Natchez — It is not uncommon for someone to want to see the world after living in the same part of the country his or her entire life.

When one looks at the life of Natchez native Montrell McGruder, they would probably assume that his military tour in Germany and Iraq for most of this decade stemmed from that kind of childhood.

However, one could also point to the fact that McGruder already moved around a lot during his childhood, and argue that visiting new places became an adopted lifestyle.

Regardless of what exactly led to McGruder’s wanting to travel, his active duty in the armed forces provided just the opportunity to do so.

“I had a lot of relatives, grandfathers and uncles mostly, who were in the military,” McGruder said. “I planned to go back to school after being done with active duty, but after going into it, I found out I could still go to school and do things I like to do, like travel.”

Another thing McGruder likes to do is play basketball, and he has been involved with teams almost as long as he was in Germany on active duty, from 2001 to 2009.

“On the military side, they have Post-level teams,” McGruder said. “They’re basically a basketball team that represents a community.”

McGruder played on the Post-level Mannheim Mustangs from 2002 to 2007, when he left for Iraq for a 15-month tour of duty. After returning from Iraq in December 2008, McGruder immediately sought to resume his basketball play.

However, his 2009 experience with the Mustangs would be on the coaching side.

“The post-level sports director was the coach at the time, but that was a conflict of interest, so he asked me to step in,” McGruder said. “In 2005, I coached a summer league in Mannheim, so they knew I had the experience.”

That experience would serve him well, as the Mustangs men won Installation Management Command-Europe’s U.S. Army-Air Force Final Four Basketball Championships.

In addition to Post-level play, McGruder also played professional basketball in Germany for ASV Landau from 2006 – 2009, minus the months he was in Iraq. McGruder said juggling between Post and professional play was never hard to do.

“The German league would play on Saturday and Sunday evenings, while the Post squads would play during the daytime on Saturday,” McGruder said. “It got tiring sometimes, but you wouldn’t realize it while you’re playing. It’s just an adrenaline thing.”

McGruder, who is now stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., said he has enjoyed everything about his life so far.

McGruder’s parents divorced when he was a child, which put him in between Jackson and Natchez during middle and high school. When he transferred to Natchez High School for 11th and 12th grade, he ran track instead of playing basketball.

“I went to Hines Community College in 1992 on a track scholarship, but decided to go into active military duty in 1995,” McGruder said.

“It’s been an experience. To this day I have no regrets about how my life and career have gone to this point. I’ve been able to go overseas and see a whole different culture, which most people never do.”