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Staff Sgt. Larry McMillan has jumped out of planes, trudged through enemy wetlands and counted himself among America's military elite for 20 years.

But the Germantown man has traded all of that for a new mission: stringing colored lights in the shapes of bears, geese and sunflowers over the flora at Brookside Gardens.

McMillan, a 60-year-old retired member of the Army Special Forces, is the man behind the Garden of Lights, one of the Wheaton garden's most popular holiday attractions.

The regimented Green Beret joined the gardens four years ago as a seasonal helper after he was laid off from a 17-year stint at Kmart.

"I saw an ad for a light show — whatever the heck that was — and applied," he said.

At first, the hardened man in the camouflage cap didn't quite fit the profile for an Earth-loving Brookside gardener.

McMillan's boss, landscape supervisor Jeff Patterson said he doesn't eat breakfast or lunch, he drinks two cups of coffee before bed, his arms are covered in tattoos and a pack of Marlboro Lights is never far from his hands.

McMillan slipped right into daily life at the garden. He steadily climbed the ranks from light-show wrapper to turf-maintenance guy to supervisor of both.

And the staff warmed.

"He has a really hard exterior, but he's a big softie," said Katie Hillesland, the designer for much of the displays at the Garden of Lights.

A year later, McMillan's horticulture-enthusiast wife, Cathy Tait, was hired as a gardener's assistant.

Her presence shone a new light on McMillan, said Leslie McDermott, the communications director at Brookside.

"It was funny to see this tough, military guy being called sweetie by his wife on the radio," she said.

McMillan takes all of the tough-guy-gone-gardener jokes in stride. Example one: A tall cherry tree near the reflection terrace that's fondly referred to as "Larry's tree."

It was April, and McMillan was finishing tearing down last year's show, stretched out on an orchard ladder.

"The ladder kicked out from under me, and I landed on my back," he said.

There was no lamenting the month he was forced to stay home. The fall became a joke among staff.

It's McMillan's lore that keeps his staff in line, some say. He demands a lot from his staff, and procrastinators beware — his patience for milling about is non-existent.

But the hard-workers always get something in return for following his orders.

"Larry will respect the hell out of you if you work," Patterson said.

McMillan admits his style is a bit "gruff."

"I think I get along with people good—even though I can be a bit of a hard-nose," he said.

Of course, he sets the example himself.

"There ain't a whole lot here anybody can ask of me that I won't do," he said.