2023 RNG FIRST QUARTER

LEADING THE NEXT GENERATION OF

MERCY TRAINING AGREEMENT AFRC, HOKANSON LOOKS AHEAD

For the love of education

I love school. I love learning. I love absorbing new information. And that’s what we hope to accomplish with this education-themed edition of Reserve & National Guard Magazine as we kick off the new year.

Our cover story features Lt. Col. Sheena Puleali’i, an Air Force reservist who oversees the University of Southern Mississippi’s ROTC program. She details her childhood in a military family, her inspiring career trajectory and what it means to (as the headline suggests) lead the next generation of cadets into service.

“Leadership is about communication, and you must have the ability to adapt, as well as be approachable,” Puleali’i told writer Elena Ferrarin.

You can read Puleali’i’s full story on page 10.

Diving further into education, Brunella Costagliola chats with four guardsmen who serendipitously ended up teaching in the same Missouri school district. This feature can be found on page 18. I also looked into some lesser-known opportunities to take advantage of with the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. Did you know woodworking and tattooing

are covered under the VA benefit? Read this and more on page 14.

Lastly, not to discount the historical aspects of this issue, we take a look at one Wisconsin unit’s first deployment to Africa (page 20), as well as the roots of the now-expected Super Bowl flyovers (page 22).

Until next time,

KARI WILLIAMS Associate Editor

Christopher Adams Allison Churchill Brunella Costagliola

Elena Ferrarin Ben Greene Crystal Kupper

Will Martin Leslie Stone

by Bianca Strzalkowski

by Allison Churchill

by Kari Williams

by Christopher Adams

10

Leading

by Elena Ferrarin

Reserve & National Guard Magazine is published four times a year for reservists and guardsmen. Copies are available through participating Reserve and National Guard training centers at no cost. Unit distribution requests can be made online at: https://reservenationalguard.com/ print-magazines/

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What goal are you setting for yourself in the new year?

It’s cliché, but I’m shooting to get down to my ideal weight in 2023. I mean, just because I’m a middle-aged veteran doesn’t mean I need to look and feel like one. – WILL

MARTIN

I am finishing the memoir “Guided by Grace” for a Mennonite businessman and pitching more articles for national magazines. – LESLIE

STONE

I want to be more present when I’m with my family. I’m so passionate about my writing and editing business that I often find myself thinking of my books when I’m spending time with my family. My children are growing up so fast and I don’t want to one day look around and see shelves filled with books I’ve worked on but empty photo albums that should have contained precious family memories.

– BRUNELLA COSTAGLIOLA

– BEN GREENE

I don’t set goals for the new year anymore, I live life with a look towards the short-term future. Unwise? Perhaps. But much less stressful!

– ELENA FERRARIN

My goal is to read at least one new book per month. -

KARI WILLIAMS

My goal is to log in to Rosetta Stone regularly, to brush up on my Spanish and get better at Portuguese. I want to work on French, too, to be ready for the Paris Olympics.

– ALLISON CHURCHILL

I have not established any goals for 2023. I don’t create goals in a macro sense.I generally set micro-goals weekto-week, occasionally month-to-month, and do not plan beyond that.

– CHRISTOPHER ADAMS

I would love to break 2 hours in the half-marathon (my PR thus far is 2:01)! My 15-year-old son is running his first half with me in 2023; I ran a full marathon when I was pregnant with him. I haven’t run a race with him since, so this one will be very special to me.

– CRYSTAL KUPPER

What do you want to know about our writers? Email Associate Editor Kari Williams at kari.williams@ameriforcemedia.com with WRITER QUESTION in the subject line.

Learn an ancient craft, trade or skill.

Run the Marine Corps Marathon. – BIANCA STRZALKOWSKI

OPERATION

RESOLVE UNITS ACTIVATED ATLANTIC

Several Army units have been activated for regular rotation to Atlantic Resolve, which U.S. Army Europe and Africa has headed since April 2014. The deployments help build readiness, increase interoperability and enhance relationships between allies and partner militaries.

Ohio National Guard unit selected for cyberspace mission

The 179th Airlift Wing in Mansfield, Ohio, will be the first Air National Guard wing slated for a cyberspace mission. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Maj. Gen. John C. Harris Jr. announced last fall the unit was selected after a yearlong assessment.

“This cyberspace wing will produce individuals with tangible experiences and advanced training that will continue to improve the state’s leadership in cybersecurity and advanced technology,” Harris said in a news release.

The transition is expected to take five years.

Unit rotations include:

• 4th Infantry Division HQ replaces 1st Infantry Division HQ.

• 4th Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade replaces 1st Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade.

• 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division replaces 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.

• 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division replaces 1st Armored Division combat Aviation Brigade.

Utah hits milestone in partnership with Morocco

The Utah National Guard will celebrate two decades of its State Partnership Program relationship with Morocco this year. The official anniversary is Sept. 3, but kicked off this past November with the 80th anniversary of Operation Torch. Several events will be held throughout the year to honor the partnership.

U.S. Army Spc. Blake Dalto and Royal Moroccan Army soldiers work with patients at the Humanitarian Civic Assistance center in Taliouine, Morocco, during African Lion 22. Photo by Staff Sgt. Nathan Baker

Soldiers provide covering fire for advancing units during the Bull Run live fire exercise in Bemowo Piskie, Poland. Photo by Sgt. Gavin K. Ching

The 179th Airlift Wing conducts daily operations flying and maintaining the C-130H Hercules. Photo by Master Sgt. Joe Harwood

Army Reserve program places soldiers in civilian careers

A recently launched Army Reserve program helps soldiers find civilian employment and includes more than 100 partners in the academic and corporate worlds committed to hiring reservists.

The Private-Public Partnership (P30) has assisted more than 400 soldiers so far with

IN FILM:

The Georgia National Guard provided production support for filming of “Devotion,” which depicts the true story of Navy Capt. Thomas Hudner Jr. intentionally crashing his aircraft to help downed aviator Ensign Jesse Brown during the Korean War.

The 165th Airlift Wing “enabled the Department of Defense the opportunity to be a part of the coordination process, ensuring an accurate depiction of the events being portrayed,” said Christine Thompson, a National Guard Bureau entertainment liaison, in a news release.

In addition to providing “set dressing,” the wing’s home station, Savannah Air National Guard Base, was used as a hangar in the film.

the help of employment specialists in the United States, Puerto Rico and Europe.

Maj. Rob Stubbs, a public affairs officer for the program, said the program was started by Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels, chief of Army Reserve and commanding general of the U.S. Army Reserve Command.

Marine Forces Reserve focus on small expeditionary watercraft

Keeping in line with Force Design 2030 efforts, the Marine Forces Reserve has made it a goal to obtain smaller boats that “offer the opportunity for service-level experimentation and analysis in the realm of littoral operations, reconnaissance and counter reconnaissance, signature management and operations in support of expeditionary advanced base operations,” according to a news release

“This is a great opportunity for us here within Marine Forces Reserve to help generate data for Force Design’s campaign of learning,” Brig. Gen. Douglas Clark, 4th Marine Division commanding general, said in the release. “We’re looking at small boats from the commercial industry to see what options we may want to pursue for experimentation and to gain experience for a better understanding of how to conduct operations in the littorals.”

Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell portray Ensign Jesse Brown and Navy Capt. Thomas Hudner Jr. in the recently released military history film “Devotion.” Courtesy Sony Pictures

Hokanson: Health care access key to Guard readiness, retention

BY BIANCA STRZALKOWSKI PHOTOS BY SGT. 1ST CLASS ZACH SHEELY

The Chief of the National Guard Bureau said health care access for guardsmen is his highest priority in 2023.

Approaching the two-and-a-half-year mark of his tenure, Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson said he remains committed to four areas on behalf of 443,000 men and women serving in the National Guard: People, readiness, modernization and reform. At the top of his concerns, he says, is connecting “every single person” to health care. The National Guard Bureau estimates the number of those benefiting from such a change would be roughly 60,000.

“I look at what we’ve asked them to do over the last 20 years, and particularly over COVID. We sent these young men and women into an environment we really didn’t understand at first,” Hokanson said. “ … If we can provide health care to every single one of the service members … their family knows if anything happens — if they get injured at work or in their military career —

we’re going to take care of them.”

While guardsmen receive health care while on orders, it’s the gaps in coverage Hokanson advocates for because soldiers and airmen are oftentimes activated with short notice.

“If they don’t have that preventative health care and can’t get the help they need, now they can’t perform their job and we’re losing a valuable resource,” Hokanson said. “But if we can provide that health care to every single guardsman … it would be a great retention tool, and I think it would be a great recruiting tool for companies to know, if I hire this person, they’ve got their own health care.”

As service branches continue to struggle with recruiting and retention, Hokanson’s conversations with recruiters reveal competition for employees is great. He said civilian employers have increased benefit offerings because the employment landscape demands it, making

expanded health care access another tool to aid with attracting and maintaining force readiness.

National Guard leaders are also evaluating lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, including telework opportunities that remove geographic barriers to talent.

In October 2019, when Hokanson was director of the Army National Guard, he suggested allowing 10% of the workforce to telework. By March of the next year, the pandemic forced 90% of personnel to work from home.

“We learned we can do some things virtually, and we learned there’s some things we cannot do virtually,” he said.

Since becoming chief, he said they have looked at positions, like in the National Capital Region, that would allow guardsmen to lend their expertise to the job without requiring them to live in a high-cost area.

“By identifying these positions, we can get people with incredible talent to perform at the national level but not give up all those things that would prevent them from coming here,” he said. “Sometimes it’s the difference between them staying in and getting out. If we can find a middle ground to manage our talent and take care of them, we want to do that.”

Building awareness of the Guard’s integral role in the National Defense Strategy is another priority for Hokanson, who recently told division and unit commanders and senior enlisted leaders in January, “we need to tell our story.”

High-profile domestic missions placed soldiers and airmen at the front lines of American communities over the past three years, but Hokanson said he works with public affairs to remind those at every level “the reason we have a National Guard is to fight and win our nation’s wars.”

Its State Partnership Program, which now includes 85 partners, also puts the Guard at the center of U.S. relationships around the globe. Ukraine is a great example, Hokanson says, of the value of working together proactively with other countries.

“We’ve been partners with them [Ukraine] for 30 years. California National Guard has been training with them all that time. When you look at when Russia invaded Crimea or in the Donbas in 2014, after that we sat down with the Ukrainians and said, ‘What did you learn? How can we help make you better?’” he said. “And so we setup a training unit in Lviv.”

Since 2015, active-duty service members then guardsmen have trained Ukrainian forces at the Combat Training Center-Yavoriv. Just days before Russia’s invasion in 2022, U.S. troops were pulled from Ukraine and sent to Germany to continue that training.

Hokanson credits America’s work with Ukraine as one of the reasons it continues to defy expectations against Russian forces.

“What we saw is a lot of people thought Ukraine would only last a week [after the Russian invasion], but folks in the Guard who had been training them said, ‘Not so fast.’ They’ve been paying attention. They learned from 2014 and they’re really good — and we’ve seen that,” he said. “It’s really a brutal

fight, but I think it’s all due to the patriotism of the Ukrainians, willingness to stand up for their country and the training we did that has made a difference.”

Other state partnerships demonstrate how mutually beneficial it is to both guardsmen and international forces to learn from one another.

“You can’t surge trust,” Hokanson said. “If you have a 10-, 20-, 30-year relationship, our young soldiers and airmen have grown up with them. Our states and their countries become very close-knit and our guardsmen learn a lot from them, they learn a lot from us. We not only learn to operate in other environments but we also have a shared interest in trying to make sure our countries remain stable.”

Hokanson looks over the instrument panel of an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System alongside a member of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Grafenwoehr, Germany, in June 2022.

Hokanson meets with Moldovan military members at the Ministry of Defense headquarters in Chisinau, Moldova, to recognize its 23-year security cooperation with North Carolina.

LEADING THE NEXT GENERATION OF CADETS

Air Force Lt. Col. Puleali’i shares 17 years of knowledge with University of Southern Mississippi’s ROTC program

BY ELENA FERRARIN

PHOTOS BY KELLY L. DUNN, USM IMAGE CENTER

After 17 years in the Air Force, Lt. Col. Sheena Puleali’i says her current role at the University of Southern Mississippi is the highlight of her career, which is coming full circle as it nears its end.

Thirty-nine-year-old Puleali’i started June 30 as director of aerospace studies at the university, where she serves as commander of Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Detachment 432.

“It was very competitive to get this specific position, and I am just incredibly happy that I was blessed to get it,” she said.

Puleali’i is responsible for recruiting, educating and developing officer candidates through college campus programs based on Air Force requirements, and commissioning those who successfully meet all educational and program parameters. She also teaches an aerospace

studies class for junior and senior cadets, focusing on the history of the Air Force, leadership development, and what life is like once the cadets start active duty as second lieutenants, she said.

Her goal is to share with cadets the knowledge she’s gained over the years and prepare them for what lies ahead, she added.

She also credited the work of her team: Melanie Sowell, Daniel Harrison, Maj. André Taylor and Tech. Sgt. Kristie Stefinsky.

A distinguished career

Puleali’i comes from a military family: her mother, biological father, stepfather and great-grandfather served in the Army, and her grandfather served in the Marine Corps.

Her biological parents met in the early 1980s

while serving in Germany. Her father is Samoan; her mother, who is Italian and Irish, was a flight medic and earned a Soldier’s Medal. Because of the uncertainty of their schedules, when she was 6 months old Puleali’i went to live with her grandmother in California, where she had extended family.

Her parents eventually split and left the service. At age 7, Puleali’i moved to Hawaii to live with her mother and stepfather, a medevac pilot who served in the Army for 30 years.

“He actually read me the oath of office at my commissioning ceremony, and continued to read it with every promotion thereafter,” she said.

Her stepfather’s career later took the family to Texas, Missouri, New York and Alabama.

“I had a happy childhood and truly enjoyed moving every few years,” she said.

Puleali’i attended Saint Louis University (SLU), a choice that was “kind of a fluke,” she said. Her stepfather encouraged her to fill out an ROTC scholarship application, but then she was accepted at Florida State University and began preparing to go there.

Then, she received a letter from SLU congratulating her on receiving the scholarship, and saying the university would cover her room and board.

“I remember my stepdad saying, ‘Well, I hope you like St. Louis,’” she said. “We laughed, and the rest is history.”

She earned a bachelor’s degree in Russian studies, which she said she chose simply because it sounded interesting. Upon graduation in 2005, she was commissioned through the Air Force ROTC. In 2012, she earned a master’s degree in strategic intelligence from American Military University.

Puleali’i has served in a variety of positions throughout her career, including: flight commander and mission operations commander with the 11th Intelligence Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Florida; J2 collection manager with the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force - Arabian Peninsula; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations team chief with the 607th Air and Space Operations Center at Osan Air Base, South Korea.

In 2015, she assumed the duties of detachment commander in one of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center’s most selectively manned units. She also served at the Pentagon as the executive officer to the assistant deputy chief of staff, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and as a national security fellow at the Foundation

for Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C. Prior to her current position, she served as deputy chief for Air Combat Command’s intelligence systems and capabilities division.

Puleali’i lives with her wife, their 13-year-old daughter and two “fur babies.” In her personal time, she stays active with yoga, running and indoor cycling, but also loves the beach and binge-watching TV, she said.

An approachable leader

AFROTC cadets at the University of Southern Mississippi raved about Puleali’i’s style of leadership.

“She is personable, relatable, compassionate, but yet very direct,” said Cadet Noel Parrett, a senior. “I think that when it comes to cadet development, she inspires the level of leadership that we can all be like. She does a really good job of embodying what a leader is.”

Sophomore Cadet Jessica Crenshaw said Puleali’i is very involved with the program.

“She’s really excited to see the program grow, and it makes me really excited to be here,” Crenshaw said.

Cadet Julia Anderson, who plans to become a nurse in the Air Force, said Puleali’i and her team have an open-door policy that leads to a welcoming environment.

“She’s amazing,” Anderson said. “I’ve loved having her — and it hasn’t even been a semester.”

The process of helping cadets develop leadership skills starts as freshmen and sophomores, when they begin to learn about the Air Force, the Space Force and their mission, Puleali’i said.

They attend leadership lab, which is run by juniors and seniors, and features group projects that prompt them to figure out how to solve problems and work as a team.

The experience is also a learning ground for the upperclassmen, who develop their own leadership skills running the lab, she said.

“Leadership is about communication, and you must have the ability to adapt, as well as be approachable,” she said.

Puleali’i described her 17 years since her commission as “a roller-coaster fantastic ride.”

There have been exhilarating times, she said, as well as times when she didn’t like her assignments and considered leaving the military. She’s thankful that she followed her parents’ advice to stick it out and see if things would turn out well, she said.

“I am really very blessed that they told me to do that,” she said, “because as it turns out, nothing is permanent.”

Looking back, much of the reason she didn’t enjoy some of the work was tied to the quality of her leaders, she said.

“I think I learned most from the leaders I did not want to be like,” she said.

Some people are naturally more apt at leadership, but anyone can be given the tools to achieve that, Puleali’i said.

“Whether or not they use those tools, and whether or not they want to be a leader, that determines whether or not they can be an effective leader,” she said. “The desire needs to be there.”

NORTHERN STRIKE’S WINTER ITERATION EMERGING THREATS PREPARES UNITS FOR

BY ALLISON CHURCHILL, ARMY PUBLIC AFFAIRS VETERAN

Hundreds of soldiers – including some from Latvia – will converge at Michigan’s National All-Domain Warfighter Center (NADWC) this month for a training exercise that will help prepare them to combat emerging threats.

The fourth winter iteration of Northern Strike will be held Jan. 23-28, 2023, bringing together guardsmen from Michigan, Wisconsin, New York and Alabama; the active-duty Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115 from South Carolina; the active-duty Air Force 69th Bomb Squadron from North Dakota; and representatives from Latvian National Armed Forces.

NADWC consists of Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center – the largest National Guard training facility in the United States – and Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, about 90 miles away on the shore of Lake Huron.

It’s accessible by boat, rail and near three

airports, making it more cost effective than Alaska for many units seeking arctic training in the United States, said Michigan National Guard Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Paul Rogers.

Northern Michigan typically gets at least a foot of snow pack in the winter, and the temperatures are usually in the low to mid-20s, but can dip, Rogers said.

“Not like the long-standing cold you might get in Minnesota, but cold enough that it challenges our systems or our equipment and our people, and their ability to train and build readiness in those extreme environments,” he said.

While training in warm areas is nice, Russia and China (two emerging threats) have winter, said Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin Palmatier, lead exercise planner for Northern Strike. It’s better to learn how extreme cold temperatures affect equipment in training.

Shawn Cook, the Northern Strike fires planner, said that when CS gas was used during an event last year, troops found out their gas masks didn’t fit as expected.

“You could find leaks really easy,” he said.

That full range of opportunities is a draw for the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 1-120th Field Artillery Regiment, said battalion commander Lt. Col. Nate Bennington. The winter iterations of Northern Strike have provided such comprehensive training that the full battalion is attending this year.

The first two years only their Battery C attended; last year Battery C, Headquarters Battery and support elements participated. Bennington said the difference in performance from the first to third years was night and day.

“The expectation is this year it’s going to be flawless,” he said.

In addition to the extreme weather, the 1-120th FA’s troops get to coordinate air support, which they can’t do at Wisconsin’s Fort McCoy, since planes aren’t allowed to fly during artillery fire. They also will practice reacting to Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) attacks.

“The Northern Strike team is exceptional,” Bennington said.

He also credited the Latvian troops, who are involved thanks to their country’s State Partnership Program tie to the MING, marking 30 years in 2023. During Northern Strike’s winter exercise, they function as joint terminal attack controllers, overseeing synchronization between ground and air fires.

“By training side by side with our friends from the Michigan National Guard – our steadfast allies – we become stronger and more capable, enhancing interoperability and capability to conduct joint operations,” Lt. Gen. Leonīds Kalniņš, Latvia’s defense chief, told MING public affairs officer Air Force Capt. Andrew Layton last year.

National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Daniel Hokanson is expected to visit the exercise, and Rogers said he’s looking forward to seeing his soldiers and airmen in action.

“Anytime I can get out and actually observe, see our service members train in a realistic environment, and really be challenged and watch them adapt, innovate and overcome those extreme conditions and be successful in their training, that’s all inspiring,” Rogers said. “Our junior service members or junior leaders, if they understand the intent, if they understand their purpose, they will figure out a way to be successful.”

Operators from the 20th Special Forces Group run to a landing site in August 2022 during a live fire training exercise near Chester Township, Michigan, as part of Northern Strike. Photo by Spc. Cody Muzio

Lance Cpl. Joel Vergara practices casualty evacuation during Northern Strike 21-2. Photo by Lance Cpl. Colby Bundy

6 UNIQUE POST-9/11

G.I. BILL

EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES

BY KARI WILLIAMS

Congressional Budget Office projections put payments for the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill at more than $10 million in fiscal year 2023. That in mind, service members can consider education beyond traditional post-secondary institutions, and possibly build a civilian career in industries like woodworking, body modification and more.

Here’s a look at six options that are off the beaten path:

Woodworking:

Those looking to carve out a niche in woodworking can do so at several institutes and schools that specialize in the craft. The Center

for Furniture Craftsmanship, Vermont Woodworking School, the Port Townsend School of Woodworking and the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute are just a few available options. Careers vary from cabinetmakers and bench carpenters to furniture finishers and woodworking machine setters, operators and tenders. Employment in the industry is

expected to grow 3% between 2021 and 2031, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Tattooing:

Nearly 30,000 tattoo artists are employed in the U.S., according to an IBIS World industry report published in 2021, and the industry is only expected to grow. In 2022 alone, the market size was projected to increase more than 5%. The Florida Tattoo Academy – which falls under the state’s department of education – is a VA-approved tattoo school. Individual shops that offer apprenticeships also can qualify, like Body Art & Soul Tattoos, which has locations in Brooklyn, New York; Los Angeles, California; New Haven, Connecticut; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Tampa, Florida.

Foreign program approval:

Those interested in pursuing their education abroad can do so if they meet the following criteria:

• Eligible for, or already receive, VA education assistance;

• The program is VA approved;

• Completion of the program is at a higher-learning institution where students earn a standard associate degree or higher, or a degree of equal value at the school.

Benefits include funds for schooling and housing. However, not all schools have been approved through VA. Visit https://www. va.gov/education/about-gi-bill-benefits/howto-use-benefits/study-at-foreign-schools/ to determine if the program has been approved.

Barbers and beauticians:

To stay a cut above, consider attending a vocational school for cosmetology. Buckner Barber School in Dallas, Texas; Southern Careers Institute; and the American College of Barbering are among the institutions accepting the VA benefit to cover tuition costs. However, as with other schooling options, the length of service can determine the financial assistance from VA. More eligibility information can be found at https://www.va.gov/ education/about-gi-bill-benefits/how-to-usebenefits/non-college-degree-programs/

Automotive technician

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects little to no change in the automotive service technician and mechanic job outlook through 2031. Still, trade schools like the Universal Technical Institute with its 16 locations nationwide, are Post-9/11 G.I. Bill applicable. The Automotive Dealership Institute also falls under the VA program’s eligibility. The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence

offers testing and certification. Some car dealerships also offer apprenticeships to those who have completed trade school or college programs in the field.

Landscape designer

With a market size of more than $105 billion, according to the IBIS World Landscaping Services Industry Report, landscape design is a veritable industry for veterans and service members. Institutions like the Conway School of Landscape Design accept the Post-9/11

G.I. Bill and also participate in the Yellow Ribbon G.I. Bill Education Enhancement Program and the Edith Nourse Rogers STEM Scholarship. The Association of Professional Landscape Designers provides additional certification, though it’s unclear if military-related financial assistance is accepted.

How are you using your Post-9/11 G.I. Bill benefits? Scan

‘Quantum Leap’ actress Caitlin Bassett

turns Army career into leading role

BY KARI WILLIAMS | PHOTO BY RON BATZDORFF/NBC

Caitlin Bassett is not only an ex-Army intelligence officer, but plays one on TV, too.

Bassett, 34, spent seven years with the Army and National Security Agency before transitioning to civilian life and landing a lead role on NBC’s “Quantum Leap” reboot as Addison Augustine in her first acting gig.

“When I first read the audition, I remember thinking two distinct thoughts,” Bassett told AmeriForce Media during a recent press junket. “One was, ‘I’m really good for this role.’ The second one was, ‘I’m never going to get this role. They are never going to hire a new actor to play the lead in a network series.’ But you can’t reject yourself, right?”

Part of what drew Bassett to Addison – an ex-Army intelligence officer who serves as a guide to Dr. Sam Beckett as he “leaps” through time (and bodies) to right wrongs as part of a confidential operation – was that she related to her.

“I had never really seen a character so weirdly similar,” Bassett said. “I used to joke that the showrunner called my mom. There’s just so many similarities, but I’ve seen that before. I’ve seen roles where you’re like, ‘Oh, I think I’m really right for this.’ But they just had a different vision. So luckily their vision was me.”

And her past military experience, which includes two tours in Afghanistan, has been “much more of a benefit” than a challenge.

“I might have done something in the military on the show that I didn’t do in my real life. Or something I did do in my real life, an experience I did have that I didn’t have in the character,” Bassett said. “So sometimes I gotta remember, ‘Oh my experience wasn’t Addison’s experience.’ There’s lots of crossover, but we were different.”

Bassett grew up in Maryland – “not far from the NSAs, not far from all the alphabet soups.”

“[Army intelligence] had always been something I’d been aware of, my world included it,” Bassett said. “And so when I was joining, I actually thought I was going to be a medic there for a while, just because it’s something I saw on ‘M*A*S*H,’ I understood that.”

But she tested well and her recruiter, who was in Army intelligence, talked to her about the opportunities it entailed.

“I was like, ‘Oh, well that actually sounds quite interesting,’” Bassett said. “And truthfully it was. And I got stationed at NSA both times … I had a great experience because of it.”

One of her biggest takeaways was getting that “peek behind the curtain” and realizing “it’s just people.”

“Because when you’re standing far away from it, it can seem like this machine – and it is to a certain extent – but it can seem like there’s this grand design to do good or bad or something and then you just realize it’s just people kind of doing the best that they can,” Bassett said. “And there’s a lot of really good people doing a lot of really good things.”

Military transition challenges identity

Bassett received acceptance letters for two law schools – one in D.C. and another in New York – while she was still in the Army, but opted for New York to get out of what she deemed the federal machine.

“I knew if I went to law school in D.C. I’d just stay in it. It was all I’d be around. But the transition was hard,” Bassett said. “Like, everyone I know that has transitioned out has had a difficult year or so. And it had its challenges, and it has its challenges in your identity and how you work. But eventually I was lucky because I found something that I really loved. And that I think helped because that became kind of my guiding star.”

That guiding star was acting, which Bassett said she came to through a series of moments that led to her acceptance into the Stella Adler Conservatory and, in 2020, the Disney Discovers Talent Showcase.

She loved law school – it’s “one of the best educations I think you can get” – but said she quickly realized it wasn’t what she wanted to do.

“I gave it a second year because I was like, ‘This is my first year out of the military. This was going to be a hard year anyway. I can’t judge it,’” Bassett said. “But even in the second, I was like, ‘This is just not what I want to do. And what I felt is what I had felt in the military.

“You get on these trains sometimes, and the train starts to move. And it had happened in the military, and it’s hard to get off it once you’re on it. And in law school I felt like that train was happening again, but in a direction I didn’t want to go.”

Bassett said she remembers thinking there’s no harm in “stepping off and exploring what you want to explore.” And what she wanted to explore was acting.

“I can do this right now and I’m going to regret it if I don’t,” she said.

And for other service members and veterans transitioning, Bassett said not to reject themselves.

“There’s a lot of opportunities out there and your experience will be an asset even if you start late,” Bassett said. “Because eventually you’ll catch up skills wise, but all of a sudden you’re going to be the candidate that not only has the skills but has a completely different perspective and that will be an asset.”

“Quantum Leap” airs on NBC on Mondays at 9 p.m. CST. For more information, visit the show’s website

AFRC, Mercy hospitals training agreement benefits multiple parties

BY ALLISON CHURCHILL, ARMY PUBLIC AFFAIRS VETERAN

Base realignment and Air Force Medical Service restructuring after the first Gulf War — in which some installations closed their hospitals and shifted to providing only primary care — was intended to save money by reducing excess infrastructure. But it had an unintended consequence.

Airmen in medical roles, especially those in the reserve components, lost chances to get hands-on training.

“What we realized during the second Gulf War was some of our clinical skills were a little dull because we didn’t have the opportunities they once had,” said Lt. Col. Ed Hubbell, 932nd Aeromedical Staging Squadron officer-in-charge of consolidated training.

A training affiliation agreement between Air Force Reserve Command and Mercy signed last summer is intended to change that. Under the agreement, all Air Force reservists in medical fields will be allowed to train at any of the St. Louis-based Catholic hospital system.

It builds on an existing agreement that originated with the Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills, or C-STARS, said Hubbell, who is also Mercy’s vice president of technology services. Most of that training happened at Saint Louis University hospitals, but trainees rotated through Mercy’s burn unit, Hubbell said.

The 932nd’s sister units in Youngstown, Ohio, and at Peterson Space Force Base needed pre-deployment training. They also needed to provide seasonal training, in which airmen upgrade their skills. Hubbell reached out to his Mercy colleagues and they agreed to support expanded training throughout the ministry’s 12 hospitals.

The program offers a little something to several groups.

The biggest beneficiaries are the reservists who get the hands-on training they need to keep necessary certifications current. Many reservists don’t have civilian jobs in medicine,

Hubbell said, and might not have time during their annual tour to get that training. In addition to med techs and nurses, Mercy can host reservists in radiology, biochemical warfare, health care technology maintenance — almost any specialty but optical, Hubbell said.

Airmen being able to stay close to home has financial advantages, too. Hubbell gave the example of reservists in Troy, Missouri, who attended three to five level medical technician upgrade training at Mercy Lincoln.

“They just stayed at home and drove to the hospital every day,” Hubbell said. “That saves thousands of dollars for the military because you’re not putting them up in a hotel.”

Mercy’s employees not only have an extra set of hands and eyes to handle tasks like starting IVs, suturing wounds and administering EKGs, but sometimes the reservists are already familiar with new-to-the-hospital equipment. Battlefields have long inspired medical innovation.

“We share that information and knowledge with our Mercy coworkers that we have on the battlefield or new oncoming techniques and equipment,” Hubbell said.

He spent more than a decade as a nurse in both the Air Force Reserve and at Mercy,

and was part of a military pilot of a handheld retroscope; another airman told their team about a tourniquet they had used.

“It’s very good for our patients,” said Betty Jo Rocchio, Mercy’s chief nursing officer. “Our patients benefit a ton from having the expertise on both sides working together to improve patient outcomes.”

She said the experience would make many of the reservists primary candidates if they wanted to join Mercy full time.

“Those familiar with our teams, they know some of our protocols and possibilities,” Rocchio said. “We would be glad to have them.”

Seeing reservists in the hospitals gives community members a chance to learn about and appreciate the dual mission of reserve component airmen who are supporting and defending them.

“When things hit the fan, we’re the first to go – it truly is a citizen force now,” Hubbell said.

The feedback from patients and Mercy employees has also been positive.

“I think it’s great for them to see the community supporting the military,” he said. “It’s been a win-win.”

Air Force reservists participate in simulation training. Photo courtesy of Mercy

MEET THE GUARDSMEN TEACHING IN THE SAME MISSOURI SCHOOL DISTRICT

BY BRUNELLA COSTAGLIOLA COURTESY PHOTOS

Spc. Michael LaBrot has only been in the Missouri National Guard for a year and a half, but the 10-year educator uses that to prove what’s possible.

“I want to show my students, as well as my own children, that they can achieve big things at any point in their life,” said LaBrot, an industrial technology teacher at Liberty High School in Missouri’s Wentzville School District.

LaBrot, who joined the Missouri National Guard in 2021 at 40 years old, said both of his grandfathers served in the branch during World War II, and his father served in the Missouri National Guard.

“I’ve always wanted to do my part to serve, but for whatever reason it didn’t work out before,” LaBrot said. “I didn’t know if I could join at my age but decided to try anyway. It took a lot of hard work from some really good people,

but I finally got the call on May 3, 2021, that my age waiver had been approved. I shipped out to BCT, completed that and AIT at Fort Leonard Wood and returned home late October 2022.”

LaBrot, however, is not the only guardsman in the Wentzville School District. Staff Sgt. Marc Tiernan, who serves with the 131st Bomb Wing in the Air National Guard, is a fine and practical arts content leader for the teaching and learning team at Wentzville School District.

“As a former student at the school and in the Wentzville School District, I knew from an early age that I wanted to return to my school district and serve as a teacher because I had been lucky enough to have wonderful teachers who believed in me, supported me and inspired me to one day do the same with younger generations,” said Tiernan, who credits the Guard for opening

his eyes to the benefits and resources available for service members.

His own military service has helped him “advise students, teachers and parents with questions about the military and specifically the Air National Guard.”

“While I was always a disciplined and confident person who held leadership roles, I believe my time at BMT [Basic Military Training] helped me further develop those skills, allowing me to perform my civilian duties better than before, especially because of the physical, mental and emotional challenges that I faced during my time in basic training,” Tiernan said.

Maj. Kenneth Kasten, who serves in the Air National Guard and is an assistant principal at Wentzville Middle School, echoed Tiernan’s sentiment. Kasten said his military training “has definitely helped” in a leadership role

because the military teaches its members to think quickly, handle stress under pressure and manage chaos.

Kasten first enlisted in the Air National Guard 20 years ago and served as an F-15 crew chief. After being promoted to technical sergeant, he transitioned to a maintenance officer within the 131st Bomb Wing (previously 131st Fighter Wing), where he currently serves as commander for the Maintenance Operations Flight. His experience from enlisted to officer allowed him to gain knowledge and build skills from both sides of the coin. Kasten said he believes that has helped ease him into his current role as assistant principal.

“Both careers have been complementary to each other, and they are both service roles to which I have been drawn to my entire working career, especially because both my parents were teachers, so teaching was already in my DNA,” Kasten said.

Also in his DNA, Kasten later discovered, was serving in the military.

“My grandfather passed away at a young age, and in the family we never talked about him that much because my grandmother remarried,” Kasten said. “Though I first joined the military as a way to help pay for college, I later learned that my grandfather was a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and as life would have it, our careers turned out to be quite similar.”

Balancing their teaching career and military service is not easy, however, given the demands that both roles require. Each has taken significant time away from their teaching roles to attend training, TDYs and deployments.

“I check in with my superintendent periodically between drills and she in turn sends emails or texts if there’s anything that needs my attention,” Kasten said.

Tiernan said he remains organized and keeps lines of communication open with coworkers and family.

Students, fellow teachers and the entire Wentzville School District have made their guardsmen feel supported and appreciated, especially while they fulfill their military service.

“My students and teachers have made me cards and sent care packages when I have been away, a sweet gesture that reminded me of why I chose to serve my country not only as a military service member, but also as a teacher,” Tiernan said.

Similarly, Kasten said leadership has “always been very supportive,” remembering how he was able to carry out military duties thanks to

his “principal’s understanding and help to get coverage” when training or deployed.

A retired assistant principal even filled in for Kasten while he deployed to Iceland with the B2s in 2021, a first-of-its-kind mission that saw the B2s continuously operate from the Nordic Island.

“I was there on what turned out to be a historic mission for more than just military reasons,” Kasten said. “After centuries of inactivity, the Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted while our B2s

were there. I took videos and photos, and once I was given permission to disclose them, I sent them to my fellow teachers and school staff, who marveled at such incredible sight.”

Working at the same school district and serving in the Missouri Army and Air National Guard, LaBrot’s, Tiernan’s and Kasten’s paths have crossed more than once.

“We help, support and encourage one another, both as teachers and as guardsmen,” Kasten said.

Wisconsin

brigade MARKS

FIRST

AFRICA DEPLOYMENT

BY PREPARING FOR CRISES, SUPPORTING PARTNERS

BY BEN GREENE

PHOTOS BY SENIOR AIRMAN DESTANI K. MATHENY AND STAFF SGT. DALLIN WRYE

Two days after the first Wisconsin brigade to deploy to Africa arrived, Maj. James Schmitz flew to a far-off U.S. embassy for a crisis-management exercise.

It was a busy month for the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, which arrived at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti in October. Schmitz, a forward coordinating element team leader, serves within the future operations and crisis planning branch.

“We’re always looking at five or six different places that, you know, have political instability and have the potential to become larger crises,” he said. “We are actively planning for those and continually updating our ability to respond across the continent.”

This focus on crisis response is why Schmitz flew out of Djibouti so soon after arriving. In addition, he said his team supports the protection of American interests, which is another line of effort for Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA). CJTF-HOA also strengthens U.S. strategic influence, provides extra security and supports allies — all endeavors the Wisconsin brigade embraced.

The U.S. started directly collaborating with forces on the continent 20 years ago. One of the brigade’s first duties upon arrival last year was executing a partner appreciation day to celebrate those relationships. The day highlighted the unity among the forces at Camp Lemonnier and included a demonstration of each nations’ abilities.

Capt. Parker Ashworth recognizes the significance of that appreciation day and his deployment. His assignment focuses on operations, activities and investments to support and strengthen the U.S. strategic influence with African partners and allies.

“It’s a unique operating environment and just a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the operations, planning processes and all the activities and work that goes into developing these long-lasting partnerships,” he said.

Spc. Madeleine Parmenter, who is assigned to the 157th MEB, compiles data, including weather reports, the timing of flight departures and arrivals and any major events for a daily briefing to the commanding general and staff at Camp Lemonnier. In the process, she has worked with several branches and units from numerous U.S. states.

She said they took somebody from every MOS “and put us in a giant group and we’re completing this mission.”

Parmenter also participates in USAFRICOM operations and intel briefs weekly. That meeting, and the specialist’s work, create situational awareness among everyone who needs to make decisions based on the shared information about continental events.

“The operations and intel brief really opens your eyes to a lot of events that are going around Africa,” she said. “You learn how all these countries are impacting these smaller developing countries.”

For example, droughts and food shortages are affecting daily life for many on the continent. There can be incidents serious enough that opportunities appear for partnership. As part of CJTF-HOA’s mission, U.S. forces like the 157th MEB join other nations’ leaders and soldiers to promote Africa’s security and stability.

“That’s part of the importance of why we’re here,” Ashworth said. “The more that we’re integrated and unified, the better we can respond to crisis.”

Schmitz said he now understands the unique challenges embassies can face in crises. Part of his team’s mission is a follow-up to the risks revealed during an attack 10 years

ago against a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

“How do we respond to whatever crisis may be, whether it’s political instability within a country, whether it’s a humanitarian aid response to a disaster, like a cyclone?” he said. “How do we support our Department of State allies or the Department of State teams in embassies across the continent? How do we support our partners, the other governments of Africa?”

Answering such questions is why the brigade’s deployment is historic, he said. Nearly 300 soldiers from the Wisconsin Army National Guard are deeply involved in the everyday needs and dynamics of the continent.

“We have people who touch every aspect of the CJTF-HOA mission,” he added.

Whether preparing for crises or planning celebrations, Schmitz sees the Wisconsin brigade advancing 20 years of accomplishments of U.S. and partner forces.

“We’re just trying to carry the ball a little bit further,” he said of the 157th MEB’s mission. “It’s just a continuation of those who have come before us. We’re just a small part in the overall history of that specific mission.”

U.S. Army Maj. Chad Brinton, Office of Security Cooperation chief for the U.S. Embassy to Djibouti, talks with Djiboutian Navy Commander Col. Ahmed Djama during the CJTF-HOA Partner Appreciation Day.

‘POWER & PRECISION’

The history and purpose of Super Bowl flyovers

BY CHRISTOPHER ADAMS

The NFL regular season will be ending soon, meaning that its apogee is just on the horizon. Of course, the apogee is the Super Bowl with all its substance and window dressing.

And the Super Bowl flyover — performed by America’s armed forces — is arguably the centerpiece of the substance (with all due respect to the halftime entertainment).

“The flyover is a display of power and preci-

sion by the aircraft and pilots overhead and is a great opening to our games that gets fans excited about the power and precision they are about to watch on the field,” Dan Lessard, an active-duty Army officer and military fellow currently serving on the NFL’s Social Responsibility team, stated via email.

The Super Bowl flyover tradition is more than a half-century old – the first occurring in 1968 – and the opportunity to display air power is spread among the military branches. Past

Super Sunday games have included the Navy Blue Angels, the Air Force Thunderbirds, Army helicopters and a variety of bombers.

According to iflysun.com, flyovers originated in 1918 at the World Series in Chicago, where a procession of 60 aircraft entertained the spectators. The Blue Angels formed in 1946 and first displayed its skill set and might that August. The Air Force followed suit in 1953 with the formation of the Thunderbirds.

Air Force Global Strike Command bombers perform the Super Bowl LV flyover at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., Feb. 7, 2021. Photo by Airman 1st Class Jacob B. Wrightsman

The last four of the five Super Bowl flyovers have been performed by the Air Force. Its rotation ended in 2022, and the Navy will fly over in 2023.

Super Bowl LV in Tampa and Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles were unique. Super Bowl LV comprised a bomber trifecta flyover — B-52, B-1 and B-2 — which had never been attempted in public.

“It was never done before,” said Katie Spencer, a reservist, and sports outreach program manager for the Department of the Air Force. “They only do that in training. They’ve never performed that formation over a venue before. And it just so happens that when you add B-52, B-1, B-2, it equals 55.”

September 2022 marked the Air Force’s 75th anniversary, and it commemorated the milestone via the Super Bowl LVI flyover in Los Angeles by rolling out its heritage flight. The patch consisted of a P-51D Mustang, A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning II and an F-16 Fighting Falcon, reported Flying Magazine.

“It celebrates our heritage right where we’ve been and where we’re going, you know, with our fifth-gen aircraft,” Spencer said.

Flying five differing aircraft in a formation was a daunting task, said Maj. Haden “Gator” Fullam, who piloted the A-10.

“So you can imagine what it takes. It feels like this confounding issue of now we have five different airplanes that don’t fly the same,” Haden said. “They don’t fly the same air speeds. They don’t perform the same. But we’re going to put five airplanes in very close formation. We’re now going to fly them through some of the busiest airspace in the United States. And then we’re going to put them over the top of the largest sporting event in the U.S. to the second.”

Fullam said the pilots were there one week ahead of the Super Bowl and only had one opportunity to practice flying over SoFi Stadium. Part of the logistical challenge was LAX. Fullam said the runaway approaches at LAX are only 3 miles from SoFi.

“The arrival corridor of LAX was a massive undertaking behind the scenes as well,” he said. “That’s some of the busiest airspace in the United States that we’re trying to fly a five-ship formation, that’s not very maneuverable, through.”

And precise timing is required for Super Bowl flyovers. Fullam said that the formation aims to be at an exact point and heading at an exact time. Normally the combat TOT, or time-

on-target, allows for a plus or minus 5-second window. The NFL standard is more rigid.

“The NFL, they want you there to the second,” he said. “The expectation is you’re going to be exactly over that 50-yard line to the second of where they want because the whole day and everything around an event the size of the Super Bowl is scripted out on a very, very strict timeline with TV schedules and everything else going on with such a massive event like that.”

But the purpose of the flyover goes beyond wowing and enthralling football fans and Super Bowl attendees. It’s the flyover-related events of the preceding week, the underlying symbolism of the powerful display of modern aviation and what it represents.

“One of the things that we realize is that it’s not just the time-over-target flyover and the six to 10 seconds on live television that we may or may not get,” Spencer said. “It’s everything that happens the week leading up to.”

She said they set up a day when the media can meet the pilots and become acquainted with the aircraft. The Air Force also conducts a community outreach day where schools, civic leaders, celebrities and influencers can hear the aircraft crews discuss their roles in servicing the jets.

“We invite these people to come out and talk with our crews about what they do, these maintainers, which is a huge recruiting for, you know, a lot of the kids that are in schools that might not want to go to college and get a degree,” Spencer said. “They have options to work on these awesome aircraft.”

The symbiotic working relationship between the Air Force and the NFL is another aspect of the flyover.

“The NFL has a long history of supporting our nation’s service members, veterans and their families,” Lessard said. “It’s deeply ingrained in the culture here.”

As the only sports outreach coordinator in the DOD, Spencer has been able to cultivate a strong rapport with the NFL.

“No other branch of service has someone dedicated strictly to sports outreach,” she said. “And so that gives me the opportunity to really work my relationship with the NFL throughout the season, on- and off-season.”

The partnership and flyover seem to serve a greater cause, transcending the fleeting captivation of a brief thrill. The purpose is to foster appreciation.

“There’s nothing quite like it,” Lessard said. “It’s also just a great way to connect our fans with service members on gameday and to remind them that our nation has a well-trained and professional military defending the freedoms we all enjoy.”

Perhaps the Super Bowl flyover accesses the future by stimulating interest.

“We do these flyovers to recruit that next generation … and we want that little boy or girl in the stands to look up and see these massive pieces of iron flying over and hear the jet noise and feel it in their soul and want to grow up and be part of the world’s greatest air force,” Spencer said.

Members of the U.S. Air Force Heritage Flight are recognized at Super Bowl LVI, Feb. 13, 2022, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Photo by Staff Sgt. Codie Trimble

Kyle Church is among the soldiers whose civilian profession benefits his military career – and vice versa.

Church, senior project manager for Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina-based Terracon Consultants, also serves part time as an engineer officer in the Army Reserve, and recently returned from a nine-month deployment with CENTCOM.

He credits his employer with allowing him to focus on his duties as part of a specialized team of on-site engineers for CENTCOM, confident in the assurance that his projects back on the homefront will continue moving forward.

“Since I took the position with Terracon five years ago, I’ve been on active duty twice — once for deployment overseas and once for a six-month training stint,” he said. “I’ve worked at Terracon my entire professional career and my teammates in Raleigh have always been there for me, especially Mike Dail, Justin Fabriziani, R.S.M., and Michael Jordan.”

Support from the home team

According to Fabriziani, environmental department manager and senior associate, Terracon believes in the benefits of military service and in giving staff the opportunity to do whatever fulfills them.

“We don’t want it to be all Terracon all the time,” he said. “We understand that the most successful employees are those who can strike the right balance between what they do at

CONSULTANT FIRM ENGINEERS

support for reserve soldier amid deployment

BY LESLIE C. STONE

Terracon and outside [the company]. We have a significant amount of veterans and active-duty reserve and Guard employees, and we want to do whatever we can to support them in their continued service and thank them for past service.”

Church said he appreciated the advance notice of his deployment last January, which gave him and his colleagues the opportunity to devise a feasible transition strategy.

“We executed a plan fairly early that shifted many of my duties to other employees,” he said, adding that he and his colleagues checked in biweekly until the transition was complete. “I was basically on PTO and working part time on an as-needed basis.”

Terracon also recognizes that Church is acquiring skills that are advanced for someone at his career stage.

“Kyle in particular has been a key member of our environmental department and a rising star since very early on in his Terracon career,” Fabriziani said. “He exemplifies our goal of being responsive and reliable and is always up for a challenging assignment. I have no doubt that his military training and the values and commitment that his service have instilled in him have led to his successful career.”

Dail, Terracon’s group manager for site investigation and remediation, said Church is both the perfect reservist and employee because he can manage multiple roles.

“If we could clone Kyle, we would,” Dail said. “He is an asset and a huge part of what makes our projects and team function effectively. When we knew his return date, I had projects lined up that could incorporate the Civil 3D engineering design software he learned to use while on deployment.”

Terracon is a 100% employee-owned consulting engineering firm specializing in environmental, facilities, geotechnical and materials services.

Church’s duties at Terracon include managing remediation programs, which essentially involves cleaning up contaminated sites primarily in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.

“I manage a team that uses construction-type equipment to clean up sites contaminated with solid waste, petroleum or chlorinated solvents,” he said. “We develop a plan that benefits regulatory agencies, local landowners and the community. Once executed, it will ultimately result in sites that can be used as green spaces, athletic facilities or yard waste facilities.”

As a part-time engineer officer in the Army Reserve, Church specializes in environmental engineering and construction management for a support team based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

“My team deploys fairly regularly, so I expect that sometime within the next five years there will be another opportunity for me,” he said.

Army reservist Kyle Church during a nine-month deployment with CENTCOM. Courtesy photo

VETERAN’S

DOG-TREAT COMPANY

HONORS FALLEN K-9S, SUPPORTS

CANINE CAUSES

BY KARI WILLIAMS

Jessica Harris’ first exposure to working dogs was through her time as a medic on Washington state’s counterdrug task force. But it wasn’t until she retired from the National Guard that she began to give back to her canine companions.

“I’ve always been a huge dog lover from early on, and really being around those dogs specifically, I think it just kind of reinforced, one, just my love of dogs and also just developed a true appreciation and respect for working dogs and their handlers and the amount of training they go through,” said Harris, who joined the Washington Army National Guard in 1995 and retired in 2015.

When she transitioned out of the service, she got involved with Syracuse University’s Institute for Veteran and Military Families, the Small Business Administration’s Boots to Business program and Bunker Labs.

K9 Salute – an all-natural dog-treat company – came to be by accident, according to Harris.

In January 2016, eight police K-9s were killed in the line of duty – and 36 had died by the end of the year.

When the fourth was killed, Harris said, she had the idea of telling the fallen canines’ stories and giving back. Her treat company’s branding and packaging features those stories, and a portion of the proceeds goes to organizations that help working dogs – primarily Ohio’s Police K-9 Association and the K9 PTSD Center, which works with military and police dogs who have PTSD.

Harris said she chooses dogs to include on the packaging after learning of a line-ofduty death through the news or the Officer Down Memorial Page

She then reaches out to law enforcement and the K-9 handlers about six months or so after the K-9’s death for permission to include them on the packaging, Harris said.

Among those was Jethro, who was killed in the line of duty in January 2016 while responding to a breaking and entering call with his handler Officer Ryan Davis. Jethro was a part of Davis’ family – intended as a pet for his daughter while also a working dog – from eight weeks old until his death at 3 years old.

“Inseparable,” Davis said of his relationship with Jethro. “He slept in the bedroom with us.”

After Jethro’s death, Davis said, he was inundated with people trying to contact him from “all over the world,” and it was “hard to grasp at the time” what it meant for Harris to include Jethro on K9 Salute’s packaging.

“There’s nothing anybody could really do to help us as far as Jethro,” Davis said. “[But] it was heartwarming to see the support and outreach that came from it.”

Supporting canine organizations

James LaMonte, who owns and operates the K9 PTSD Center, said when Harris reached out to him, she was “so warm and so open minded” about the center’s mission.

“She was so focused on the dogs’ wellbeing and is just an absolutely amazing, beautiful human being,” LaMonte said.

Harris’ interest has been a boon for LaMonte, who said he’s “horrible” at fundraising, but knows K-9 behavior.

“I just don’t have that skillset to do that,” LaMonte said. “Somebody like her who steps up and outreaches to us – even the smallest thing – it echoes so loud.”

LaMonte said words “can’t describe” what Harris’ contributions mean.

“Even the smallest attention to the cause and to get people aware of it is priceless,” LaMonte said. “I don’t think she will truly understand how much we appreciate it.”

Harris recently received $10,000 through the FedEx Entrepreneur Fund, which she said came at the perfect time.

“There are other dogs I want to pay tribute to and working with the designer to get new packaging out, adding new products and treats so that there’s a larger variety of treats to offer,” she said.

Harris said she hopes to grow K9 Salute through additional products for dogs and “humans who love dogs,” getting into more retail establishments and expanding nonprofits partnerships to support canine causes.

Washington National Guard veteran Jessica Harris owns and operates K9 Salute. Courtesy photo

A TALE OF TWO MISSIONS:

The National Guard and the Southwest border

BY WILL MARTIN

The National Guard has a long history with the Southwest border. In 1916, when famed Mexican revolutionary Poncho Villa proved elusive after raiding several American communities, President Woodrow Wilson mobilized about 150,000 guardsmen to secure the border. Mired in logistical nightmares and low morale, the effort yielded mixed results, only to be aborted a year later as America turned its attention to a looming world war.

A century or so later, and the Guard is back on the border, though its impact and timelines remain equally uncertain.

“I would definitely say there’s mixed feelings about the mission,” said an Army Guard aviator who deployed to the border in 2020 and spoke on the condition of anonymity. “When you see the amount of migrants coming over, what we were doing is just a drop in the bucket.”

The Southwest border is really a tale of two missions: a prolonged federal effort, started under President George W. Bush in 2006, when guardsmen across the nation mobilized to active-duty status to support the U.S. Border Patrol and other federal agencies as

they confronted swelling migration and drug and human trafficking from Central America and Mexico. And, more recently, a highly politicized mission at the state level, as Texas and Arizona governors hastily deployed guardsmen in 2021 to mitigate what they’ve declared a presidential failure to handle the crisis at the border.

What the missions share is an ambiguity about how long guardsmen might stay embedded in what is in essence a law enforcement matter. This is especially true of the federal mission, where tens of thousands of guardsmen have deployed at varying rates across four presidential administrations. The most recent iteration, initiated under President Trump, is now stretching into its fifth year.

“Over time you’ll see our presence diminish, and you’ll see Homeland Security take this over on their own,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told media during a November 2021 press conference.

But Austin also agreed to extend National Guard support at the border through September 2023, with no stated plan for the transfer of responsibilities. By most accounts, Border Patrol is eager for the help.

“They have the most thankless job in the country. It’s grinding, demanding work,” said the Army Guard aviator, who regularly performed aerial surveillance support to Border Patrol agents on the ground. “There was no lack of work for us. It was pedal to the metal.”

The contributions of guardsmen on the ground didn’t go unnoticed either, some qualifying as nothing short of heroic. In March 2022, two North Dakota guardsmen deployed to Del Rio, Texas, were conducting surveillance when they observed five migrants tossed by driving winds and heavy currents on the Rio Grande River.

“We’ve heard stories that the water gets pretty rough, but I honestly wasn’t expecting it,” Spc. Luis Alvarado said in a North Dakota Guard statement.

Alvarado and Spc. Gracin Clem tied together two Border Patrol lifelines, casting them to the floundering migrants, as Alvarado, a Spanish speaker, shouted instructions. But the winds and currents proved too strong, pulling two of the migrants underwater. Clem then chose to swim the lifelines to the two migrants, rescuing them as the remaining migrants managed to cross safely.

Texas Military Department soldiers, airmen and state guardsmen guard the Texas-Mexico border as part of Operation Lone Star. Photo by Sgt. Jason Archer

“It wasn’t an option to watch these people drown,” Clem said.

The North Dakota guardsmen’s heroism speaks to another experience common to guardsmen deployed to the border: interaction with migrant populations and the compassion it evokes.

“Most of the time, I tried to view it as black and white, we’re trying to catch these people,” said the Army Guard aviator. “(But) when you see people giving their kids away to other people just to get them to the United States, it really sticks with you.”

Engagement with the migrant population is more immediate for many of the guardsmen deployed to state missions. While federally mobilized guardsmen are restricted to detection and monitoring and similar support roles, those on state orders are more directly involved in a policing capacity, an unusual and controversial role for Guard members.

“They are operating under state control as law enforcement,” said Theresa Cardinal Brown, managing director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, in a recent interview with Government Matters. “They are arresting migrants that they find on private property or other property under trespassing charges.”

At the center of the state border mission lies Operation Lone Star, launched by Texas Gov. Greg Abbot in March 2021 in response to what he deemed as President Biden’s failure to address an “invasion” at the border. At its height, about 10,000 guardsmen mobilized under state orders in support of OLS. As of November 2022 that number was closer to 6,000, but with a $4 billion price tag, it remains unprecedented in its scope and haste for a state mobilization.

“I’ve been part of previous border missions going back to 2014 when Gov. (Rick) Perry at the time made the largest state mobilization of troops to protect the border,” said a Texas Army Guardsman, speaking on condition of anonymity. “But in 2014 it was treated like an actual mobilization. We went through full SRP (Soldier Readiness Processing), training lanes, and all of that. But OLS, I was at Camp Swift for all of three days, maybe … A lot of the training was conducted after we arrived at the border.”

The escalation of OLS placed immense burdens on Texas Military Department planners. Reports of pay lapses, cramped housing and crumbling morale have plagued public perception of the massive Guard call-up. Though, recently, there have been signs of progress.

“I did go visit some of the base camps a couple times and those … looked straight out of my deployments to Kuwait and Iraq … lots of tents, temporary structures everywhere,” said the Texas Army Guardsman. “In the months since then, they’ve put up different types of structures and, at this point, there’s a lot of folks there because they want to be there. The money is pretty good.”

According to Gov. Abbot’s office, OLS “has led to 333,000 migrant apprehensions

and more than 22,000 criminal arrests.” The ever-present political rhetoric surrounding the mission, though, has fueled resentment among some guardsmen on the border, many of whom were involuntarily mobilized.

“I definitely don’t want to say that there are no migrants coming in or that we should open everything up, but the way the Guard keeps being utilized is highly ineffective,” said the Texas Army Guardsman. “There was just a lot of feelings we were simply being used for political means.”

(Cross)Fit

SOLDIERS LEAN ON FUNCTIONAL FITNESS PROGRAMMING TO STAY IN SHAPE

BY CRYSTAL KUPPER

New Jersey National Guard Capt. Ellia Miller once hated exercise. Today, she is a two-time Fittest Military Service Member.

Navy Reserve Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Spears grew up without playing sports or considering himself an athlete. Today, he makes his living in Oklahoma helping others get fit.

Both give significant credit to CrossFit, the popular functional fitness regimen. CrossFit, they attested, can be a great way to get military ready.

“With CrossFit, you’re training your body to do anything you might need to do within a combat role or whatever else you need to do in the military,” Miller said. “Every movement we do in CrossFit translates to some sort of functional movement outside the gym, including military responsibilities.”

Falling for (Cross)Fitness

Miller discovered CrossFit in 2016 after a cross-country move for graduate school. After a childhood spent in competitive gymnastics and dancing, and then PT tests in ROTC, she had grown to despise exercising. But continual military fitness tests meant Miller had to get moving.

She started attending a strength and conditioning gym near her job. The exposure caused her to fall in love with Olympic lifting, a type of weightlifting. Now that she was in a new state, where could she go to keep that up? CrossFit, it turns out.

“I was like, ‘CrossFit is a cult! I’m never doing that!,’ but then I ended up falling in love with it,” Miller said. “It’s scalable to anyone or anything. You could have someone who can’t lift a bar, but that’s OK — we’ll give them PVC pipe and have them do the same motion.”

That openness also drew in Spears, a CrossFit Level 2-certified trainer. He found CrossFit during a deployment to Afghanistan when the base gym hosted classes. After the Navy utilitiesman returned home, he felt drawn to keep up the regimen of tire-flipping, rope-waving and shoulder-pressing at his local CrossFit gym.

“And I just got physically stronger and felt overall healthier,” Spears said. “I felt like I made better decisions as far as my diet and exercise.”

Close community

Spears also fell in love with the CrossFit community. Their presence in group classes and

coaching sessions made the whole experience less intimidating for him, he said. Eventually, he decided to get certified as a CrossFit trainer at CrossFit Exile in Moore, Oklahoma.

“All my friends nowadays are people I go to the gym with,” Spears said. “I CrossFit five to six times a week, and everybody is very willing to help each other out. It’s pretty cool.”

Military fitness tests are also a breeze for Spears, now that he’s the kind of troop who loves to jump rope for fun.

“I sometimes help out with PT sessions for drill weekend, and because of CrossFit, I’m able to come up with workouts for my guys,” he said. “As far as my own PT test goes, it’s never any worry.”

Miller, a full-time athlete, echoed that sentiment. She has used her CrossFit training to power herself to wins in the military division of CrossFit’s annual Occupational Games, earning her the title of “Fittest Military Service Member.” She has also competed at the CrossFit Games semifinals.

“I love that it has helped me to not just live a stronger life, but it’s made me healthier in so many aspects of my life, like mental strength, my relationship with food, my body image, my general happiness,” she said. “I love my life since I started CrossFit.”

And she doesn’t mind the occasional snide remark about it, either.

“I try to get people to see the value of CrossFit for themselves,” she said. “It really can be very useful and beneficial for anybody who wants to do it.”

Ever heard one of these misconceptions about CrossFit? They’re all untrue, according to Spears and Miller.

CrossFit leads to more injuries than other workouts — a four-year analysis published in the Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine discovered that CrossFit athletes get injured at about the same rate as other workout modalities.

CrossFit is a cult — Miller laughs that she once believed this idea. CrossFit is simply a tightknit community, she now says, similar to legions of other groups.

CrossFit athletes can’t do a pullup — just check out Miller’s social media pages for photographic and video proof that they can!

CrossFitters don’t care about technique — a significant portion of Spears’ civilian career is dedicated to teaching his clients proper technique for maximum efficiency and safety.

Have

question that you want

What was your experience like applying for a COVID-19 vaccination exemption in the National Guard or reserves?

Immediate supervision was supportive even if they didn’t agree with me. I was required to go IRR and was told that once my contract ended I would not be approved for reenlistment unless I got the jab. I was given a kind send off from my shop and told if anything changed or I changed my mind they would be glad to have me back. Upper supervision didn’t really have any regard. They signed the paper work and asked if I had questions. Wing commander allowed for group meeting with questions but it seemed like it was just a protocol. They had a list of popular questions with scripted answers ready to respond with. They kept saying they supported whatever we chose. I had a mandatory briefing at medical to get “educated” on the jab. When I asked questions to the practitioner she said I sounded like I knew more than her and they were just doing whatever CDC said. I heard about less kind encounters with supervision in other shops.

– naomi.moira

I have not received a response yet. – 01bbham

Reserve here: Leadership in my command demanded that we get vaccinated because it was safe and effective. They gave no information on the process of religious accommodations. All Soldiers wanting a religious accommodation banded together to see the HHD commander. Once that happened, then they started sharing what the process was. Currently none of us have received an approval or denial and it’s going on 1 year.

– richgoingstrong

Denied MCCC even Phase 0. Just got my temp admin so I’m trying again. Since starting I’ve been moved to another position, can’t go on deployment (country issue I’m told), and can’t go to other schools.

– idahome_strongman

I submitted my religious accommodation request in DEC of 21. To date, I have not received a response. – joshheyward

I’m not in the Reserves anymore but my hubs is a 1SG who gets his 20 year letter next month. He had to submit his multiple times, meet with the commander, the chaplain, and then the soldiers who were also seeking exemption including one officer who is a breastfeeding new mom. Hers was quickly denied. He has also been counseled multiple times. My husband’s exemption is still in limbo a year after submission, not approved or denied. Still allowed to drill, got his 1SG during this time and is still going to schools. I don’t think he has gotten an official GOMAR yet but there have been talks.

– jacksonsix2020

Submitted religious exemption last November, still waiting. I’m guessing I’ll ets before I hear back one way or another.

Confusing, long and uncertain. – artic_warrior_

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