and to the work that sustains it all.

From Global Conflict to the Family Farm

When Jeff Reed was a junior in a Texas high school, he watched the events of 9/11 unfold on television—an image seared into the memory of countless Americans. For him, it sparked a sense of obligation.

“My high school agriculture teacher was a Marine, and it was very impactful for me. Right out of high school, I went to the Marine Corps boot camp in August of 2003,” said Reed. “By the next year, in August of 2004, I was sitting in Iraq.”

He joined the Marine Corps in the early years of the War on Terror, stepping into a world marked by rapid deployments, shifting missions, and geopolitical tension. His early assignments took him to various Middle Eastern countries where he experienced culture shock, diplomatic complexity, and the intensity of living abroad during a period of heightened global uncertainty.

After serving in Iraq for seven months, Reed was recruited to work operationally for the State Department, where he provided security for American Embassies and Diplomats. He went to Quantico, Virginia, for training at the FBI headquarters, with the Diplomatic Security Service, and then spent a year in Bahrain. As a twenty-year-old, he traded his camouflage for a suit and tie to work in a role that required professionalism, technical expertise, and a sense of diplomacy.

“The transition of full-on warfare, mortars, bombings, and gunfire to working in a diplomatic environment where they experience warfare in a very different way,” said Reed.

In 2009, after spending a year in Hanoi, Vietnam, working on a critical counterintelligence threat post assignment, and another year in Islamabad, Pakistan, he decided to conclude his military career in March of 2009 as a Staff Sergeant.

The mentor relationships he formed in the Marine Corps influenced his decision to return home and pursue a bachelor’s and master’s degree in agricultural education from Texas A&M University. After teaching for three years in Texas, he was recruited by a professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia to pursue his PhD in Agricultural Systems and Technology, as well as Agricultural Education. To further solidify his potential move to Missouri, he met his future wife, Andrea, on a tour of the college campus.

While interviewing for various agricultural education positions at universities across the country, the opportunity arose to relocate to her family’s farm in southeast Missouri when her dad passed. “My wife’s grandpa and mom sat us down and asked if we would take it on,” Reed said. They felt a strong calling to carry on the family farm’s legacy and agreed to move back.

The couple has remained busy with the diversified operation, which includes row crops, beef cattle, a receiving station for Joplin Regional Stockyards, and a trucking business. They have a cow-calf operation and background yearlings, and have invested a significant amount of money in updating the fences, equipment, and infrastructure on the centennial farm.

“My military background and work ethic from the Marine Corps have definitely led to successes on the operation,” said Reed. And his integrity influences the way their operation is managed. “We make sure we run a safe operation and hold ourselves accountable to that.”

Reed is currently serving as the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association president and has a passion for being the voice of producers across the state to ensure the next generation can plant roots on the farm too.

“We want to be good stewards of the land that we’ve been entrusted with, and sharing that story is something that I try to do whenever I’m out and about. I make sure my boys know that and understand that,” said Reed. “If they decide they want to raise cattle, they’ve got the opportunity to do so, and I think that’s a great legacy to leave.”

Reflecting on Duty, Discipline, and Farming

At the age of 19, Gary Morrison was working full-time as a bridge construction laborer outside of Memphis, Tennessee. He witnessed first-hand the physical toll a decade of labor took on his 30-year-old friend and foreman, and decided to meet with a military recruiter who would change the course of his life forever.

In December 2002, he left for Navy boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois, then attended Master-at-Arms A School in San Antonio, Texas. Throughout his 20-year career in the Navy, he completed two deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007. He also spent a significant amount of time in Africa and the Middle East, and eventually returned to the United States, where he lived in Washington, D.C. He retired as a Senior Chief Master-at-Arms while stationed at Command Naval Forces Korea, Busan, South Korea.

At the time, his wife and two boys were living in southeast Georgia. Before retirement, Morrison spent 18 months stationed in Korea. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the homesteading movement, he discovered various YouTube channels from beef producers who vlogged their everyday lives on the farm. This ignited a dream to live off the land and raise grass-fed cattle.

In 2021, this dream became a reality. Morrison called his wife from overseas and convinced her to purchase a 100-acre property in rural north central Arkansas. His family was soon to embark on a complete lifestyle change, leaving their private, gated community within a country club. Morrison completely entrusted his wife to purchase a property that he would never see with his own eyes until retirement.

While settling into life as a civilian in a new area, he learned the value of community among fellow service members. He met Larry, a Vietnam-era Marine veteran, who quickly became a mentor to Morrison as he embarked on this new beef production journey.

“I asked Larry if he would be interested in running cows with me. I told him he didn’t have to pay me anything; he just had to teach me. And he took me up on it,” said Morrison. He later purchased his first cows from Larry, and has continued to grow his herd to this day.

What surprises many people is how he seamlessly transitioned from nuclear security roles to fixing fence lines and working cattle. But for Morrison, the connection is obvious. The two decades he spent in the Navy taught him the value of work ethic, persistence, and patience. He attributes the success of the operation to his relentless desire to continue learning, making conservative financial decisions, and using his rural resources wisely.

“Being a cattle producer is a great form of therapy for me. I can take a five-gallon bucket, set it out in the middle of my cows, and listen to them eat grass for an hour, and it’s almost like a meditation. That was the purpose behind the cows for me. I knew I needed something to take care of,” said Morrison. “Cows are not the typical therapy animal you think of, but they are therapy animals to me.”

For Morrison, the farm represents peace, family, and a new mission. “If you had told me at nineteen that this is where I’d end up,” he said, “I wouldn’t have believed you. But I’m glad it turned out this way.”

Shared Values, Shared Soil

Reed and Morrison served in different branches of the military, but both found their way back to build a life as beef producers who care for the land, cattle, their families, and their communities.

“Any agricultural producer wants to leave this place better than when they got it. If that’s not their goal, they probably shouldn’t be in the business,” said Morrison.

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