"Really, I was honored to be a part of the team,â€Â said Capt. Timothy J. Halls, 28, of Chesterton, Ind. Halls played striker and midfielder for the team, which captured the championship Oct. 24 in Destin, Fla."It was a great win for the Army, and I hope to be in a place next year where I can come back to defend the gold," Halls said.If Halls is selected next year and Army wins gold again, that will be three years in a row. The Army team also earned silver in 2008. The Armed Forces Soccer Championship consists of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps teams. The weeklong, round-robin tournament pits the services against one another to be seeded for the finals. "It is pretty intense with games every day," Halls said. "Actually, our week started out a little rough. Day One, we beat the Navy. Day Two, we lost to the Marines, and Day Three, we lost to the Air Force. All were close games." With two losses, the Army team had an uphill battle to fight. "We were seeded fourth, and had to play the Air Force again that Saturday morning," Halls said. "We beat them Saturday, and then had to play Navy on Sunday for the gold." The final game was a low-scoring affair, he said. "It was a battle the entire time; the finals were decided by an overtime and then went to a shoot-out," Halls said. Navy scored first in overtime, the Army matched that, and then Army took the shoot-out for the win. "It's cool the Army was able to bring home the gold -- and the second year in a row," said 1st Lt. Daniel Newell, a defender for the Army team. Newell, who hails from Scottsdale, Ariz., is an active-duty soldier and a platoon leader with Company A, 508th Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C. "T.J. is a great guy," Newell said of Halls. "Both of us being officers became our primary connection." Newell said the team was composed primarily of enlisted soldiers. Though the team was made of soldiers of different ranks, it didn't hinder the players from bonding as a single unit, Halls said. "There were definitely cliques, but considering it was privates to captains from all backgrounds, it really was not bad at all," he said. [caption id="attachment_4315" align="alignleft" width="300"] Indiana Army National Guard Capt. Timothy J. Halls kicks a soccer ball during military tournament play. Halls played striker and midfielder for the 2010 All-Army team that won gold at the 2010 Armed Forces Soccer Championship, Oct. 24 in Destin, Fla. Courtesy photo[/caption] Halls has worked at the National Guard Bureau for two years, and he credited his supervisors for providing him the opportunity to play. "I just happened to be at a place in my career and with bosses that supported this chance I was given," he said. Halls has played soccer since he was a child. He played in youth recreation leagues, on his high school team, and on intramural teams at Indiana University. Newell also had a wealth of soccer experience. He has played since he was four, and was the captain of his team at the U.S. Military Academy. Both players said they enjoyed representing the Army. "It was a great experience. It was rewarding while being in the Army, and it's an honor to represent the unit," said Newell, who added that the Army's soccer uniforms were outfitted with each soldier’s unit patch. With this year’s tournament completed, soccer All-Stars will be selected from the different services to represent the military in upcoming international sports competition in South America. If the United States qualifies there, the team could play in the World Games the following year. Although Halls didn't make the U.S. military All-Star team, he hopes others become interested in military sports. "I hope that more soldiers and families take an interest or get a chance to look into All-Army sports; there are many out there," he said. Dec. 9, 2010: By Army Staff Sgt. Jeff Lowry- Indiana National Guard

The Chesapeake, Va., native comes from a military background. Both of his parents are Navy veterans and his family tree, heavy with sailors and Marines, reads like a ship’s roster, he said.“He grew up around military,â€Â said McGuiness’ father, Tom, the chief of police at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Va. “He grew up always hearing, ‘If you want to be the best, join the Corps.’â€Â McGuiness said his uncle, a Marine veteran who died when he was a boy, provided most of the inspiration that pushed him toward the Marines. “I admired his professionalism and his day-to-day efficiency,â€Â McGuiness said of his uncle. “When he died of cancer, it just made me want it even more.â€Â It was no surprise to friends and family when, during his freshman year of high school, McGuiness began showing interest in the Marines. “He went through four years of junior ROTC in high school,â€Â McGuiness’ father recalled. “He went to every training thing he could go to, went to the recruiter’s office every day he could get away with it.â€Â When the day finally came for McGuiness to report to Marine Corps Recruit Training Depot at Parris Island, S.C., in the summer of 2008, he worried about the same types of things most recruits fret over. “Am I going to make it? How hard will it be? How will I handle the stress?â€Â he recalled. As he ran and screamed with the other recruits still wearing their civilian khaki pants and collared shirts, he had no idea he had blisters on both his lungs that would soon rupture without warning. “There’s no way to medically understand it or to medically find it until it happens,â€Â McGuiness’ father said. “You had a six-foot kid who could run circles around anything.â€Â The fateful moment came well into McGuiness’ first phase of recruit training as he waited in line for chow. “I felt a pop in my chest and I hunched over in pain and just tried to stand up,â€Â McGuiness said. “I tried to make it look like I was all right so I wouldn’t go to medical.â€Â But McGuiness wasn’t all right. A blister on his left lung had popped, leaving a hole. As he inhaled, air escaped through the hole and built up pressure around his lung, flattening it inside his body. “Any movement you make is just ridiculous because your lung is no longer attached to your chest and it just bounces around,â€Â McGuiness said. “When you walk, when you stretch, when you lie down, you just feel it.â€Â McGuiness said he was determined to not give up, despite not knowing what was wrong. “I thought I pulled a muscle or cracked a rib or something,â€Â he said. “It felt more or less like someone stabbing you and twisting that knife constantly.â€Â His father said he understood his son’s stubborn refusal to quit. “Like any good Marine, he tried to hide it,â€Â he said. “I guess it’s kind of hard to hide losing a lung, though.â€Â It was the gas-mask training that finally ended McGuiness’ punishing charade. As he choked down tear gas in the chamber, his chest exploded with searing pain. “I was coughing really badly and I kind of freaked out and started hitting the wall,â€Â he said. His drill instructors, already suspicious something was wrong, got McGuiness out of the gas chamber and ordered him to see the doctor. After a series of X-rays, McGuiness realized a medical discharge was almost certain. After a couple of short stints at area hospitals where his lung was stabilized, he was placed in a special platoon where recruits awaited a medical board’s ruling on whether or not they were fit to serve. While he waited there, McGuiness watched his platoon march across the parade deck during what was supposed to be his graduation. They had become Marines. He would soon become a civilian. “The medical discharge was one of the worst things that ever happened to him because all he ever wanted to be was a Marine. He felt like he failed his family and his Corps,â€Â McGuiness’ father said. McGuiness discussed treatment options with his father during the months he spent awaiting discharge. As soon as he got out, the pair went to work. The two met Cmdr. Robert Strange, one of the Navy’s leading cardiothoracic surgeons, at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. “The problem you have with spontaneous neumothorax [McGuiness’ condition] is a 30-percent chance of it happening again, and after a second episode you have a 60-percent chance of it happening again,â€Â Strange said. The Marine Corps required McGuiness to wait three to five years before trying to enlist again in case his lungs developed more problems. With Strange’s help, however, that wait could be reduced to just one year. “I told him I don’t want them just re-inflated, I want to be able to join,â€Â McGuiness said. “Dr. Strange just hooked me up.â€Â McGuiness would need two operations, one for each lung. First, surgeons would have to remove and staple the blisters on both lungs using videoscopic surgical tools. Then, in order to make sure the lungs remained strong, Strange had to “mechanically abradeâ€Â McGuiness’ chest walls so that they would swell and stick directly to the lungs. That way, Strange explained, any future ruptures in the lung tissue wouldn’t form a hole and deflate the lungs. The procedure can be very painful, Strange said. “The best medication to stop this pain is an anti-inflammatory drug, but if you give that, you stop the process you want,â€Â he said. “We weren’t able to give him the anti-inflammatory drugs to take the pain away.â€Â Even with the pain killers McGuiness was allowed, the weeks he spent recovering were some of the most painful of his life. “You gotta breathe, it’s a natural process -– if you don’t breathe you die,â€Â McGuiness said. “My problem was my lungs were just on fire.â€Â McGuiness’ father remembers watching over his son during those long weeks. “I’ve never seen my kid in more pain in my life,â€Â he said. “It broke my heart.â€Â After the first lung had healed, McGuiness went through the whole process again for the other lung. The pain killers’ effects on the body couldn’t be fully predicted, and ended up numbing the wrong side of his body. “I woke up in the intensive care unit, screamed and then passed back out,â€Â he said, adding he could remember the feeling of the four separate tubes that stayed in his chest during his weeks-long hospital stays. “I had to go back [to training]; all I thought about was going back.â€Â Looking back on the operations, Strange said he was impressed by his patient’s resilience. “He was willing to do all that just to go into the Marines and not have to wait,â€Â he said. McGuiness returned to the recruiter’s office, back to the training functions and back to the gym. For eight months he worked to regain the body he once had. It took “waiver, after waiver, after waiver,â€Â to get McGuiness back to Marine boot camp because of his complex medical history, his father said. His son, he noted, wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. McGuiness returned to Parris Island and he graduated boot camp and became a Marine on Jan. 15, 2010, two years after he first arrived at the training depot. McGuiness went on to make lance corporal and became an amphibious assault vehicle crew member with the 4th Amphibian Assault Battalion, 4th Marine Division, based in Little Creek, Va. “I saw my sons being born, but the day I saw Matthew holding the battalion guidon during graduation, nothing prepared me for that,â€Â McGuiness’ father said. “I’ve never cried like that.â€Â Dec. 8, 2010: By Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jad Sleiman- Marine Forces Reserve

Sanchez's mother was only 17 when she gave birth to him. With no money, job or support, she put him up for adoption. His adoptive parents divorced when he was six and ping-ponged Sanchez for the next 11 years.Even when things were good, Sanchez lived below poverty levels without running water or electricity in a trailer in Apple Valley, Calif. When he turned 17, Sanchez's adoptive mother kicked him out of the house. He went into survival mode, dropped out of high school halfway through his senior year, and found one dead-end job after another to make ends meet. Sanchez wandered from place to place, staying with friends, in shelters and under the stars. According to the American Journal for Public Health, 1.5 million youth experience homelessness over the course of a year nationwide. In nearby Los Angeles County alone, there are currently an estimated 26,000 homeless youth. After working as a ranch hand, Sanchez's adoptive father asked him to come to San Diego. Things didn't work out as he’d planned. "It's just been really rough," Sanchez said. "My dad couldn't afford to have me in his house. I stayed at my sister's house, but it was the same situation." Health problems and the economic downturn hit his family hard, forcing Sanchez to go it alone. He hit the streets again. Determined to make a better life for himself, Sanchez called California Army National Guard recruiter Sgt. Arkadiy Knopov in Kearny Mesa in eastern San Diego. "He was ecstatic when I confirmed everything that he read about GED [General Equivalency Diploma] Plus," Knopov said. "Part of the reason why I became his National Guard recruiter is because I want to help young individuals like Private Sanchez get on the right track in life." Sanchez did his homework. Only the Army National Guard had a program to allow him to enlist, get full-time pay, benefits, housing and three square meals a day while going to school to earn his GED credentials. "I wasn't taking him seriously at first," Sanchez said. "But when he told me there actually was a program like this, I really started to get into it." Sanchez said the National Guard GED Plus Program at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock, Ark., sounded like an opportunity for him to support himself as a citizen and soldier. The resident program lasts from two to three weeks and prepares new recruits for the GED examination, administered at the end of the course. Upon successful completion, recruits depart for basic training. Sanchez took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery exam and scored a 78, well above average, allowing him to select fire support specialist as his military occupational specialty. After passing a physical examination and completing paperwork, he raised his right hand and became Pvt. Daniel J. Sanchez, the newest recruit in the California Army National Guard. But his problems still weren't over. "I was still living on the streets," Sanchez said. "Sergeant Knopov started working harder and went to extra lengths, from what I understand, to get me into the GED Plus Program as soon as possible." Knopov worked quickly to get Sanchez’s orders published for Camp Robinson. Sanchez said Knopov managed to get him shipped out within a couple of days instead of several months. Sanchez and other recruits like him not only have a home in the National Guard program, but they have become part of something even greater, Army Sgt. Maj. Elizabeth Causby of the GED Plus program said. "We're changing lives at the National Guard GED Plus Program," Causby said. "It's not unusual for us to be a source of refuge for young adults facing hardship, adverse conditions or dangerous situations. “These warriors,â€Â she continued, “know the day they graduate that they have become a part of a huge family -- the National Guard family -- and we take care of our family." Sanchez and 193 of his classmates graduated with GED credentials on Oct. 29. His graduating class was the largest since the program began in 2006. Sanchez said he's grateful for a second chance at his education and a springboard for career opportunities and a better life. "I want to make my recruiter proud, because he really, really helped me," he said. "I wasn't doing anything with my life. I haven't worked as hard as I could have throughout my life. I needed to get out of there. I needed to get my life straight.â€Â Sanchez reported to Fort Jackson, S.C., for basic training. He’ll move on to Fort Sill, Okla., for his advanced individual training as a fire support specialist. When Sanchez returns, he has a mentor waiting for him back in Kearny Mesa. "My work with him is far from over," Knopov said. "As a National Guard recruiting and retention non-commissioned officer, I am responsible for soldiers during their entire career, from the day I meet them for the first time until they day they leave the military. "Private Sanchez and I made an agreement than when he completes his [training] he will use me as a 'go to' person to help him enroll in college and begin his journey towards higher education,â€Â Knopov continued. “I see a lot of potential in this young individual." Sanchez has big plans. "It's good to know that I have a bright future ahead of me," he said. "Right now, I just really want to support myself." Dec. 7, 2010: By Army Capt. Kyle Key- National Guard Patriot Academy

The last time the two had seen each other was Christmas 2009, when Cpl. Pharris was home on leave. Staff Sgt. Pharris now is serving in Afghanistan on his first deployment as a member of the Nangarhar Agri-Business Development Team IV, with Task Force Bastogne. “We’re one component of rebuilding the Afghan infrastructure. We take graduates from Nangarhar University and work with them as they improve their agricultural and farming skills,â€Â the staff sergeant said. First enlisting in the Army in 1981, and later in the Army National Guard, Pharris has more than 14 years of service in a variety of assignments. Primarily serving as an infantryman, he also has served as a drill sergeant and recruiter. After leaving military service in 1997 and experiencing an 11-year break, Pharris re-joined the Missouri Army National Guard in 2008 after he learned that an infantry unit was being formed. “I surprised my son by having him show up at my re-enlistment ceremony. He had no idea I was re-enlisting,â€Â Pharris said. Pharris’ Marine son, also on his first deployment, is serving at Kandahar Airfield as an individual augmentee supply specialist with the 184th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, a Mississippi Army National Guard unit that assumed the responsibilities of Joint Sustainment Command-Afghanistan, Oct. 17. “As a Marine individual augmentee, I had no idea I was coming to a National Guard unit. It’s been a great experience so far and I want to continue to learn and do well,â€Â the Marine said. Military tradition runs deep in the Pharris family. In addition to Cpl. Pharris’ father, his mother, grandfather, and great-grandfather served in the military. His great grandfather served in the South Pacific during World War II. The Marine recounted one of his childhood memories that buoyed his decision to join the military. “When my mom received an award on the parade field,â€Â he said, “I knew that I would serve. The only question that was left unanswered for quite some time was which service I would join.â€Â Pharris enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2007 after completing high school early. Pharris said he’s fully supportive of his son’s decision to serve in the military. “He has done very well and I’m looking forward to his promotion to sergeant,â€Â the father said of his son. “He has continued the family’s military tradition with the same pride in service.â€Â While deployment is never easy on families, the father and son agree that being together is one of the best things about deploying to a combat zone. “Like any dad, I worry about my son. I just wish we served in closer proximity to each other,â€Â Pharris said. “I love it that my dad is over here the same time as I am,â€Â the son said. The father and son have found effective ways to deal with stress while serving in a combat zone. Both like to exercise during their “downâ€Â time, and honing their video-game and card-playing skills. “I came to Afghanistan to make a tangible difference,â€Â the father said. “Hopefully, 20 years from now, someone will remember an American who was here and be thankful their life is better.â€Â Dec. 6, 2010: By Army 1st Lt. Andrew B. Adcock- Joint Sustainment Command Afghanistan