Sunstates Veteran Salute

Recognizing and honoring our valued veteran security team members.

Meet Officer Fernando Antonio Pena

Officer Pena has quite a resume prior to joining the Sunstates Security team in April of 2020. His passion for his family, his country and Sunstates Security is simply remarkable.

Growing up in Manhattan NY, Fernando met the love of his life when he was just fourteen.  At the age of eighteen, he proposed to his girlfriend and she said “Yes”. The problem was that she was just 16 years old and they would have to wait two years to get a marriage certificate in the state of NY.  If you knew anything about Officer Pena, you would know that once he has his mind set on something, he will see it through. Therefore, they went to New Hampshire, received a marriage certificate and were married.  After 49 years, three children, many grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, Officer Pena says that his wife Avisdel Carmen is his true soulmate.

Officer Pena Joins the Army

Being very mechanically inclined and eager to serve his country he joined the Army. With his passion and drive, he found himself in the Special Forces unit. Starting out as a E3 (PFC) he had several promotions quickly.  His final advancement was to E8 (1^st Sergeant). Officer Pena went from a PFC to 1^st Sergeant within 7 years which is extremely impressive.  Officer Pena is Bi-Lingual speaking Spanish, as well as understands Italian and French. Serving this country on the front lines for many campaigns throughout the world to include El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Afghanistan and Desert Storm.

Officer Pena was on the boxing team for the army and was the toughest in his group. It was not until he first traveled to boxing outside his immediate company when he realized there is always someone bigger and tougher. He hung up the gloves for good.

After 23 ½ years as his children were growing and he wanted to focus on them he left the army.  Following, officer Pena opened an automotive repair shop and was successful for many years.  Then he and his wife decided to close the shop and move closer to their children/grandchildren in North Carolina.

Welcome to Sunstates

In April of last year, we welcomed Officer Pena to our team.  He joined the security industry because he loves to meet and talk with people. He is a great mentor to the young officers on his team and even to his site manager. When he is not working at Sunstates, he is spending time with his family, working on automobiles and loves to eat cheesecake.

Thank You Officer Pena for your dedication to your family, to your country and to Sunstates Security.   

Sunstates partners with the ESGR and is actively hiring those who served.  To apply to be a part of our team visit our Careers page.