Over 800 soldiers set to deploy this weekend
Jan 29, 2012
By Stefanie Bainum
sbainum@abcnews4.com
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) – Over 800 local soldiers from the 118th Infantry Army National Guard will be deployed this weekend. A ceremony for the soldiers and their families was held on Saturday at the National Guard armory in North Charleston.
One-by-one Lowcountry soldiers are preparing for what could be a year-long deployment to Kuwait.
"It's kind of bittersweet. This is the end of the training we've been doing everyday, including online training, several trips to other countries for training, but it's the beginning of what's in front of us," said Captain Plowden Dickson of the 118th Infantry.
For Dickson's family -- it's a sacrifice they've made before, but one that always takes some getting used to.
"We openly talk about missing him, our feelings, we just try to keep our routine the same and incorporate the deployment into our lives by writing letters and staying active," said Laurie Dickson, wife of Captain Dickson. "It is bittersweet, but we know that he's going to go out there and make a difference as well as all the soldiers and it's an honor being a military spouse."
It's a goodbye no family can prepare for-- but one military families across the country face everyday.
read more here
Monday, January 30, 2012
Wisconsin National Guard Major and wife to appear on The Amazing Race
Wis. Guard soldier, wife to appear on The Amazing Race
By The Associated Press
CREATED JAN. 29, 2012
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A Wisconsin Army National Guard officer and his wife will compete in the latest installment of the CBS series "The Amazing Race."
Dave and Rachel Brown will be one of the 11 couples competing against each other in a trek around the world for $1 million. The show pits teams against physical and mental challenges.
Maj. Brown says 16 years of service in the Wisconsin guard and a recent deployment to Iraq should help him with the challenge.
read more here
By The Associated Press
CREATED JAN. 29, 2012
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A Wisconsin Army National Guard officer and his wife will compete in the latest installment of the CBS series "The Amazing Race."
Dave and Rachel Brown will be one of the 11 couples competing against each other in a trek around the world for $1 million. The show pits teams against physical and mental challenges.
Maj. Brown says 16 years of service in the Wisconsin guard and a recent deployment to Iraq should help him with the challenge.
read more here
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sen. Scott Brown released his military service record
Mass. senator releases Guard service records
By Steve LeBlanc - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jan 29, 2012 14:16:49 EST
BOSTON — Sen. Scott Brown released his military service record Saturday documenting the more than three decades he has served in the Army National Guard.
The records include his promotions, awards and officer evaluation reports, which offer high praise of Brown’s service during his years in the military.
An officer evaluation report from 1985 was typical, describing Brown as “a young and aggressive officer.”
“He is self-motivated and learns very fast. He has the potential to be promoted to a position with greater responsibilities,” the report said.
Brown, R-Mass., a member of the Armed Services Committee, is facing a tough re-election campaign.
His office said the documents show the reason he was passed up for a Guard promotion to lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General Corps in 2003 and 2004 was due to a missing document in his file.
Brown’s office described the failure to include the document — which showed that he had completed the necessary Command and General Staff Office Course — as an administrative oversight. They noted that after Brown appealed to show that he had completed the required military education, he received the promotion in 2006.
The same oversight caused the Army National Guard to place Brown into the Retired Reserve from July 2005 through December 2005, his office said.
Brown first enlisted in the Massachusetts Army National Guard in 1979.
read more here
By Steve LeBlanc - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jan 29, 2012 14:16:49 EST
BOSTON — Sen. Scott Brown released his military service record Saturday documenting the more than three decades he has served in the Army National Guard.
The records include his promotions, awards and officer evaluation reports, which offer high praise of Brown’s service during his years in the military.
An officer evaluation report from 1985 was typical, describing Brown as “a young and aggressive officer.”
“He is self-motivated and learns very fast. He has the potential to be promoted to a position with greater responsibilities,” the report said.
Brown, R-Mass., a member of the Armed Services Committee, is facing a tough re-election campaign.
His office said the documents show the reason he was passed up for a Guard promotion to lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General Corps in 2003 and 2004 was due to a missing document in his file.
Brown’s office described the failure to include the document — which showed that he had completed the necessary Command and General Staff Office Course — as an administrative oversight. They noted that after Brown appealed to show that he had completed the required military education, he received the promotion in 2006.
The same oversight caused the Army National Guard to place Brown into the Retired Reserve from July 2005 through December 2005, his office said.
Brown first enlisted in the Massachusetts Army National Guard in 1979.
read more here
Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter's actions deserve Medal of Honor
Marine hit by grenade rates MoH, buddies say
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jan 29, 2012
Lance Cpls. Kyle Carpenter and Nick Eufrazio were posting security together on a dusty rooftop in Afghanistan when an insurgent tossed a hand grenade at them. The world melted in a white-hot blast, and the two men were rocked by an explosion that could be heard nearly a mile away.
More than a year later, the Marine Corps continues to investigate what occurred, said Lt. Col. James Fullwood and Capt. Michael Manocchio, who served as two of the senior officers in their unit, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., during that deployment. Other personnel in the compound during the Nov. 21, 2010, attack insist there’s no doubt Carpenter shielded Eufrazio from most of the blast, and deserves the Medal of Honor.
“Kyle covered that grenade,” said Hospitalman 3rd Class Christopher Frend, the corpsman who first rendered medical care to Carpenter and Eufrazio. “Grenade blasts blow up; they don’t blow down. If he hadn’t done it, what we found would have looked completely different.”
The case’s profile was first elevated publicly after the state legislature in Carpenter’s native South Carolina credited him in a resolution last March with taking “the full blast from an enemy hand grenade in seeking to save a fellow Marine.”
read more here
also
Marine Lance Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter, hero Marine honored
Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter discusses recovery
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jan 29, 2012
Lance Cpls. Kyle Carpenter and Nick Eufrazio were posting security together on a dusty rooftop in Afghanistan when an insurgent tossed a hand grenade at them. The world melted in a white-hot blast, and the two men were rocked by an explosion that could be heard nearly a mile away.
More than a year later, the Marine Corps continues to investigate what occurred, said Lt. Col. James Fullwood and Capt. Michael Manocchio, who served as two of the senior officers in their unit, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., during that deployment. Other personnel in the compound during the Nov. 21, 2010, attack insist there’s no doubt Carpenter shielded Eufrazio from most of the blast, and deserves the Medal of Honor.
“Kyle covered that grenade,” said Hospitalman 3rd Class Christopher Frend, the corpsman who first rendered medical care to Carpenter and Eufrazio. “Grenade blasts blow up; they don’t blow down. If he hadn’t done it, what we found would have looked completely different.”
The case’s profile was first elevated publicly after the state legislature in Carpenter’s native South Carolina credited him in a resolution last March with taking “the full blast from an enemy hand grenade in seeking to save a fellow Marine.”
read more here
also
Marine Lance Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter, hero Marine honored
Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter discusses recovery
Command Sergeant Major James Smith moves from police captain to top NCO at WTB
Trading his bars in for stripes
Smith moves from police captain to top NCO at WTB
Jan. 28, 2012
Philip Grey
Leaf-Chronicle
FORT CAMPBELL, KY. — The Command Sergeant Major of the Warrior Transition Battalion on Fort Campbell should be a familiar face to many Clarksvillians.
Just a few months ago, before he traded uniforms and insignia, he was Captain James C. Smith of the Clarksville Police Department.
Now, as the top non-commissioned officer of the WTB, Command Sgt. Major Smith has taken on a job that would seem to be as different from his role at CPD as could be imagined. However, the two jobs do intersect at a few points, which is partly why Smith was chosen by WTB commander Lt. Col. William G. Howard for the important role of overseeing the daily needs of Fort Campbell’s wounded, ill and injured soldiers.
read more here
Smith moves from police captain to top NCO at WTB
Jan. 28, 2012
Warrior Transition Battalion Command Sergeant Major James Smith has risen quickly to the top of two demanding professions at nearly the same time. / Leaf-Chronicle/Philip GreyWritten by
Philip Grey
Leaf-Chronicle
FORT CAMPBELL, KY. — The Command Sergeant Major of the Warrior Transition Battalion on Fort Campbell should be a familiar face to many Clarksvillians.
Just a few months ago, before he traded uniforms and insignia, he was Captain James C. Smith of the Clarksville Police Department.
Now, as the top non-commissioned officer of the WTB, Command Sgt. Major Smith has taken on a job that would seem to be as different from his role at CPD as could be imagined. However, the two jobs do intersect at a few points, which is partly why Smith was chosen by WTB commander Lt. Col. William G. Howard for the important role of overseeing the daily needs of Fort Campbell’s wounded, ill and injured soldiers.
read more here
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