Adults often pose the question to kids: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Most kids would reply with “doctor” or “firefighter.” Six-year old Tim Dixon, on the other hand, confidently said “a soldier.”

Coppell High School world history teacher Tim Dixon’s childhood was surrounded with military life. His father served in Vietnam twice when Dixon was in elementary school, during the year 1967 and his older brother, Mike Dixon, served in the Army in the 1970’s.

“Tim had Army guys all over the place…he lived with seeing Mike’s Army pictures on the wall,” Dixon’s sister, Sharon Schaneman, said.

By the time Dixon reached high school, he wanted to follow in his family’s footsteps.

“I’ve had a lot of family that’s been in the military the whole time. So I was always going to join,” Dixon said.

Dixon joined the Army at age 18. He specialized in infantry tactics, military concepts that use tactical objectives during combat. Training centers preparing for service would call upon Dixon and others to add to their cadre in infantry schools.

He served in the Nebraska National Guard, a primary reserve military force for 10 years. He multitasked, balancing college and the National Guard. He later was activated and sent to military camp and then served in Honduras and Fort Irwin, California. He was also at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin to train soldiers to go to war.

“I learned a lot from the local soldiers. Especially Honduras, Honduras was an eye opener,” Dixon said.

During these travels, he saw how other soldiers’ perspectives were different then what he previously thought. At one point, he talked to West Germans, who explained to him how they did not want America to go to war against East Germany, since even though there was a barrier separating them, they still had family on the other side.

At age 20. Dixon read a book about Ho Chi Minh, the leader of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He had read in the book that apparently Ho Chi Minh had loved America, which was weird to Dixon because, according to his dad, Ho Chi Minh was the enemy, but this book shined a new light on the topic. He learned about the past of Ho Chi Minh and why he did the things that he did, leaving Dixon to wonder more about history.

Dixon left the military behind because his National Guard unit changed into an armored tank unit. Because he was skilled at infantry, not working with tanks, his career progression faltered.

“I had already served 10 years in the guard, three in the Army. So it was just time to move on,” Dixon said.

Dixon eventually decided to become a world history teacher.

“I felt that other people, kids, should know about the world before they get out of high school,” Dixon said.

Dixon wanted to teach history, not only because it was his favorite subject, but because he did not get a lot of that pleasure growing up.

“I like that his class is very interactive, and he also offers insight. I like that he relates class to things that are actually happening,” sophomore Hannah Hupp said.

Dixon gained insight of perspectives from the world from his years spent in the military, and implements his knowledge over it into teaching World History.

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