Free Republic

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, Dec. 11, 2009 – Imagine being a father who served in the military for 10 years, preparing to send your son to basic training, and wishing you could go in his place. After a 17-year break in service, Sgt. Billy Willingham enlisted in the Army as a motor transport operator. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. A soldier in the 1st Armored Division’s 4th Brigade doesn’t have to imagine it. He has lived it first-hand. Army Sgt. Billy Willingham, 121st Brigade Support Battalion, joined the Air Force in April 1982. His first duty...

BAGHDAD, Oct. 5, 2007 – Just four days after pledging his own commitment to the highest position in military service, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff visited Task Force Marne troops today to administer the oath of re-enlistment to 31 U.S. Army soldiers and prepare them for the challenges that lay ahead in the war on terrorism. “I believe (you are) the best military in the history of the world,” Adm. Michael G. Mullen told troops at Camp Victory. “You are in possession of combat experience, combat capability, combat strength to a degree that has never been...

Sailor Re-enlists On Board Sunken Carrier By Mike O'Conner Naval Air Station Pensacola Public Affairs PENSACOLA, Fla., July 17, 2007 — Sailors re-enlist aboard ship every day, but Petty Officer 1st Class Kevin Armold, a supervisor at Naval Air Station Pensacola's Personnel Service Detachment, won’t be serving on board the ship he chose to take his oath. Armold raised his right hand to accept another term of service, July 6, while on board the former aircraft carrier USS Oriskany, which lays in more than 200 feet of water at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. Maj. Shean Phelps,...

Wounded Soldier Re-enlists in Hospital Bed ‘Down Range’ Victim of an improvised explosive device gives the Army three more years. By Staff Sgt. Gary A. Witte 13th Sustainment Command C(Expeditionary) BALAD, Iraq, March 27, 2007 — To hear Staff Sgt. Andrew S. McMann tell it, being sent to the Air Force Theater Hospital here, simply gave him the free time he needed to re-enlist.He didn't bring up that the reason he was in the hospital is that he survived an improvised explosive device just 48 hours previously. McMann, a squad leader with Company B, 321st Engineer Battalion, was leading...

U.S. Army Spc. Shauna Rohbock Olympic Medalist Re-enlists in National Guard DRAPER, Utah, May 8, 2006 —Winter Olympic silver medalist Spc. Shauna Rohbock, Joint Forces Headquarters, re-enlisted in the Utah National Guard in a formal ceremony at the Draper headquarters building April 24. Brig. Gen. Bruce Frandsen, assistant adjutant general—Army, Utah National Guard, administered the oath of enlistment as Guard officials, reporters and Rohbock’s Olympic teammate and fellow silver medalist Valerie Fleming looked on. With Rohbock as driver and Fleming as brakeman, the two won silver in the women’s bobsled event at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympic Games in...

U.S. Army Capt. Kevin A. Reynolds (left), Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan, raises his right hand and recites the oath of enlistment to his brother, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. James Maikranz, who repeats the oath as he watches from New York via a video teleconference. U.S. Army photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Benjamin T. Donde U.S. Soldier in Kabul Reenlists Brother in New York The reenlistment took people working together in Kabul, Afghanistan; Washington D.C.; Rochester, N.Y., and Niagara Falls, N.Y. to make the teleconference possible. By U.S. Army Sgt. Benjamin T. Donde Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 28, 2005...

INTERNATIONAL ZONE, Iraq — Against a backdrop of a victory arch of two hands holding cross swords put up by Saddam Hussein to celebrate his self-declared victory over Iran years ago, an American soldier swore to continue defending freedom. Sgt. Troy Lust raised his right hand and re-enlisted in an area where former Iraqi dictator Hussein reviewed quasi-goose-stepping members of his Republican Guard. The former Marine, who said he spent eight years during peace time in the Corps and five years as a soldier in a country at war, signed up for another half-decade of military service. Before having the...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN, Aug. 11, 2005 — When Sgt. 1st Class Cliff Burgoyne decided to re-enlist in the Army, he needed an officer from his unit to swear him in. Luckily, his brother was available. Burgoyne, 39, from Slidell, La., is currently deployed to Afghanistan as the scout platoon sergeant with 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. His brother, Capt. Jeffrey T. Burgoyne, 34, is the commander of the battalion's B Company. The captain re-enlisted his brother in front of a crowd of paratroopers during a short ceremony outside the battalion's tents here July 28. “It made...