From the Maryland National Guard PAO
Strength comes in all forms. For many service members that strength comes from friends, family, fellow service members, religious beliefs and much more. This series takes a look at a few service members, and where they find their strength. So what makes you strong?
From the Maryland National Guard PAO
Strength comes in all forms. For many service members that strength comes from friends, family, fellow service members, religious beliefs and much more. This series takes a look at a few service members, and where they find their strength. So what makes you strong?
In This Week in the DoD for Sept. 2:
U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who commanded NATO forces in Afghanistan, Multinational Forces-Iraq, U.S. Central Command, the 101st Airborne and more throughout his nearly 40-year career in uniform, has retired from the Army to assume leadership of the CIA.
President Barack Obama spoke to the American Legion National Convention in Minneapolis, Minn. There, he vowed to stand behind and support service members, veterans, retirees and military families as Congress debates the national budget in Washington, D.C.
Hurricane Irene passed over the United States’ Eastern seaboard, leaving behind it heavy flooding, damaged buildings and massive power outages. In Vermont, where floods have reached historic levels, the National Guard is assisting in the recovery effort.
The Real Warriors Campaign has unveiled and launched its mobile web site. The new site gives mobile web users, whether they’re service members, veterans, family members or medical professionals, access to the campaign’s resources, including videos, articles, brochures and access to the Defense Centers of Excellence Outreach Center.
The Navy is showing off its new biofuels capabilities by having the Blue Angels fly demonstrations this weekend at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., powered entirely by a 50/50 blend of traditional JP-5 jet fuel and a camelina-based biofuel.
By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill, National Guard Bureau Public Affairs
From www.ng.mil
French Ambassador Francois Delattre awards the Croix de la Valeur Militaire, roughly analagous to the Silver Star, to Army National Guard Sgt. Ryan Meister during a private ceremony at the French Ambassador's Residence in Washington, D.C., on July 25, 2011, awarding the honor to five National Guard and one active duty Special Forces Soldiers. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – They are men used to seeing their deeds pass as unrecognized as their battlefield movements, but Monday five National Guard and one active duty Special Forces Soldier took the limelight here to receive a French award roughly equivalent to the Silver Star.
The six were honored with the Croix de la Valeur Militaire in a private ceremony at the French Ambassador’s Residence attended by senior leaders including Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Army chief of staff nominated to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Army Maj. Gen. Timothy Kadavy, deputy director of the Army National Guard.
“I am deeply honored to … pay tribute to six most outstanding American Soldiers from the United States Army and the Army National Guard who distinguished themselves while fighting the Taliban and Al Qaida elements in Afghanistan,” said French Ambassador François Delattre.
“Through their outstanding bravery and engagement in combat, they fought at the risk of their own lives to assist French Soldiers, their brothers in arms, who experienced a barrage of fire from the enemy.”
The five National Guard Soldiers supported a French regiment executing a mission in and around the Uzbeen Valley in Afghanistan in 2009; the active duty Soldier was recognized for similarly heroic action in the same region a year earlier.
“They were trying to get at the French operating in the valley,” said Army National Guard Capt. Thomas Harper, one of the awardees. “We prevented that from happening, allowing them to conduct their mission.”
Created in 1956 by the French government to reward extraordinary deeds of bravery carried out as part of security and law enforcement operations, the Croix de la Valeur Militaire – or French Cross of Military Valor – is one of the most respected decorations in the French military, Delattre said.
Those recognized Monday:
“It’s a huge honor for all of us,” said Harper, a traditional Guard member who has been on active duty most of the last decade and was joined Monday by his parents and sisters. “They’re completely overwhelmed,” he said. “We don’t normally look for this kind of recognition; I don’t think they’ve ever even been to one of my military school graduations.”
By Army Sgt. Darron Salzer, National Guard Bureau
From www.defense.gov
Army Sgt. Burton Atkinson, a water purification noncommissioned officer from the North Dakota National Guard’s 132nd Quartermaster Company, tests water samples that his team purified in Minot, N.D. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Darron Salzer)
MINOT, N.D. – When floodwaters back up city water and sanitation systems and make the water unsafe to drink, residents can quickly find themselves in short supply of a much-needed resource.
That’s where soldiers like Army Sgt. Burton Atkinson and Army Sgt. 1st Class John Halgren come in. Making dirty water safe to drink is what they and their team do, and they’re putting those skills to use at the local hospital here.
“We’re purifying water for the hospital … in case the water plant has a problem,” said Halgren, a water purification specialist with the North Dakota National Guard’s 136th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion.
Civilian officials sent out a boil order for residents of the flooded city. “Right now, in the city of Minot, you’re not supposed to drink the tap water” since it has been deemed unsafe, explained Atkinson, a water purification noncommissioned officer with the 132nd Quartermaster Company.
Atkinson said the water purification unit his team set up is helping people to avoid “a bunch of steps” to get clean water.
Like many other soldiers, Atkinson has seen a lot of calls-to-action in the last month in many parts of the state.
“We’ve been in Minot on this [mission] for about a week-and-a-half. We spent a week in Bismarck, and we’ll be here for another week,” he said. “We’ve been running all sorts of missions, staying busy and doing a little bit of everything.”
Atkinson — like many other North Dakota Guard members — is no stranger to the recent flooding in his state.
“I live in an evacuated area down in Velva,” he said. “As of right now, there is no water at my house, but I have everything taken out of it.”
Atkinson said he enjoys helping flood victims as part of his job as a water purification sergeant.
“It’s hard to be away from family and your home,” he said, “especially when you’re in an evacuated area … but I’m glad to be here and helping out Minot because there is really nothing I can do at my house.”
German soldiers of 2nd Company, 1st Battalion, 40th Mechanized Infantry Regiment pull security during an Operational Mentor Liaison Team (OMLT) training exercise at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany. OMLT XXIII and Police Operational Mentor Liaison Team VII training are designed to prepare teams for deployment to Afghanistan with the ability to train, advise, and enable the Afghan National Security Force in areas such as counter-insurgency, combat advisory, and force enabling support operations. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ian Schell (DVIDS)
While flying over Colorado a B-2 Stealth Bomber from Whiteman Air Force Base, MO, moves into position for a mid-air refueling via the boom of a KC-135R Stratotanker from the 128th Air Refueling Wing, Milwaukee on 09 May, 2012. The B-2 Stealth bomber and the KC-135 crews conducted the aerial refueling to maintain mission readiness standards.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt Jeremy M. Wilson (DVIDS)
Royal Canadian Mounted Police assigned to a Marine Security Emergency Response Team debark from the HMCS Ville de Quebec (FFH 332) to conduct boarding operations during Exercise Frontier Sentinel 2012 May 8, 2012 at sea off Sydney, Nova Scotia. Exercise Frontier Sentinel is a combined interagency exercise involving Joint Task Force Atlantic, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy Fleet Forces Command. The exercise is designed to continue to develop and validate the existing plans, treaties and standard operation procedures for a bilateral response to maritime homeland defense and security threats.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ernesto Hernandez Fonte / Released) (DVIDS)
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