National Guard Soldier Receives Soldier’s Medal

Filed under DoD News by on August 19, 2010 at 2:31 pm {no comments}

Army Maj. Nathlon Jackson receives the Soldier's Medal from Gen. Craig McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau, during a ceremony at the Army Guard Readiness Center in Arlington, Va., Aug. 18, 2010. Jackson received the award for her bravery on Jan. 11, 2010, when she entered a burning home and rescued Shirley Rollins, who had been overcome by smoke from the fire. The Soldier's Medal is the Army's highest non-combat medal. (Photo by Sgt. Darron Salzer, National Guard Bureau)

By Petty Officer Second Class William Selby

U.S. Army Maj. Nathlon Jackson was faced with a situation that required her to go above and beyond her duties in the Army National Guard.

It was a situation in which the average person may not have reacted the way she did.

Jackson, a section chief for the Army Guard’s enlisted policy branch, was walking from the readiness center to her car when she saw smoke coming from a house.

“As I walked over to the house, I could smell that something was burning, rather than just it being smoke from a pot burning in the kitchen,” she said.

“I opened the mail slot with my hand and started to yell inside ‘hello, hello’ to see if anyone was home.”

One of the neighbors quickly ran over to Jackson and provided her a key to the house and told her that someone was in the house.

(more…)

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