Hayden Zimmerman and his brother Jake have not always shared a room. 

During their high school years, Hayden and Jake had their separate rooms in the family house in Barrington. But that changed when the brothers were deployed to Kosovo with the Rhode Island National Guard last June.

At a US Army base half a world away from their hometown, Hayden and Jake found themselves sharing a room. 

“It was good. I wouldn’t want it any other way,” said Jake, who graduated from Barrington High School in 2022. “Why am I going to room with someone I have to make a whole new relationship with? I’ll room with my brother.”

Hayden, a 2000 graduate of Barrington High School, said it was a good experience, for the most part. He smiled a bit. 

In early February, the Zimmerman brothers returned from their lengthy deployment with the RI National Guard. A large group of residents, including members of the Barrington High School football team, lined up along the White Church Bridge to greet the brothers as they made their way home. Hayden, Jake and their brother, current BHS junior Matthew, said the “welcome home” was great.

“It was nice. It was a weird feeling… You know, I didn’t do that much, but it is nice getting support coming home,” Hayden said. 

Seanna and Mike Zimmerman, the boys’ parents, said they were so happy to see the warm welcome.

“The community support, that was an entire surprise. We didn’t know that was happening,” Seanna said. “…It was amazing.”

Seanna said it has been wonderful having all her boys home together again.

“Mike and I felt like empty-nesters. And Matthew, he’s on the go all the time. So, basically, it was an empty nest. It was tough,” she said. “It was very tough, because I love having them around 24-7. 

“We had leftovers every night.”

Since Hayden and Jake’s return home, Seanna has been making more trips to the grocery store, but she loves cooking the big family meals.

“I missed a lot,” Jake said, referring to his mother’s cooking. “The chicken. She made that when we got back. The food there was … interesting. 

“And I like being able to eat (now) whatever time I want, not just at set times throughout the day. ‘Oh, it’s 2 o’clock in the morning? I’ll grab a snack.’”

Hayden said he especially missed his mother’s cooking at breakfast time.

“The breakfast spread she’ll make, it’s good. The food over there, it didn’t hold a candle,” Hayden said. 

Adjusting back to civilian life has not been without a few bumps, however. Hayden and Jake said a typical day on the base was very scheduled — there were specific times for meals, and for work. They would also set time aside to work out. 

At home, everything feels almost too relaxed. 

“It was kind of weird because everything is so regimented every day,” Hayden said, referring to life on the base. “I know what to wear every day. And what time I need to be there. Now it’s kind of aimless.

“I keep checking my phone to see if there’s a ‘Hit-time’ I have to go to.”

Seanna said she’s encouraged Hayden and Jake to relax a bit since arriving home, and to give themselves time to build new routines. 

How it started

In high school, Hayden had briefly considered joining the military but was not sure it would be a good fit. 

“I thought of it in the back of my mind, but I was like ‘I don’t think I’ll ever do this. This just doesn’t seem like it’s in my wheelhouse,’” he said.

That changed when he went with the BHS football team to a special event at Camp Fogarty. A recruiter was there and he gave Hayden his card. A while later he texted and invited him to sit for a test.

Hayden performed very well on the test. He also realized that if he served, the government would pay for his college. 

“The free school. That was the biggest thing,” Hayden said. “There was duty to my country and wanting to serve. I have relatives who have done it, but with the cost of school these days, it’s such a gold mine to do this. It’s like a hidden gem. That’s my big drive behind it.”

Jake said he began considering the military when he saw his brother excelling there. 

“I know the military has great benefits. I was like ‘My brother’s in it, and he says his job is one of the best in the military.’ So I applied for the same job he has, but they already had too many for that. So I did something similar,” Jake said.

“There are all these benefits for going to Basic and then coming back home. Obviously, I didn’t know about his deployment yet.”

When Seanna first learned that both her sons were being deployed to the same base, she was a bit concerned. 

“At first I didn’t think that was possible, that two brothers could go together. I was pretty nervous about that,” she said. “I didn’t know how they’d navigate that, but it really was a blessing. For them to have the support of each other, it was wonderful. To see their relationship elevate was nice as well.”

Seanna said Hayden and Jake have excelled throughout the experience.

“Hayden was promoted to Sergeant. He’s so eloquent now. And Jake came back a man. It’s crazy. They hold themselves much different now. I’m very proud of them.”

Hayden worked maintenance on Blackhawk helicopters in Kosovo. He handled inspections and serviced the choppers. Hayden said he enjoys the work and had never really considered that field until joining the military. 

“I knew how to change a tire and maybe change my oil, but that was about it,” he said.

“When I was in school, I really picked up on it. I did really well,” he said. “When I came out of school, I had like a three month break before I got to my unit and I just dumped everything. And it’s not the same. They say, even at school, you’re going to learn everything once you get to your unit. With the Guard it’s kind of hard. You’re only there one weekend a month … one month you might be going to the range, you might not be doing mechanical stuff… That’s why deployment was the best thing for me and the junior guys, because six days a week it was like boom, boom, boom, boom… It’s just like second nature now. I love it.”

Jake works aviation maintenance on a wide variety of aircrafts. 

“It doesn’t have to just be Blackhawks. It can be Chinook, Apache…I really like it,” Jake said. “It’s tough. I’m working with a lot of metal. I just got out of and went directly to deployment. I was brand new to all this stuff. It was really fun. I think I ended up with 400-something maintenance hours.”

When they were not working on aircraft, Hayden and Jake would occasionally travel off-base in Kosovo.

“It’s definitely interesting. You’ll see a lot of little kids begging. They’ll come up to your car,” Jake said. 

Hayden added: “A lot of people who we were with had been to Iraq, Afghanistan in the past. And from there, those people don’t want us there at all. The people in Kosovo loved Americans. They take photos with you in uniform. They loved it. They were all about it. (Service members) said it’s nice having people who appreciate you.”

Jake said he has enjoyed the experience.

“Learning my job. Now I feel like I can take all the skills I learned there and bring it into the real world. I learned a lot there. As a 19-year-old I was pretty immature. After this, I’ve really grown up. It was a really good eye-opener for me,” he said.

Hayden said he enjoyed becoming part of the family of US service members. 

“For me, the best part was definitely the group of people I was with,” Hayden said. “They fostered a community where you can learn and excel. I knew almost nothing about the job, because I hadn’t done it much. I ended up … I was promoted there. My maintenance level went up. I attribute that all to the people I worked with.”

Hayden and Jake said they plan to use the skills they learned through the Rhode Island National Guard in their future professions. Hayden is going back to school in the fall; he will be at the University of Rhode Island. He also plans to work in a similar field in a federal job at Quonset. 

Jake also applied for one of the jobs at Quonset. At the same time he hopes to take some online college courses.

Meanwhile, Matthew is also looking ahead to college. He said he’s interested in Bridgewater State University, where he’s hoping to continue his football career also.