Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
While studying to be a lawyer in college, Anthony Greco joined the Army National Guard and was transformed by the experience.
The older of two children, Anthony Greco was born in Evanston, Illinois, to Anthony and Tracy Sherrill Greco. His mother, from Evanston, recently passed away. His father was born in Calabria, Italy, and at 6 months old, immigrated with his mother to Patterson, New Jersey, to join his father. They later moved to the Chicago area to help with the family restaurant.
Greco grew up in Melrose Park enjoying Italian foods prepared by his paternal grandfather, who owned Tony’s Eating House on Grand near Austin. His grandmother baked. “She loves baking bread,” Greco says, “and she can never stop bringing bread over to the house.”
His grandfather sold the restaurant but continued cooking at home while upholding the tradition of taking part in the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the Taste of Melrose Park. Family members helped prepare and sell Italian foods from the stand. The family also gathered and prepared the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve. “It was a tradition that my father still carries on to this day,” Greco says.
Greco attended Sacred Heart Grade School and graduated from Nazareth High School in 2019. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, studying political science and history and planning on becoming a lawyer. While a full-time student, Greco joined the Army National Guard in January 2022 for six years of Active Reserve duty and two years of Inactive Reserve status. “I was always fond of the military,” says Greco. “I was looking into the military to see if I could kind of get a head start on my career, hopefully help me out with student loans, etc.”
Greco decided the Army National Guard was the best fit for him. Initially, his parents didn’t understand why he joined. “But looking back, how fond I was of the military as a child, they kind of realized that it was something that I always wanted to do,” Greco says.
He traveled back and forth to Chicago, completing a series of drills leading up to basic training. The soldiers learned what they had signed up for along with military history, the basics of Army structure and physical training. “You’re kind of learning the discipline of military,” Greco says. “Then I had to take a semester off from classes so I could go to basic training and advanced training.”
In August 2022, he left for basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and learned shooting, survival and navigating skills. He graduated and continued to Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Lee, Virginia, where he attended school to become a Paralegal Specialist. Greco’s studies included legal terminology and research and preparing and reviewing legal documents. “If you score high enough [on the entrance exam] you kind of have free reign at whatever job you want; you have the opportunities to choose where you want to go,” Greco says.
Greco was studying pre-law and felt this job would be a good fit. “They gave me a list of 20-25 jobs that were available and I chose off that list,” says Greco. “I knew going into the military that it would make my family happy that I was at least doing something more administrative rather than a combat role.”
After his training, Greco returned to the university as a full-time student. Assimilating back into college life was a bit strange at first. “You kind of go from waking up in the morning doing whatever it is Drill Sergeants want you to do, having a set schedule every single day and all of a sudden I’m back into the groove of waking up whenever I want to, planning my own schedule,” says Greco.
Greco also noticed a difference in his peer relationships. “The friendships that I had made prior to the beginning of my service to, when I got back, a lot of those were diminished,” Greco says. “A lot of those guys just didn’t care nor wanted to really talk to me after I joined the military.”
He happily found “community” in the Platteville Student Veteran Organization. “That’s kind of how I made a lot more friends through that,” Greco says. “A lot of those guys were either prior service or part of Wisconsin Reserve or National Guard units.”
Greco graduated with a double major in political science and history and a minor in pre-law in 2024 and decided not to continue on to law school. In his role as a Paralegal Specialist, there was not always a need for his skills depending upon what the tasks were at the time. “I didn’t really do my job all that often,” Greco says. “I was either working in the motor pool, working on vehicles, whether it was changing tires or what not. Or I would be in an admin role helping with legal paperwork of multiple soldiers.”
Greco has transitioned from Paralegal Specialist to Military Intelligence, attached to C Company, 260th Military Intelligence, out of Chicago. “Intel has always interested me,” Greco says. “Every couple of months you get a list of vacancies and I just so happened to find a role to fit what I wanted to do.” He has taken part in maneuvers in Utah, Minnesota, Iowa and Indiana and will attend Military Intelligence School this summer. Greco participated in Operation Panther Strike, the largest intelligence exercise in the Army, which includes classroom and field training. He also completed Air Assault School in Ft. Benning, Georgia, learning sling load operations, air assault procedures and rappelling. “I absolutely loved it,” Greco says. “It challenged me and it made me a stronger soldier, a stronger person.”
Greco’s father currently serves as the chief of police in Melrose Park. “I kind of always, growing up, looked up to him as my hero,” Greco says. “And I just always wanted to do something giving back to others, serving others.”
Greco graduated from the Cook County Police Academy at Triton College and is a police officer with the Village of Brookfield. “It is probably the second best decision I made in my life, besides the military,” Greco says.
Currently in his fifth year with the Army, Corporal Greco plans to reenlist. “I’m going to stay with the military 20 or 30 years, God willing,” he says. He hopes to get one deployment under his belt and will then pursue further training to advance his military career. “I haven’t fully decided on which way I want to take yet, but I know I want to be either a warrant officer or an officer,” Greco says.
Reflecting on his time in the Army National Guard, he notes that the friendships, the connections have really shaped him. “Without the military I don’t think I would be the person that I am today,” Greco says. “It’s definitely one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life and it’s made me a better person … a better communicator, a better friend to people.”
The above article appears in the July 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.
To view a sample copy, click here.
To subscribe, click here.
