For citizens of the U.S., service in our nation's military is strictly a voluntary opportunity.

For "The Ultimate Fighter 11" cast member Kris McCray (5-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), his enrollment in the Army wasn't quite as optional.

"After I graduated high school, I went to the Army Reserves," McCray told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "My whole family is military: my dad, my grandfather – all my brothers went in, except for one. You kind of have to in my family, and I was getting in a lot of trouble, so my dad was like, 'You've got to get out of here.'"

McCray's father had African-American and Mexican-American bloodlines while his mother was of Russian and Austrian descent. His immediate family also has Korean, Iranian and Trinidadian roots.

"It's like Martin Luther King's dream," McCray said with a laugh.

McCray was born on a U.S. military installation in Germany, and German was his first language. He later learned English when his family returned to the U.S., but he was also forced to learn a new culture, as well.

"In Germany they do stuff different," McCray said. "Like in the swimming pools, they swim naked. Everybody changes in front of everybody. So I came to the States, and I jumped in the swimming pool naked with my brother, and they were like, 'You guys gotta go back to Germany. Come back next week.'"

But McCray quickly transitioned to American culture and would eventually play football and basketball as well as wrestle while in high school. All the while, he was slowly building a love for martial arts.

"I was always into it," McCray said. "I knew somewhere down the line that it was built for me, and I was built for it.

"I used to be the one watching fight movies, and after the movie is over, while the credits were going up, I'd be trying to fight my brothers – kicking, wrestling. They'd be locking themselves in the bathroom going, 'Man, you won. Just leave me alone.'"

McCray's childhood included karate, kickboxing and tae kwon do. Following his wrestling career in high school, he began taking jiu-jitsu lessons. But it was a chance encounter with a bartender following his six years of military service that really got the ball rolling on a mixed martial arts career.

"I was kind of fighting in the bars and getting drunk," McCray said. "One of the bartenders had a fight team, and he was like, 'Man, come out and check it out.'

"I knew the guy, and he knew I was a pretty good athlete, so after that, it was a wrap."

McCray's background helped him progress quickly, and he began training with Lloyd Irvin. A stint in WEC star Donald Cerrone's TapouT house also followed.

Since his pro debut in October 2008, McCray has amassed a perfect 5-0 record, with all five of his wins coming via first-round stoppage. Yet he missed out on two previous opportunities to make it on "The Ultimate Fighter."

"The first time I went to Chicago, and they had middleweights and 170-pounders, and they scratched the middleweights and made it 170ers and 155-pounders like two weeks prior, but I didn't check it again," McCray said. "I was like, 'Damn.' So I made it all the way to the interview process, and then I didn't get invited to Las Vegas. I couldn't make the weight.

"I came up last time with the heavyweights, and they were going to do 185ers and the heavyweights. They were like, 'Oh yeah, you're 99 percent in the house.' I quit my job, and I was like, 'I'm out of here.' I was working as a butcher, and then two days later, they were like, 'Oh, you're not going to be on the show. We're not doing 185ers.' I had to go back and be like, 'Hey, can you put me back on the schedule?' It sucked, but I knew I would be back."

McCray was invited to tryout in Los Angeles for "The Ultimate Fighter 11," but he took a more direct approach.

"They called me when they had the Las Angeles tryouts, and they were like, 'Are you coming out?'" McCray said. "I was like, 'No, man. Just give me a ticket straight to Las Vegas.'

It worked, and McCray made it onto the show. Fighting Cleburn Walker in the season's preliminary round, his opponent injured his shoulder after landing from a throw, and McCray made it into the "TUF" house.

While that house is often a difficult place for many contestants, McCray believes his military background may prove valuable.

"In the military, they're in your face," McCray said. "They break you down. It's the same thing. You're locked down, but now you can go open the refrigerator and just stare, and there's a lot of food in there. You get to pick what you want.

"Growing up with my father, you weren't allowed to do certain things. It's not that bad. I don't need to drink, and I don't need a bunch of women around. I'm 28 now. Maybe if I was younger and stuff, I'd be pulling my hair out, but it's a business. I'm here for a reason. I'm trying to win this thing. I wake up, have fun, have a good time here, enjoy the experience, and go home – hopefully training for the finale."