During his days at San Marino High School, he was known simply as ‘Brandon,’ or at most ‘defensive specialist,’ when he frequently took to the volleyball court.

Eleven years later, the 2000 grad goes by Captain Brandon Iriye, Deputy Regimental Judge Advocate, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, currently deployed to Contingency Operating Station Kalsu, Babil Province, Iraq, in support of Operation New Dawn 2010-11.

Impressive.

The long journey which brings Brandon back to the pages of his local community newspaper began through UC Irvine, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminology and Economics; to Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, where he added a JD to his credentials and then into the JAG Corps.

The road has taken some strange turns, particularly when Iriye tried to get into West Point.

“During the application process, I realized I was red/green color blind and did not medically qualify for the academy,” Iriye said. “I thought my military career was over until I began interviewing with the various services’ JAG Corps and found that color blindness did not prevent acceptance. Between the Navy, Marine, and Army JAG Corps, I chose the Army because I knew if I wanted to hit the legal ground running, the Army and it's global operations would provide the best opportunities. In my 4-plus years, I have already had the pleasure of assisting individual soldiers with legal issues, prosecuting more than felony courts-martial from rape to manslaughter, and authorizing kinetic strikes against insurgents with munitions from a 30mm cannon to 500 lb. bombs. It has been a legal experience unlike any other.”

He has been recognized in kind. Iriye has received the Bronze Star for service during Operation New Dawn, the Army Commendation Medal for 100% conviction rate while serving as the 3d ACR Trial Counsel – prosecutor – at Fort Hood, Texas and the Army Achievement Medal for successfully convicting several insurgents in the provincial Iraqi Court for planting an explosively formed penetrator against U.S. forces, the first time in the history of Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation New Dawn such a prosecution has taken place at the provincial level.

How possibly did he go from the grass volleyball courts at Lacy Park to the courts of law in the most dangerous corners of the world?

“I have always been fond of what the services represented,” Iriye told The Tribune. “Duty, honor, and selfless sacrifice were a very foreign concept to my civilian life growing up in San Marino. I wanted to experience the history and pride of serving with an Army at war. Maybe I watched too many movies as a kid but I always though the officer’s uniform is the modern day knight’s armor.”

Former volleyball coach – and founder of the program – Scott Cameron remembers Brandon well.

“Brandon was like the glue of that team,” Cameron said of the remarkable 2000 Titans, who made it all the way to the CIF finals before losing an epic, five-game match in packed Dingus Memorial Fieldhouse to big-gunned Dos Pueblos. “Brandon was always there, he always got the team together to play. The other kids really enjoyed playing with him. A lot of times, the stars are lone wolves and you need some guys who are the glue. Brandon was one of those guys. He was always positive and made sure everyone was on the same page. He also liked to laugh and have a lot of fun. It was always a good time when Brandon was around.”

The feeling is apparently mutual.

“My fondest memory of San Marino will always be of playing volleyball and my teammates from 6th-12th grade,” Iriye said. “In fact, I still play in Iraq to this day, although I have significantly gotten worse. The class of 2000 had such amazing female and male volleyball players, it was always hard to keep up with them. We played practically year round at Lacy Park, SMHS, Huntington, UCLA – really anywhere that had a court and preferably some lights. Those really were the best days of San Marino.”