WORLAND — For Ryan Decker, Veterans Day is a day of tradition and remembrance.

“A lot of people get this sideways,” Decker said, “There’s Veterans Day and there’s Memorial Day. Veterans Day is for people like me. Memorial Day is for the people that gave the ultimate sacrifice.”

Decker considers himself a late bloomer in terms of joining the service. He was 27 when he signed up for the Navy Reserves and already had a family and well-established career.

He joined the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 17 out of Fort Carson, Colorado, and was later deployed to Al-Asad, Iraq. He spent more than a year there, from 2007 to 2008.

“My job was to supply parts for the convoys, for the equipment, for the forward operating bases we were building and other projects, too. And then I had just shy of

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