Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
During a tour of duty in Afghanistan, Joseph D’Addosio was frequently in the line of fire as he traveled from base to base to maintain crucial equipment.
Joseph D’Addosio was born in Chicago and lived with his mother, aunts, uncles and maternal grandparents, Joseph and Maria D’Addosio. He grew up in the Uptown area until moving to Schiller Park with his parents, David and Tina (D’Addosio) Ball, when he was a teenager.
As a young child, D’Addosio spoke fluent Italian, which he learned from his grandparents, who had emigrated from Capurso in Bari, Italy. The oldest of six children and 20-plus cousins, D’Addosio has many cherished childhood memories. Family gathered at his grandparents’ home on Sundays and holidays. The children sat on a sheet laid out on the living room floor and ate their dinner. “All the adults were sitting around the table, talking and yelling at each other, having a normal conversation at a high pitch level,” D’Addosio fondly remembers.
His favorite meal was mostaccioli with braciole. “The noodles, sauce and the beef, chef’s kiss, it was a simple dish, but I loved it,” D’Addosio says. “I could eat mostaccioli all day, every day when my grandmother made it.” The family tradition of gathering together continued until his grandmother passed. “Every Sunday, if we were all there in the neighborhood, we would all go to grandma’s house,” says D’Addosio.
He graduated eighth grade from Thurgood Marshall School, continued to Mather High School and, after moving, graduated from East Leyden High School. D’Addosio became a father while in high school and after graduating was employed at various jobs until he joined the U.S. Army in October 2010. D’Addosio was 27 years old at the time. “I was going to join right out of high school, but life took a different course,” he says.
D’Addosio left for Basic Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, on April 11, 2011. After completing the 10-week session, he attended Advance Infantry Training (AIT) at Fort Lee, Virginia, learning the skills for his job duty: 91 Juliet, Chemical Equipment Repairer. “The job that I chose was a technician dealing with chemical equipment and so on and so forth,” says D’Addosio.
Attached to the Third Battalion, Second Infantry Division, D’Addosio learned skills necessary to maintain and repair water purification systems, haz-mat equipment, fuel trucks and heater units. In addition, he cross-trained to work on air conditioner units, refrigeration units used to store perishables and power generators. D’Addosio completed AIT and began Airborne School. A sprained knee prevented him from completing the course and soon afterward, in October 2011, he received orders to report to Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington.
Upon arrival at Fort Lewis, D’Addosio was temporarily assigned to Company Headquarters. His administrative duties included ensuring that soldiers completed all necessary paperwork to keep their military records up to date while handling discrepancies. D’Addosio also dealt with personnel record disputes as well as tracking vacation time.
D’Addosio deployed to Afghanistan in March 2012. As he prepared to leave, many thoughts ran through his head. “Okay, combat ready, this is what military is like,” D’Addosio says. “We do what they say; take it in stride and move on.” Once on the plane, D’Addosio settled in. “I mentally prepared myself that this can be the end, and this is probably where I could die,” he says. “It was weird because when I touched down, all that went away. All my worries were in the air.”
He was stationed at Kandahar Airfield, a military installation holding Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine branches, as well as NATO Forces. “Every day we would always get rocket attacked,” D’Addosio says. “The alarm would go off, and we’d have to take shelter.”
He and his team of 15 soldiers were charged with fixing fuel trucks, air conditioning units, heaters and more. “My job was just to make sure our base was running,” he says. “Without equipment you have a dead base.” D’Addosio also went on missions to other military installations. “We would convoy to different locations, fix their equipment, maybe stay there a week and then get called back or go to another location,” he says.
D’Addosio became part of the permanent travel group, driving his armored vehicle carrying the officer in charge and another soldier or two. The convoy dropped them off and brought them back to base. He remembers spotting electrical wires across the road during his first trip off base. The convoy stopped and waited for a robot to test the area. “You’re always in jeopardy when you’re traveling through desert,” he says.
Driving through a city, D’Addosio heard a “ping, ping, ping.” He looked up and spotted two piercing holes in the windshield. “The location of the holes was right at my chief’s face,” he says. “You just never know what you’re going to get into.”
D’Addosio saw huge craters in the ground that made him realize just how massive the IED explosions are. “You take it in stride,” he says. “What I’ve seen compared to what others have seen may be miniscule to what they have gone through and brothers and sisters that lost their lives.”
D’Addosio had a close call while working on another base under mortar attack. He was walking toward another soldier when he was suddenly hit with shrapnel in the back of his head. “It didn’t penetrate but it left me a golf-ball-size knot,” says D’Addosio.
He was amazed at how quickly it happened. “Like in the video games, it’s literally in slow motion,” D’Addosio says. “The explosion happened, I kind of blacked out a little bit because of the concussion from it, and then everything moved slowly. Then reality sets in and then you get moving.” He later found the shrapnel lodged in his jacket collar and still has it as a gruesome reminder.
D’Addosio participated in ceremonies for those soldiers killed in action. “That kind of took the biggest toll because you know I’m feeling for my brothers and sisters in arms,” he says. “Ages 18 to 50-something and you’re losing your life!”
D’Addosio completed his Afghanistan tour in November 2012 and returned to Fort Lewis. He performed preventative maintenance in addition to taking part in war games and field exercises to maintain combat readiness, occasionally traveling to Washington State and California.
D’Addosio was medically discharged in December 2014 as an E4 Specialist. He was employed at a variety of jobs and attended Elmhurst University, graduating in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in cyber security.
He is employed with United Airlines as a ramp supervisor, currently out of San Francisco. D’Addosio has one married son, proudly serving in the U.S. Army, and two granddaughters.
Reflecting on his time in the Army, he says: “It gave me the structure I needed. I learned so much from so many different people.
“I’m glad I had the ability to serve my country,” he continues. “One of the best things about serving your country is the patriotism, camaraderie and the pride.”
The above article appears in the August 2026 issue of the print version of Fra Noi. Our gorgeous, monthly magazine contains a veritable feast of news and views, profiles and features, entertainment and culture.
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