his childhood friend, aaron solano, went down for a visit. >> the stories he told me about the missions that he accomplished, building schools, clinics, roadways and bridges, really had an impact on his life. he finally felt like, "hey, i'm getting to do something." >> reporter: when george left the military with the rank of captain, he took a corporate engineering job, but soon realized that life in an office building wasn't for him. he wanted to work for real people, which is why george put aside that fancy degree of his and went to vegas to train as a firefighter/emt. >> focusing on himself was not how he wanted to live his life. he wanted to serve. that was a favorite word of his, to serve. >> reporter: so while shauna served drinks at the palms, george served as a firefighter and found time to volunteer, do what he could for the down on their luck souls who live on the fringes of so much glitz here. in 2004, they had a baby. >> there's daddy and mama. >> she loved it. her daughter was the most important thing to her in this world and everything she did revolved around her daughter.