Vietnam veteran re-enlists in Iraq

Jul 21, 2009
By 3d Expeditionary Sustainment Command public affairs

Photo credit Staff Sgt. Martonio Patterson

Capt. Irvin Morris presents Sgt. 1st Class Hershel Mayfield, 158th Maintenance Company, 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade, with a certificate of re-enlistment at Contingency Operating Site Marez-East, Iraq, July 7.

Mayfield, a native of Tallassee, Ala., has been serving in the Army for 39 years - 37 of which were with the Alabama Army National Guard.

CONTINGENCY OPERATING SITE MAREZ-EAST, Iraq -- Sgt. 1st Class Hershel L. Mayfield, a native of Tallassee, Ala., has been serving in the Army for 39 years; thirty-seven of which were with the 158th Maintenance Company, Alabama Army National Guard. Mayfield decided that it was time to re-enlist again into the Guard and continue to serve his country for two more years. "Everything I do today is done with the next generation in mind and how I can influence them to do the same for their nation," said Mayfield. Mayfield joined the Guard, re-classing as a light-wheel vehicle mechanic with a desire to continue serving his country as a Soldier. He thanks his wife of 30 years and his children for supporting him throughout his military career. "It is a way of life and they've learned to live in it," said Mayfield. His family has dealt with his absence due to three deployments and numerous training events."I joined the military because the base was adjacent to my home, and in order to have freedom, someone has to do the job," said Mayfield. "It also provided me with benefits that no other civilian job has."Mayfield re-enlisted to serve for another two years while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 08-10, in front of unit's headquarters. Mayfield has served a total of 39 years in the service; two year as an infantryman on active duty and 37 years with the Alabama National Guard. During this period, he was deployed to Vietnam in 1969, Kosovo in 1996, and most recently to Mosul, Iraq, in 2008.

Tuesday Photo

07/12/2009 - A U.S. Army soldier calls for an airstrike on the hills surrounding Barge Matal during Operation Mountain Fire in the eastern Nuristan province of Afghanistan on

July 12, 2009.

DoD photo by Sgt. Matthew C. Moeller, U.S. Army. (Released

TF Iron Titan Soldiers push forward with ANSF

By Spec. Jaime D. DeLeonTask Force Spartan Journalist

LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Soldiers of C Troop, 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, patrol local villages of Logar Province on nearly a daily basis, usually with Afghan National Security Forces right by their side.
“Joint operations” has become a key term for Americans and Afghans alike – one that is illustrated well with C Troop Soldiers.“Seventy percent of our operations are joint operations with the Afghan National Army,” said Staff Sgt. Shawn Evans, a squad leader with 1st Platoon, B Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, attached to C Troop, 3-71 Cavalry.“Our primary task here is to legitimize the Afghan government, and the main way to do that is to put the ANA on point,” Evans added.
Putting the ANA “on point,” however, isn’t as simple as merely thrusting Afghan soldiers out front. Hours of training are put in before each and every mission.“Making sure the ANA is properly trained ensures their safety as well as ours,” said 1st Lt. Kevin Cory, 1st Platoon leader. “In order to bring security, safety and peace to Afghanistan, we need to assist the ANSF in perfecting their battle abilities.”“We usually spend a few days before each mission going over our plan of action, as well as basic combat skills with the ANA before we actually go out,” Evans said. “Most of them have good training already; it’s just a matter of letting them step forward and use it.”ANA soldiers have impressed their trainers with their abilities.
“Last mission we did, we brought a squad and a platoon leader from the ANA with us,” Evans said. “We went out into one of the villages to talk to local elders. We had only planned on the ANA working with us for additional security, but they split off and were very pro-active.“The ANA unit met with local elders and the people definitely reacted to them as part of a legitimate government, which is a big step in a remote area like this where the people know very little of their government,” he added.Soldiers of C Troop take their job with the ANA very seriously.“We’ve got to realize we’re fighting an insurgency,” Evans said. “There are no front lines.
The only way to win this war is to teach them how to work this themselves.”Combat-arms Soldiers often are stereotyped as being all about “guts and glory,” but with the constantly changing battlefield in Afghanistan, that mentality is quickly changing as well.“It’s easy to focus on the kinetic things we do,” Evans said. “But we aren’t going to win this by winning gun fights. We need to work on helping bolster the government from the ground up.”Soldiers of C Troop, who actively train and work with ANA on a daily basis, are doing just that.

Curtesy of: Ft Drum Blizzard Online

Sunday Military Humor

A D.I.'s Rules for Dating His Daughter
By Rod Powers, About.com

Rule One: If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two: You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them.

Rule Three: I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose his compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact, come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four: I'm sure you've been told that in today's world, sex without utilizing a "barrier method" of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five: It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is "early."

Rule Six: I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven: As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process that can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight: The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there are no parents, policemen, or nuns within eyesight. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka - zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which features chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine: Do not lie to me. On issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten: Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit your car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car - there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

Face of Defense: Identical Twins Have Soldiers Seeing Double

By Chuck Cannon

Special to American Forces Press Service

Levi Lyles, foreground, pins captain bars on his son, Derrick Lyles, while Lisa Lyles, background, pins captain bars on her husband and Derrick's twin brother, Darrell Lyles, during a promotion ceremony on Fort Polk, La. July 1, 2009.

U.S. Army photo by Chuck Cannon

FORT POLK, La., July 15, 2009 – Don't blame the soldiers here if you see them do a double take when two of the unit's newest captains pass by.

Despite appearances, the soldiers of 10th Mountain Division’s 94th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team are not seeing double -- they've just passed identical twins Army Capt. Darrell Lyles, commander of E Company, 94th BSB, and Army Capt. Derrick Lyles, commander of F Company, 94th BSB. The brothers pinned on their new bars during a promotion ceremony here July 1. Army Lt. Col. Anthony Coston, battalion commander, said the only way most soldiers can tell the brothers apart is by looking at their left hands. "One's married and the other isn't," Coston said. "If Darrell ever stops wearing his wedding band, we're in trouble." Darrell was a platoon leader in F Company before moving to E Company as commander, while Derrick was a platoon leader in E Company before assuming command of F Company. Coston said even he gets confused at times. "They both have a habit of calling and saying, 'This is Lieutenant Lyles sir, I've got a question,'" Coston said. "Often, it's midway through the conversation before I figure out which one I'm talking to." Coston said he's mixed the twins up once -- that he knows of. "It is a little bit of a challenge," he said. As for the new captains, they both said they enjoy being stationed with their sibling. "This is the best thing that could happen because I've got a great friend that I can bounce things off of and someone to hang out with," Darrell said. Both soldiers said they were influenced in their career choice by their parents. Their father, Levi Lyles, spent four years on active duty before becoming a minister, while mother Wanda Lyles retired from the National Guard as a master sergeant. "I remember seeing my mom in uniform," Derrick said. "They both brought a lot of discipline -- if pops said something once, you did it." Levi Lyles said he and his wife are concerned, but proud, of the choice made by their sons. "They went in when the war was going on," he said. "I never said anything; they followed their heart, and I just ask God to watch over them every day." The twins said they were never tempted -- at least not too much -- to fill in for the other, whether it was for class, a date or during a meeting. "It might have crossed our minds, but we would have never done it," Derrick said. "Although we look alike, our personalities are completely different. We would have been caught." Darrell's wife, Lisa, said there was one occasion when the brothers attempted to pull the switcheroo on her, but she outsmarted them. "I had just started dating Darrell and was going to his place to meet his brother," she recalled. "I knocked on the door and I heard Darrell tell his brother, 'You answer the door and tell her you're me.'" "When I went in, they looked just alike so I didn't sit by either one of them. Then I noticed that Darrell was wearing the same pair of sweatpants I saw him in earlier in the day." "But if it hadn't been for that, it would have been tough.”

(Chuck Cannon works in the Fort Polk public affairs office.)

Face of Defense: Gunnery Sergeant Keeps Enemy at Bay

By Army Pfc. Elizabeth Raney

Special to American Forces Press Service

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Cory J. Cummings, a gunnery sergeant, looks through the scope of a mortar tube to check the azimuth during daily operations at Forward Operating Base Kalagush in Afghanistan’s Nurestan province, July 5, 2009.




U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Elizabeth Raney









NURESTAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan, July 17, 2009 – When there’s an attack on Forward Operating Base Kalagush here, someone must be on hand to react and fire back.









That’s the job of Army Staff Sgt. Cory J. Cummings, the gunnery sergeant for Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, Task Force Steel. Cummings said 9/11 and a family history of military service inspired him to join the Army in 2002. He chose field artillery because of his father. “When I was young, my dad took me to Civil War re-enactments,” said Cummings, a native of Birmingham, Ala. “He was the gunnery sergeant for the artillery line. I always thought it was cool. That’s where my interest for artillery came in.” As the gunnery sergeant, Cummings has a long list of tasks and responsibilities. In addition to taking care of his 19 soldiers, he also must ensure the equipment is always up to par, he said. “Every morning, I go to the fire base to make sure the guns have been laid and check on maintenance and ammunition,” Cummings said. Position improvement has been a priority lately, he added. “We’re taking something that the previous unit had established and making it better,” he said. Cummings said the best part of his job is mentoring soldiers. “When the [forward operating base] takes incoming, and the sirens go off -- the gun line, the mortar team -- we all run out and get on the mortar and gun for a counter-fire mission,” Cummings said. “That’s the combat side of artillery,” he added. “We’re on the [forward operating base] standing beside our guns when incoming comes down.” Cummings describes his job as mission essential. “In order for the enemy to think that they can be touched, we need to be here,” he said. “At a moment’s notice, we can reach out and touch them. “That’s the benefit of artillery; that’s the importance of it being here,” he said. “There’s no threat to them if we’re not here.”









(Army Pfc. Elizabeth Raney serves in 4th Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team public affairs office.)

Face of Defense: Army's 'Grill Sergeant' Takes on Culinary Hero

By Kimberly Fritz

Special to American Forces Press Service

Army Sgt. 1st Class Brad Turner, known as “The Grill Sergeant,” takes a look at what Chef Bobby Flay cooked up for an episode of "Throwdown with Bobby Flay," filmed at Fort Lee, Va., July 2, 2009. The episode will air on the Food Network later this year.



U.S. Army photo by Kimberly Fritz







FORT LEE, Va., July 16, 2009 – Army Sgt. 1st Class Brad Turner, also known as “The Grill Sergeant,” often treats others using his culinary expertise. But recently, Turner got a treat of his own.







Turner recently returned here, where he was once an instructor at the Army Center of Excellence, Subsistence, to film a special for the Food Network -- or so he thought. With food service training students watching and learning, Turner, who works in the Pentagon’s Executive Dining Facility, began entertaining and engaging the soldiers gathered for a special day of culinary training. Turner, who is known for singing while he cooks, shared his cooking philosophy and culinary tips, as well as his unique vocabulary. Words like "marinipulating, splaining," and ingredients dubbed "ooh, wee and wow," rolled off his tongue as he cooked. Salt, otherwise known as "ooh;" "wee," known as pepper; and "wow," representing garlic, are staples in most of Turner’s original recipes. Turner asked the audience to help him by shouting "ooh, wee, wow" when he used these ingredients. The students happily engaged as he prepared the mustard-based marinade for his special "sunshine barbecue chicken." The origin of his marinade came early in his career when a fellow soldier asked Turner to concoct a milder sauce that wouldn't aggravate his fierce heartburn. As the culinary students watched his every move, Turner didn't miss an opportunity to educate and inspire. He told the students how they are learning the same methods during their training as any other culinary student in the world. With his chicken on the grill, Turner began preparations for his baby red potato salad when famed Chef Bobby Flay jumped from the back of a tactical vehicle at the field services training area and challenged Turner to a competitive cook-off for an episode of "Throwdown with Bobby Flay," a show that airs on the Food Network. Turner, astonished at the appearance of one of the world's premier grill chefs, immediately rose to the challenge set before him. Claiming to always be a professional, Turner cited some of the NCO Creed. "No one is more professional than I," he said. The set, originally configured for one chef, quickly was transformed into dueling work stations where Flay's team worked to catch up with Turner's progress. As the two chefs worked over the hot coals of the charcoal grills, culinary students soaked up the delicious aromas and the cooking tips emanating from the two successful chefs. When the cooking was completed, the dishes were served up, and each soldier sampled the dueling chefs' creations. Army Brig. Gen. Jesse R. Cross, Quartermaster Center and School commanding general, and Frances Daniel, owner of Mrs. Marshall's Carytown Cafe, served as judges in a blind taste test to determine the winner of the cook-off. The results are a well-guarded secret that viewers will learn when the show airs later this year. No matter which recipe and chef won the lighthearted and entertaining battle of the barbecue, the young culinary soldiers walked away winners. Cross said the students would remember this day for years to come. "These guys will be cooking their cornbread and their barbecue recipes, and they'll remember they saw Bobby Flay at work," he said. For Turner, the events of the day didn't quite hit him until he walked away from the set. He was overcome with emotion and overwhelmed at the events. "When one of your heroes steps around the corner and you're doing what you love to do and they do what you love to do, and then to inspire 100 new soldiers that are going to be in all parts of the world, it's just overwhelming," Turner said. "They saw something today that let them know that anything is possible. Nineteen years ago I was sitting right where they were sitting and someone inspired me." For a moment he was at a loss for words thinking about the gravity of the event. "I love what I do," Turner said. "The greatest part of today came when we were cooking and Chef Flay came to the back where I had set my chicken and potato salad down and he ate three more pieces of chicken and dug into the potato salad. “There is no greater compliment than for someone to genuinely like your food. And he ate it genuinely," he continued. "For me, that was the greatest compliment." When asked what he thought of Turner's unique recipe, Flay said he loved it. "I was eating throughout the competition. I kept thinking there was curry or something in it," Flay said. "It had natural heat from the mustard and the brown sugar for the sweet; it was a great balance." Flay wasn't able to pinpoint the spice he tasted in the marinade until Turner told him. "Brad told me it was ginger," Flay said. "He shared his secret underlying ingredient." The consensus of all who gathered to watch the memorable event was that both chefs' dishes and the event were a treat.







(Kimberly Fritz works in the Fort Lee public affairs office.)