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CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait, March 11, 2008 – It’s hard to imagine that Frank Cavanagh, a tall thin Army Reserve sergeant with a shaved head, once had hair nearly to his shoulders and played bass for the rock band Filter. Richard Patrick (left), lead vocalist for the band Filter, and former band mate turned Army Reserve Sgt. Frank Cavanagh share the stage for a reunion song during the Operation MySpace concert at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, on March 10, 2008. Defense Dept. photos by Samantha L. Quigley  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Cavanaugh said he didn’t tell anyone he’d gone...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2008 – “Normal” is a relative term, and for one former North Carolina Army National Guard sergeant, it’s distinctly different today from what it was in 2004. Former North Carolina Army National Guardsman Sgt. Andy Butterworth shows the crowd at Foxy’s, an eatery on Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands, that he can still hit the dance floor despite having lost a leg while serving in Iraq. Butterworth was part of a group of seven veterans and four spouses who participated in a five-day adaptive kayaking and camping adventure trip put on by Team River Runner,...

FORT HUACHUCA — For more than two decades, drill sergeants have had a major hand in developing soldiers going through military intelligence training on this Southern Arizona Army post. That ended Friday. It doesn’t mean noncommissioned officers will no longer be standing in front of students, they just have a new name and will wear the hats of all soldiers. Instead of hearing student soldiers say, “Yes, drill sergeant,” now sergeants will hear, “Yes, platoon sergeant.” The de-hatting ceremony took place in the gym of the Eifler Physical Fitness Center, where soldiers in training sat in company formations in the...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2007 – Serving in the military was something Jose Munoz always wanted to do, but it wasn’t until after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that he was spurred to enlist and fulfill that dream. Army Sgt. Jose Munoz is telling the military’s story to the American people at community and business events, veterans organizations and other gatherings as part of the Defense Department’s “Why We Serve” public outreach program. Defense Department photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Munoz, now a sergeant with five and a half years in the Army, said a lack of...

FORT HUACHUCA — He was the kind of guy who would give you his last cigarette. Stories like this were told during Wednesday’s memorial service in a packed Main Post Chapel for Sgt. Robert Allen Glenn, who died Saturday in Tucson. “He was the first to initiate a friendship,” Chaplain (Capt.) Vincent Garcia said, noting how common it was for soldiers to say Glenn was the first person they got to know in the unit. Glenn was a “cable dog” with the battalion’s 69th Signal Company, which is preparing to deploy to the Middle East. A number of soldiers stood...

By Noel Sheppard | September 20, 2007 - 12:36 ET A respected member of the blogging community who also happened to be serving our nation was killed in Iraq Wednesday. Frank Salvato, editor of The New Media Journal, sadly e-mailed his readers: It is with a very heavy heart and swollen eyes from the tears that I inform you all that one of our fellow writers, Sgt. Eddie Jeffers who was serving in Ramadi, Iraq, was killed today. He was patriot, humble, kind and dedicated to his mission, his country, his family and his faith. Many of you might...

BETHESDA, Md., July 5, 2007 – A soldier from Fort Belvoir, Va., celebrated the Fourth of July by making the shot of the day in the star-studded Earl Woods Memorial Pro-Am at Congressional Country Club here. Sgt. Michael Woods of Army Materiel Command at Fort Belvoir, Va., shows Tiger Woods the line for his putt on the seventh hole of the Earl Woods Memorial Pro-Am at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md, July 4, 2007. Sergeant Woods was Tiger’s honorary caddie for the hole. Tiger eventually handed the putter to the sergeant, who made the 12-footer for a birdie...

Sergeant Raw has had plenty of opportunities to meet local people during her tour. Official British Army photo. BASRAH — Sergeant Lainey Raw is finding her Army career more challenging than ever as she gets to grips with her third tour of duty with British forces in southern Iraq. Based at the Contingency Operating Base next to Basrah Airport, Sgt. Raw, 30, is personal assistant to the most senior military officer in southern Iraq, Major General Jonathan Shaw, General Officer Commanding Multi-National Division (South East).Lainey is responsible for dealing with all the administrative tasks that go with making sure a...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Sept. 13, 2006 -- Staff Sgt. Mike Myers experienced one of the most frightening events of his life in Afghanistan, while the birth of his child was taking place simultaneously more than 7,000 miles away. Army Staff Sgt. Mike Myers explains what happened to him on a recent mission as he sits in the driver's seat of a Humvee he was operating when it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. The attack came Sept. 6 at almost the same time his son was being born in the U.S. Myers is a security forces member deployed...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 11, 2006 – Foreign observers of the U.S. military often say what puts it above other militaries is the quality of the noncommissioned officer corps. Many other nations want the same for themselves. The Afghan National Army is learning from Western military trainers who stress the central role of NCOs in a world-class military. Afghan army Chief of Staff Gen. Bismullah Khan stressed the role of NCOs in the new military by recently appointing the nation's first sergeant major of the army, Roshan Safi. Senior American NCOs say the appointment is crucial to developing an NCO corps...

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Mirza Fejzic Sergeant Receives Bronze Star for Heroism By Lance Cpl. Christopher J. Zahn 2nd Marine Division CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., June 30, 2006 — A Marine from 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment was awarded the fourth highest military award within the Department of Defense. Sgt. Mirza Fejzic, a 22-year-old native of Hackettstown, N.J., was awarded the Bronze Star with combat distinguishing device in a ceremony here, June 22. He was presented with the award for heroic actions while serving as a squad leader for 3rd Platoon, Company G. On Oct. 26, 2005, Fejzic and a...

6/23/2006 - SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- A sergeant severely wounded in action in Iraq received the Purple Heart Medal today, pinned on his chest by the Air Force chief of staff. Staff Sgt. Israel del Toro Jr. accepted the medal from Gen. T. Michael Moseley at a ceremony at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. More than 200 people attended the event, including family members. The sergeant, supported by family members, fellow controllers, A-10 Thunderbolt II pilots, Soldiers, an Airman Leadership School class and the hospital medical staff was at a loss for words because...

U.S. Army   Sgt. 1st Class Javier Molina Artillery Sergeant Takes Aim at Education By Staff Sgt. Nicholas Lutton 345th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan, June 12, 2006 — On a day full of wind and dust here, education might be the furthest thing from most soldiers’ minds. However, for Sgt. 1st Class Javier A. Molina, a Salerno Education Center teacher, it is at the forefront of most of his work today. “The soldiers are very excited about classes being held on the gun-line, “ said Molina, gunnery sergeant for 4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery...

FORT BLISS, Texas (Army News Service, June 5, 2006) – The first-ever Afghan soldier to attend the Sergeants Major Academy has graduated as a member of SMA Class 56, at Fort Bliss, Texas, May 19. Sgt. Maj. Roshan Safi was selected to attend the U.S. SMA on recommendations from his commanders and U.S. Army mentors in Afghanistan because of his consistent leadership potential as a career-soldier, which began with the post-Taliban controlled Afghan military. “We have officer and enlisted training in Afghanistan,” says Safi. “But in the future we want to establish more non commissioned officer enlisted and officer schools.”...

5/15/2006 - RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFPN) -- Staff Sgt. Robert Van Hulle is a dog’s best friend at this busy airlift base. And military working dog Diego, a Belgian Malinois, appreciates that. The security forces sergeant met Diego and his partner, Staff Sgt. Markus Hunt, when they transited Ramstein on their way home after a tour in Southwest Asia. That’s part of the sergeant’s job. He is the liaison for all military dog handlers and their K-9 partners transiting the base. He finds the handler and the dog a place to spend the night and also finds them a...

U.S. Army Sgt. Dennis Gravelle photographs a member of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team searching an Iraqi suspect in the streets of Mosul, Iraq. U.S. Army photo U.S. Army Sgt. Dennis Gravelle Sergeant Tells Soldiers’ Stories By Maj. David Albano 138th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment MOSUL, Iraq, April 3, 2006 — Soldiers do what soldiers do; they fight wars. When they do, who better to tell their stories of heroism, commitment and sacrifice than a public affairs soldier? Reporting and photographing combat soldiers is the “Fighting” 138th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment’s mission...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. – (March 24, 2006) -- Standing in front of a formation at the 2nd Marine Logistics Group amphitheatre, Gunnery Sgt. David L. Sutherland received the highest award of his 13-year career in the company of family, friends and fellow Marines March 23. The Vernon, Conn., native distinguished himself as the Force Protection Chief and Security Element Team Chief, 8th Communication Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) from Jan. 2005 to Oct. 2005. Sutherland led the Marines in more than 85 convoy security missions, covering the entire Al-Anbar Province, Iraq, resulting in the safe transportation...

FORT HUACHUCA — This year and next will be the toughest for the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, the service’s top enlisted soldier said Friday. Equating too many things coming together at once to the movie “The Perfect Storm,” Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth O. Preston said the Army is in the midst of a major transformation of creating more brigade combat teams, movement of forces from overseas locations, base closures and realignments, recruiting more soldiers and continuing to fight terrorism. What cannot be lost is protecting the nation, he told nearly 700 noncommissioned soldiers and officers during a...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Feb. 24, 2006) -- Most Marines strive to be the best at what they do, but only a select few can claim they were the "first" in history to accomplish something. Like Samuel Nicholas who became the first Marine officer in 1775, Opha Mae Johnson who became the first female Marine in 1918 or Carol A. Mutter who became the first female major general in 1994. Through hard work and dedication, Kimberly D. Walker joined these distinguished Marines in February when she became the first female master gunnery sergeant to serve as a combat...

2/1/2006 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- As the president spoke to the nation during the State of the Union address, an Airman sat in the gallery, dressed in blues, displaying the combat medals she earned in Iraq. America’s most prominent leaders were gathered in one room on Capitol Hill for the annual speech Jan. 31. Sitting attentively at her feet, the Airman’s German shepherd attended the speech too. Tech. Sgt. Jamie Dana is an Air Force security forces specialist and military working dog handler. In June she was severely injured by an improvised explosive device while on duty in Iraq with...