Bama soldier is “Marine of the Year”

Courtesy of WSFA 12 in Montgomery, a Wetumpka native has been named “Marine of the Year.”  Sgt. Peyton Williams was honored by Governor Bob Riley yesterday in a ceremony.  Read the whole article here.

Congratulations, Peyton!

In the News this weekend

Courtesy of the Tuscaloosa News:

Army National Guard Pfc. Teri L. Willis has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. Willis is the daughter of Linda Bender of Northport. She graduated in 1997 from Hillcrest High School and received an associate degree in 1999 from Faulkner State Community College in Bay Minette.

Congratulations, Teri!

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The Birmingham News featured a piece this morning about an Alabama Guard unit that left yesterday to go back to Afghanistan:

The training team is the fifth that the state Army Guard has sent to Afghanistan since 9/11. It recently completed two months of pre-deployment training at Fort Riley.

Lt. Col. Jeff Thrower of Alabaster, a member of the team, said recently that the mission had not been fully defined.

“Right now, I know that one of our biggest pushes over there has been to get the Afghanistan police up to where they can do their jobs,” he said. “The Afghan army is in a lot better situation than they were three or four years ago, but the police have still got some issues out there. So we’re doing our best to help out across the board in both areas.”

Read the full article here.

More in the news this weekend

The Huntsville Times reports that a Scottsboro businessman established an account at Regions bank to help the family of Nick Bradley, a Scottsboro soldier seriously wounded in Afghanistan.

Bradley, 25, a staff sergeant in the Air Force’s 96th Wing (security forces), was injured by a roadside bomb last Sunday. He was flown Tuesday to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where his father-in-law, Scottsboro Police Chief Ralph Dawe, said he’s in stable condition.

Donations to the Nick Bradley Fund may be made at Regions Bank, located at 510 E. Laurel St. in Scottsboro. For more information, call the bank at 256-259-1516.

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Tuscaloosa News reports:

Michael J. Parham, son of Doretha Parham and Michael J. Johnson, both of Tuscaloosa, completed Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill. Parham is a 2008 graduate of Central High School.

Congratulations, Michael!

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The Birmingham News reports an Alabama Guard initiative that is helping troops who return from war duty via the state’s Army Guard’s Yellow Ribbon reintegration program.

The Yellow Ribbon help included information about job opportunities and insurance and veterans benefits, plus activities and baby sitters for soldiers’ children. It also sought to give the soldiers and their loved ones a chance to discuss with chaplains and counselors what they face as they seek to resume the way of life they knew before deployment.

For more information, call 2nd Lt. Matthew Spivey at 334-558-4132.

In the news this weekend

The Madison County Record writes that the Redstone Arsenal is honoring military retirees with Military Retiree Appreciation Day going on September 5th and 6th. Huntsville Mayor Loretta Spencer and Madison Mayor Arthur “Sandy” Kirkindall will proclaim September 6th as Military Retiree Appreciation Day in their respective cities.

Me personally, I would greatly love to see that happen elsewhere in Alabama!

Event information:

September 5th: the event will be at the Redstone Officers and Civilians Club (ROCC) from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Throughout the day special MWR activities will be held at various locations across Redstone Arsenal with bus tours leaving from the ROCC.

September 6th: the event begins with a pay-as-you-go breakfast buffet at 7 a.m. in the ROCC. The event finishes out with dinner at The Soldatenstube ending at 10 p.m.

For more information, call: (256) 876-2022

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The Anniston Star had a flurry of happenings printed this morning:

Warrant Officer candidate Bill Braxton of Jacksonville, above, participated in a 10K road march on July 13. Braxton had to successfully complete the road march within two hours while carrying a weapon and a 35- to 40-pound rucksack. The road march is a requirement for the Warrant Officer Candidate School at the National Guard Training Center at Fort McClellan. Braxton currently works in the ROTC department at Jacksonville State University.

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Warrant Officer candidate Matthew Otwell of Anniston, above, participated in a 10K road march on July 13. Otwell had to successfully complete the road march within two hours while carrying a weapon and a 35- to 40-pound rucksack. The road march is a requirement for the Warrant Officer Candidate School at the National Guard Training Center at Fort McClellan. Otwell is following in his father’s footsteps. Retired Chief Warrant Officer Randy Otwell, Matthew’s father, retired from the Alabama Army National Guard with more than 40 years of service.

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Tabatha L. Burris recently joined the U.S. Army under the Delayed Entry Program. She also went for Advanced Individual Training at Fort Leonard Wood in Waynesville, Mo. She is the daughter of Teresa Burris of Villa Rica, Ga., and John Burris of Anniston.

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Army Reserve Pvt. Sonya Y. Smith has graduated from Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. She is the daughter of Earline Penn of Anniston and is a 2003 graduate of Anniston High School.

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Army Reserve Pvt. Haleem R. Santiago recently graduated from Basic Combat Training at Fort Sill in Lawton, Okla. He is the son of Hector R. and Belinda G. Santiago of Anniston and is a graduate of Saks High School.

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Navy Seaman Landon M. Ford, son of Judy L. Davis of Jacksonville, recently completed U.S. Navy Basic Training at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Ill.

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Navy Ensign Nicholas F. Vilardi, whose wife, Cynthia, is the daughter of Sharon D. Downing of Salem and Jonathan C. Mattox of Ashland, recently completed the Navy Nuclear Power Training Unit course at Naval Nuclear Power Training Command at Goose Creek, S.C.

Congratulations, soldiers!!

Homewood resident achieves Army brigadier general rank

Courtesy of The Birmingham News:

Longtime Homewood resident to become Army brigadier general

Army Col. N. Lee S. Price, a longtime Homewood resident and a Shades Valley High School graduate, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate for the rank of brigadier general.

The daughter of Homewood resident Phyllis Sherk and the late Maurice D. Sherk, Price had been nominated by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. She will be the first woman in the Army Acquisition Corps to become a brigadier general and the first woman to become a general officer while serving in a special operations unit. It is not yet known when Price will formally receive her brigadier’s star and what kind of command assignment she will receive.

Price was recently assigned as the deputy program manager for the Army’s Future Combat System (Brigade Combat Team) at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md. In that post, she is responsible for managing development of the system’s integrated network.

She previously was deputy acquisition executive for the U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., where she oversaw the procurement and acquisition of specialized equipment for Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, Air Force Special Operations units and the Marine Special Operations Command.

Congratulations, Lee!

Soldier receives hero’s welcome

Printed earlier today in the Press-Register, a story covering the return home celebrations for Prichard native Army Sgt. Donnie Leon Broughton Jr. who’s spent the last 3 years serving in Germany and Iraq.

Welcome home, Donnie!

All the Way Home

Courtesy of Lori with the SA VA Team:

As volunteers honor our returning heroes by taking them fishing deep in the American wilderness, wounded veterans discover that sharing stories around a campfire helps them adjust to life back home.

This inspiring film was shown this July in Congress to help lawmakers understand some of the issues facing our returning soldiers and has been recommended by our country’s leading veterans advocacy groups.

This video is available on DVD through the Soldiers’ Angels Store, and costs $25.00 (this includes shipping).

Free Call Day for Afghanistan and Iraq soldiers

Courtesy of the Army Times:

Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will get to call home for free Aug. 17 courtesy of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

“Free Call Day,” according to an Army news release, is a VFW Operation Uplink program that uses contributions from supporters so service members can call loved ones in the United States free of charge.

All existing users of the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Prepaid service and all new users will be able to take advantage of this opportunity.

Here’s how it will work: Follow the regular dialing procedure to place a call using your SPAWAR prepaid personal identification number. When the system plays an announcement that says your call is being sponsored, it will mean the call is free.

The free calls will take place between 12:01 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. Iraq time on Aug. 17, a Sunday. Calls to Canada and other countries will be charged at the standard rate, the release said.

The VFW is composed of current or former members of the U.S. armed forces. It is a non-profit organization whose mission is to “honor the dead by helping the living” through veterans’ service, community service, national security and a strong national defense.

Since the program began in 1996, the VFW has provided deployed service members and hospitalized veterans with millions of minutes of free phone time.

The program is part of VFW National Military Services, which includes initiatives that boost morale, aid struggling military families and encourage troop support, the release said.

Army Guard unit headed back to Iraq

In yesterday’s edition of The Birmingham News, there was an article about an Alabama Army Guard unit which is slated for a second tour in Iraq:

Another Alabama Army National Guard unit is slated for a second tour in the Iraq war.

The 128th Medical Company, based in Gov. Bob Riley’s hometown of Ashland, will deploy to Iraq in October following several weeks of training at Fort Lewis, Wash., state Guard spokesman Norman Arnold said Friday.

The 128th was in Iraq from December 2004 to November 2005, providing medical care to Iraqi and U.S. soldiers and civilians in and around Baghdad and beyond.

If it deploys as expected, the 128th will be the second Guard unit to have a second deployment in and around Iraq. The 226th Area Support Group from Mobile has already done two tours.

At full strength, the 128th has 75 soldiers. Maj. Cynthia Bachus, a state Guard spokeswoman, said 25 soldiers from two Mobile-based Army Guard units – the 127th Medical Company and the 161st Medical Battalion – “have been assigned to the 128th to put the unit at full strength for mobilization.”

At present, the Alabama Guard’s presence in Iraq consists of 20 members of the 1207th Quartermaster Detachment (Water Distribution) from Goodwater. The 1207th, which is commanded by Lt. Jessica Moore, is at Al-Asad, the second-largest airfield in Iraq.

Meanwhile, the 158th Maintenance Company, a unit of about 190 members with headquarters in Tallassee and a detachment in Dadeville, has been training for a fall deployment to Iraq. A 16-man team of Guard soldiers from around the state will be heading to Afghanistan later this month to help train members of that country’s army.

More Guard units are expected to deploy in 2009. Among them will be the 877th Engineer Battalion, based in Hamilton, which is scheduled for a tour in Afghanistan. The 877th did a tour in northern Iraq from summer 2003 to spring 2004.

According to recent Pentagon data, Alabamians make up the fifth highest number of Army Guard soldiers and the 12th highest number of Air Guard and Army Reserve members deployed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Aliceville loses a hero

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Specialist Brown’s loved ones:

Pickens County soldier dies in Afghanistan

Michelle Harris said she had been expecting a phone call from her daughter, who was serving with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.

Instead, she received the unwelcome news from an Army official that her daughter, 22-year-old Army Spc. Seteria L. Harris Brown, died while serving in Sharana, Afghanistan.

‘I was shocked and devastated,’ Harris said. ‘I still can’t believe it. I had spoken to her on the phone just a week before.’

Harris said she was told that her daughter died July 25 from a gunshot wound to the chest. An Army news release said Brown died of ‘injuries sustained in a non-combat-related incident.’

Exactly what happened isn’t clear.

‘All I know is what they told me,’ Harris said.

A spokeswoman at Fort Hood, Texas, the Army base where Brown had been stationed before deployment to Afghanistan, said Thursday afternoon that Brown’s death is still under investigation.

The spokeswoman said she did not know how long the investigation would take.

Brown was a few months into her second overseas deployment, her brother said.

She was an enlisted soldier assigned to Fort Hood’s 36th Engineer Brigade since February. She was sent to Afghanistan in April.

Brown joined the Army shortly after graduation from Aliceville High School in 2004. She enjoyed Army life and re-enlisted after her initial four-year contract expired not long ago, her mother said.

She had a seven-year-old daughter, Harris said.

‘She was such a sweet person,’ Harris said. ‘Everybody liked being around her. She always kept a smile on her face.’

Brown’s younger brother, Keiwan Harris, said he had been unable to talk his sister out of joining the Army.

‘It was something she really wanted to do,’ he said. ‘She was always an independent person.’

Brown’s decorations and awards include the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and Overseas Service Ribbon.

Services will be held 2 p.m. Saturday at New Canaan Baptist Church in Aliceville.