ATLANTA, Ga. — Marco Estevez considers himself an average teenager. He barely squeaks by in his classes, enjoys spending time with his friends, and doesn't know what he's going to do when he grows up. But little does this 16-year-old student know that in just 42 short years, he will become the commanding general of all allied forces in Afghanistan.

Though his classmates say he "doesn't pay attention to politics" and prefers to "keep it real," Estevez will soon make history by becoming the first soldier born after September 11, 2001 to lead the soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen deployed to the so-called Graveyard of Empires.

Estevez, a high school junior, has no aspirations of joining the military at this time. Being from a middle-class family, he doesn't see the need to sign his life away to Uncle Sam when he can attend university instead.