Meet Your Military
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Operating room nurse Army Capt. Rory Walton, left, and nurse anesthetist Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Rolfes prepare to move a Salvadoran patient after surgery aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort in Acajutla, El Salvador, during Continuing Promise, June 18, 2015. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer @nd class Derek Paumen BETHESDA, Md., – “Even in the middle of the ocean, the ‘spirit of jointness’ is alive,” Army Capt. Rory Walton wrote from the high seas of the Caribbean. The operating room nurse assigned to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is one of 43 Walter Reed staffers aboard the hospital ship USNS Comfort, deployed for the Continuing Promise 2015 humanitarian mission to Central America, the Caribbean and South America. The mission is a U.S. Southern Command-sponsored and U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet-conducted deployment focused on civil-military operations. It includes providing medical, dental, veterinary and engineering support, along with disaster response preparation, to partner nations. Walton joined the ship April 1 in Norfolk, Virginia, for a six-month deployment. She called it a “unique opportunity” to continue developing Walter Reed’s interoperability with sailors, airmen and Public Health Service members.
Sharing Best Practices and Ideas “Having the opportunity to work together with our friends and partners in this mission setting allows for the sharing of best practices and ideas,” she said. “It further enables all of us to build partner capacity and promote collaboration [and] partnerships in order to meet challenges together and prepare for future missions, contingencies and response efforts.”
Read more: Meet Your Military: Army Nurse Sails High Seas on USNS Comfort
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Rhonda Brown, a landscape architect, for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston district, has managed projects around the world during her 21-year USACE career. U.S. Army photoGALVESTON, Texas, Sifting through artifacts dating back to the Roman era -- discovered while excavating a roadway for a $200 million Army housing project in Wiesbaden, Germany -- is the most interesting job assignment Rhonda Brown has overseen during her 21 years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"We came across Roman coins, tile roof and pottery pieces,” said Brown. “I thought for sure this would require the project to be relocated. However, Roman sites are found all over Europe so the German government simply collected some items, documented the location and the project continued with construction over the Roman site.” Brown's career has provided her with other memorable experiences around the world, including a visit to ground zero of the World Trade Center during a disaster clean-up mission. The landscape architect now serves as a project manager for the USACE Galveston District, directing each stage in the life of a project, from programming and planning to design and construction.
Broad Responsibilities “I am currently managing the design of eight U.S. Customs and Border Protection command-and-control facilities in Texas and am the project manager for the Corpus Christi Border Patrol Station, Rio Grande City Border Patrol Station vehicle maintenance facility, and the Freeport Harbor Channel Improvement Project,” Brown said. She said the USACE Galveston District provides planning, design and construction services to local, state and federal agencies, such as the USCBP, that either do not have in-house capabilities or are interested in combining their resources with the Corps’ to support construction projects that serve our nation and our armed forces.
Read more: Meet Your Military: Army Civilian Finds Passion in Engineering Project Management
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A U.S. Airman Pursues his PassionNELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev., July 1, 2015 – He slowly walks to the foul line as his arm swings. He unleashes the ball, and it swiftly rolls toward the pins. With a noise that sounds like 10 champagne bottles being uncorked, the ball sends the pins flying, and he is rewarded with a strike.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Joshua Cramer, a 57th Maintenance Squadron munitions systems technician here, has had a passion for bowling since he was a boy. "My dad got me into it when I was 6 years old," he said. "It was something that the two of us could do together." Some people take years to develop a high skill level for a sport, but Cramer said he enjoyed early success at bowling. "I've always enjoyed bowling and I performed really well at competitions when I was younger," he said. Cramer continued bowling, and he eventually applied to join the 2015 Air Force bowling team. Competing against other applicants at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, he made the team. In May, he bowled in the Armed Forces Championships. The Air Force women's team placed second, while the men's team took first place. Cramer and his men's doubles partner finished first in that category, and Cramer placed fourth overall individually.
Read more: Meet Your Military: Airman Pursues Passion for Bowling
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Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Timothy Sifuentes talks with Army Staff Sgt. Monica Martinez at Fort Belvoir, Va., before cycling training for the 2015 Department Of Defense Warrior Games, June 14, 2015. Sifuentes and Martinez are two of more than 40 active duty and veteran athletes training at Fort Belvoir. Sifuentes will represent Team Army in the field, swimming and cycling competitions, and Martinez will compete in the cycling, field ,sitting volleyball, swimming ,track and archery competitions during the 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games at Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Va., June 19-28, 2015. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Christophe PaulFORT BELVOIR, Virginia: Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Timothy Sifuentes has flown more than 2,300 hours and completed nearly 1,000 combat missions in an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter. Flying is a part of who he is. So when injuries to his back and knee and a tear in his right glute forced him out of the cockpit, he had to find a new way to soar.
Sifuentes is preparing to compete in the Department of Defense Warrior Games at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, June 19-28. “What do I think I’ll get out of the Warrior Games experience? A new challenge -- a new me, if you will,” said Sifuentes, a Glendive, Montana, native, and a former Fort Riley Warrior Transition Battalion soldier, now with the 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. “Yeah, I know I’ll never be 100 percent where I was prior to my injuries,” he added, “but I can establish a new baseline.”
Sifuentes, a former runner, was able to use cycling to recover from injuries, thanks to the adaptive reconditioning program offered through the Warrior Transition Battalion. He will compete in cycling, swimming and field events at the Warrior Games. Different, But Therapeutic “Once I couldn’t compete in [running] any more and I started the recovery process, I thought, ‘Let me give cycling a chance,’” he said.
Read more: Meet Your Military: Soldier Finds New Ways to Take Flight
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Marine Corps Sgt. Cody Leifheit, a recruiter based in Lewiston, Idaho, responded to a 19-year-old man hanging himself from a tree outside his house June 7, 2015. Leifheit, 28, climbed 25 feet up the tree to assist the man, who survived. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Reece LodderLEWISTON, Idaho: Screaming startled him awake. Marine Corps Sgt. Cody Leifheit checked the time: 2 a.m. Sunday, June 7, 2015. Probably people filtering in from the bars, he thought. After moving into an apartment here only a week earlier, Leifheit wasn’t yet familiar with the neighborhood. But the hysterical, incoherent screaming continued. Was it a cry for help?
Running down the street, the 28-year-old recruiter found a cluster of silhouettes milling beneath a tree, desperate and terrified. Their friend, 19-year-old Travis Kent, was hanging from a branch 25 feet above them. No one had a knife to cut Kent down, so Leifheit ran home for one and sprinted back to the tree. The stocky Marine jumped up, grabbed a branch and strong-armed his way upward, recounted Austin Tow, Kent’s roommate. Tow had scaled the tree in an attempt to save him.
‘Like Hercules Climbing the Tree’ “Sergeant Leifheit was like Hercules climbing the tree,” recalled Tow, adding that Leifheit reacted without hesitation and ascended the tree “as easily as if he were climbing stairs.” Tow said he and Kent’s 14-year-old brother, Dartanian, “saw warning signs.” Kent’s life hadn’t been easy. When Kent was a child, his father committed suicide after losing a son to cancer. His mother was a drug addict. At 19 years old, Kent had a legal dependent in his brother Dartanian. Kent had talked about killing himself, Tow said, but they didn’t think he would actually do it. Perched on a branch above his friend, Tow panicked. Worried that Kent had a spinal injury, Tow didn’t want to cut him loose and send him falling to the ground. As Tow wrestled with his options, a “completely calm” Leifheit climbed up to him. “I’m sure it was just another day for him,” said Marine Corps Cpl. Jeff Decker, who served under Leifheit from 2012-2015. He described Leifheit as a respected leader devoted to caring for and training his Marines. “If we gave 100 percent, he gave us 110 percent back,” Decker said of Leifheit. Leifheit’s proficiency in combat lifesaver training enabled his men to build confidence with casualty care, Decker said. He described Leifheit as “the guy for the job.”
Read more: Meet Your Military: Marine Recruiter Saves Troubled Man's Life