SSG Hickerson served as Supply Sergeant of Intelligence and Sustainment Company of the Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas. He planned, prepared, and executed all logistical operations for the Division Iron Focus Field Training Exercise, which ensured mission success. He additionally maintained and accounted for all the unit's equipment, to include during change of command inventories, to ensure no loss or degradation of over 27 million dollars of property. SSG Hickerson served as the Supply Sergeant for the CENTICOM Forward-Jordan with a mission to deploy and conduct military operation in support of the United States national interests. He was responsible for provide property guidance
Among these leaders was Bravo Company’s 1st platoon’s SFC Robert Gallagher. The platoon endured terrible living conditions including no running water and filthy living space. These inadequate living conditions must be met with some relaxation on the standards they were expected to follow. Company leadership viewed this as a bribe to keep the soldiers in high spirits. In reality, they set the stage for the erosion of the morals the enlisted soldiers are supposed to possess. While the morals were being chipped away, so was the original plan the battalion had hoped to follow. Fragmentation orders became a pseudo-standard for the boys of Bravo Company. What had originally started as short-term overnight patrol bases turned into fortified traffic control points with the exception of any form of fortification other than in notion only. Despite the fact that platoon-level leadership requested for supplies they were repeatedly turned down. A major breakdown in the communication between the leadership created a loss in faith in the higher leadership for the lower-enlisted soldiers on the ground. Very soon into deployment, Bravo Company began to experience contact with unseen enemy forces. The enemy was able to engage and plant IED’s and cause casualties while remaining elusive. After the first few casualties within the company, the mission to start set up traffic control points was to begin. While conducting patrols down the road time and time
SFC Weems has served the Kansas Army National Guard in multiple positions of importance. From 1994 to 2001 SFC Weems served with HHC 1-108th AVN BN as a Supply Clerk; from 2001 to 2005 with HQ 235th Regt as Supply NCO; 2005 to 2009 with 1-235th Regt as OCS Company Training NCO; 2009 to 2012 with DET 1 Recruiting
On May 25, 1971, Adams, a major, volunteered to fly a lightly armed helicopter mission to rescue three wounded soldiers from a besieged firebase in the Kontum Province, despite the clear weather which would provide clear visibility for the numerous enemy anti-aircraft around the location. Despite fire from
The history of the United States Army’s 1st Infantry Division is one of many “firsts.” The most complete history of the division, James Scott Wheeler’s The Big Red One: America’s Legendary 1st Infantry Division from World War I to Desert Storm, describes many of these firsts in detail. The 1st Division was the first U.S. division to be organized in the Army during World War I, the first division to deploy overseas, and the first unit to engage the enemy in Europe as part of the American Expeditionary Force (A.E.F.). This paper is the story of these World War I firsts. Using primary documents to include the massive volumes of the World War Records of the First Division, A.E.F., Regular available at the Fairchild Library, and the reminiscences of Major General Robert Lee Bullard, who initially served as a Brigade Commander and then commanded the Division for the first American battles in France. This paper chronicles the deployment, training in France, and major battles of the 1st Division in the Great War.
Pierre N. Thibodeaux enlisted in the United States Army November 9, 1986 as an Indirect fire Infantryman (11C). He attended Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was then assigned to the 3rd Battalion 32nd Armor, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. In 1990 he was sent to Berlin Germany assigned to B Co. 6th Battalion 502nd Infantry while there helped Berlin rejoin under one flag as well deployed to Operation Desert Storm (01/21/1991- 05/08/1991). He was in Germany until 1993 then reassigned to HHC, 1st Battalion, 64th Armor, 24th Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Georgia until 1995, he deployed with this unit to Operation Restore Hope (10/21/1993 - 02/8/1994). He transferred to B Company,
Sergeant First Class Jackson was a very humble warrior. In his cubical, you would find American Flags, Daily Bread pamphlets from the chaplain, maintenance magazines and a candy dish which we all loved. He never boasted about his accomplishments, but you knew there was something special about this gentle giant. As he and I talked prior to him undergoing surgery, he told me that he was assigned to the 507th Maintenance Company during his assignment to Fort Bliss, Texas. This company stood out in my mind because it was the infamous Maintenance Company which Private Jessica Lynch was assigned to when she became a prisoner of war. Staff Sergeant Jackson was the responsible for the maintenance of the fleet of vehicles that were partaking in the in the convoy. The convoy departed Kuwait, led by the Company Commander, Captain Troy K. King, en route to Iraq on the first day of the war in 2003. When many of the vehicles had become bogged down by the sand (Michael Luo 2003), Staff Sergeant Jackson moved forward to execute his functions and keep the convoy moving. The convoy became disoriented and was immediately surrounded by the enemy in Nasiriyah, Iraq. Staff Sergeant Jackson immediately began to return fire to help defend the convoy and protect his fellow Soldiers (Jackson 2014). He continued to fire until he was wounded and unable to fire his weapon. During the fog of war, Staff Sergeant Jackson transitioned from firing his weapon to
One day he was summoned to the Squadron Office and told to report to Technical Sergeant Tullos. Now this is another of those instances where growing up in a small town pays off. The Master Sergeant instructed Private Willis to take a seat. When he had, the Sergeant asked him “are you really from Neshoba County, Mississippi?” Private Willis answered “well I sure am”, to which the Sergeant replied “so am I”. Then the Sergeant asked him if he knew Danny Tullos. Private Willis replied “Yes I do. I played basketball against him in school. He went to Forestdale High School”. The Sergeant replied “That’s right, he’s my brother. Next time you see him, tell him I said hello”, and with that Private Willis was dismissed. Two days later when the daily listing of permanent duty station orders were posted, a listing which was always in alphabetical order, Private Willis found his name at the top of the list. He had been assigned to Headquarters Second Air Force at Barksdale Air Force Base. Now Private Willis had never heard of Barksdale but was pleased to learn it was located in Bossier City, Louisiana and later learned that it was the closest Air Force facility to where he had grown up. Serving in the military, you met, eat, sleep and perform daily functions with people from all across this
SSG Rawlins was looking for high ground that had good cover and concealment. He wanted a place where he could spy the enemy and collect intel, he looked around for a few moments, “There at our fifteen hundred.” SSG Rawlins pointed at it. SGT Hammerston looked through his binoculars toward where SSG Rawlins was pointing. He scanned the area, “It looks good Staff Sergeant, but it’s going to take some doing to get over there.”
The arrival of additional German troops ended American hopes which created a lost for the American Military. While Montfaucon was taken the next day, the advance proved slow and American forces were plagued by leadership and logistical issues. By October 1, the offensive had come to a halt. Traveling among his forces, Pershing replaced several of his green divisions of soldiers with more experienced troops, though this movement only added to the logistical and traffic difficulties. On October 4, Pershing ordered an assault all along the American line. This was met with ferocious resistance from the Germans with the advance measured in yards. It was during this phase of the fighting that the 77th Division's famed "Lost Battalion" made its stand. Elsewhere, Corporal Alvin York won the Medal of Honor for capturing 132 Germans (Clodfelter, 2007). On October 8, Pershing made a push on the east side of the Meuse with the goal of silencing German artillery in the area. This made little headway. Two days later he turned command of the 1st Army over to Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett.
For outstanding performance while serving as Maintenance Department Airframes Technician, in Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron TWELVE (HSC-12), from October 2012 to October 2016. Petty Officer Scott consistently demonstrated exemplary professionalism in the performance of his duties. Demonstrating superior technical skill, he was instrumental in the completion of 28 Major Phase Inspections, 744 Special Inspections, 28 High Time Components replacement, and 1,535 unscheduled maintenance actions. His effort resulted in the squadron executing over 5,520 mishap-free flight hours in direct support of Carrier Air Wing FIVE, USS George Washington (CVN 73), and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) SEVENTH Fleet Area of Responsibility Patrols. Demonstrating exceptional
Under Major General John Schofield’s Union command were Brig. Generals James G. Blunt of the Kansas Division and Francis Jay Herron of the 2nd and 3rd Divisions. Their troops
When Halstead was given this mission in Iraq, she never anticipated the challenge she would soon face. She had one year to plan her operation, train and certify her units for deployments and after months of painstaking preparation and training, Halstead was confident her soldiers and unit were ready to be certified for deployment. However, certification had to be issued by her superior, a three-star general recently back from Iraq—and the most challenging boss Halstead had ever encountered in all of her years of services.
On this day, I remember the Platoon Leadership going over plans for a mission we received that would take place in Hawijah to support a raid that was to be conducted by 1-163 Infantry situated
The first year he continued his guarding in executive protection, but for the second year he was assigned to a task force that was investigating public corruption in the Iraq theater. In his third recall from the reserves, Mr. Baker was the Army’s Principal Investigator on a task force investigating $3.2 million in bribes for bottled water contracts in Kuwait. Not too long after was his fourth recall, when he had to appear in the trial for the major receiving the bribes for the bottled water contracts in a court in Alabama. Sergeant Baker’s most recent deployment was to Afghanistan just last year. He was placed in a leadership position of a unit deployed with fifty-three people, forty of which were investigators who were responsible for felony investigations in nineteen countries throughout the middle-east (including Afghanistan and Iraq). Mr. Baker focused on the administrative side during this deployment as he met with senior advisors to ensure they were providing the proper service, he attended to administrative unit matters, as Sergeant Major Baker was the senior advisor in the theater. Sergeant Baker saw combat while moving from base to base in his last deployment, and also occasionally while on executive protection in hostile countries such as