Life of Dad American Heroes – Keoni Mason

The Beer Guy
November 12, 2012

The Beer Guy

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We at Life of Dad, the social network for Dads, are happy to honor heroic dads who serve our country, as well as their family.

Today, we feature Keoni Mason, who was born in Okinawa, Japan and raised in Hawaii.  This 8-year member of the United States Army joined the Army to fulfill a long standing dream and goal: To be the best of the best.  He is married to “his backbone, motivation and reason for him being here,” Natasha, whom Keoni met in San Diego and described as “love at first sight” in nursing school.  Together, they have two daughters: Elizabeth (3 years) and Betty-Page (3 months).

Being an Army Dad and traveling around the world has not been easy.  Shortly before leaving for training, Elizabeth was born.  Only three days later, Keoni left for Germany, and then Afghanistan.  All told, Keoni missed the first 1.5 years of his first-born daughter’s life, by serving our country.  Now everyone is in Germany and newborn, Betty-Page, has had Dad around for her first 3 months.  The balance between being a Dad and in the Army is a rough one.  Keoni says, “With so much field training involved for Grunts, it is hard to find time to be a real Dad.  Waking up at 0400 to go to work and not getting home till 1700-1900 some days…it gets rough.”  He continues, “My wife is the one that holds this all together! She Skypes me on my phone during lunch so I can see and talk to my daughters.  Meeting my wife was the start to the greatest most fun journey I could have every imagined.”

In Keoni’s free time, he and his family have taken advantage of traveling around Europe.  “There is so much culture and so much to do,” he says.  The history and culture of Europe goes hand-in-hand with Keoni’s appreciation of the history and culture of beer.  With that being said, Keoni and 4 fellow soldiers set out on a quest in early June to drink as many types of beers as they could, in only one year.  Born was The Big Beer Year.  Keoni describes the birth of the movement:

“The Big Beer Year was kind of a crazy thought that we had one day when we were out in the field. We were just sitting there listening to the birds chirp and sing when I asked if anyone had heard of the Big Year where you go around the country looking for birds (The movie “The Big Year” is made about this journey).  Well, we were then led to thinking how nice it would be to have a nice cold beer because of how hot it was. One thing led to another and we combined “The Big Year” with beer.  We then started to write rules on which beers would count and about how you could confirm you actually had that beer.”

The Big Beer Year began on June 1st.  There’s going to be a plethora of beers consumed.  With Keoni’s anticipated return to the United States later this year, he’ll be able to add some American beers to the vast mix of European brews already consumed.  Some contests are planned for the website as well, including trips to the 2013 Great American Beer Festival, in Denver.  More to come on this.  Furthermore, upon his return, Keoni hopes to open up a brewpub with his brother, who has served in the Air Force and Army.

Keoni has the love & support of an “AMAZING” wife and gets to enjoy lots of beer with some of his closest friends.  But it’s being a Dad that has been the most rewarding.  Says Keoni, “I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything in the world!”

Keoni, on behalf of the Life of Dad community, thank you for what you do for our country, and your family, every single day!  Keep up the great work as a Dad, soldier and Big Beer Year participant.  We look forward to having you back home in the States later this year and will be following the success of your brewpub.  Before all that, though, first beer is on The Beer Guy, ok?

Check out Keoni and The Big Beer Year movement by visiting their website, following on Twitter (@BeerYearKeoni) or visiting their Facebook page (The Big Beer Year).

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