Army 1st Lt. Gerry Holloway of the Iowa National Guard and his soldiers of 2nd Platoon, Troop C, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment, Task Force Redhorse, are all too familiar with the graveyard shift.The moon filled the sky with a bright, smoky haze dotted by a few stars as Holloway stepped out into the brisk night air Jan. 19 at Combat Outpost Red Hill, also known as Pushtaysark. With no street lights or store lights to compete with them, bright stars are a common skyscape at most combat outposts in Afghanistan.“It’s a beautiful sight to wake up, step outside and see the stars every morning,â€Â said Holloway, a father of five from Melbourn, Iowa. “Of course, our morning is everyone’s night time on our shift.â€Â Holloway and his crew consisting of infantrymen, a medic, and a cook who doubles as one of the company’s two female engagement team members rove and patrol the streets of the surrounding areas looking for insurgent activities and ensuring that the local people are safe throughout the night. This mission is similar to those Holloway performed as a team leader when he deployed to Iraq in 2005 and 2006. He and his team of three soldiers conducted convoy security operations north of Baghdad when he was assigned as a noncommissioned officer in Task Force Redhorse, which is part of the 34th Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, Task Force Red Bulls. “Sometimes I miss being an NCO,â€Â he said. “I miss the responsibilities of taking care of soldiers and making sure missions get accomplished. I still ensure that missions get accomplished as an officer, but it’s different.â€Â Holloway’s deep-rooted ties to the NCO corps are evident while he’s on patrol and throughout operations, as he ensures soldiers have their sensitive items, take proper safety precautions and conduct other tasks for which NCOs normally are responsible. “As a lieutenant, now I am responsible for developing the plan, and the NCOs in my platoon are in charge of carrying the plan out,â€Â he said. “Sometimes it’s hard to shut that NCO side of me off. I really do try to not micromanage, but it’s hard.â€Â Holloway’s 2007 application for a direct commission was accepted in October 2008. He said he loves being an officer and considers it one of the best decisions he’s ever made. “The detailed levels of planning are what I enjoy about being an officer,â€Â he explained. “I like to get into the nuts and bolts on how to accomplish a mission. As an NCO, I would get my orders and execute. I get to help build those orders now, and I make sure that my NCOs are following through with them.â€Â Army Capt. Richard Rush, Troop C commander and Altoona, Iowa, resident, deployed with Holloway when he was an NCO as now as an officer. The transition is a huge step, he said, noting that it’s common for officers with enlisted service to operate as NCOs. “I think he’s adapted well to the officer environment,â€Â he said. The soldiers enjoy Holloway’s leadership style. “Lieutenant Holloway is not like a lot of officers who joined then became officers,â€Â said Army Sgt. Stephanie Bliss, a Sioux City, Iowa, resident. “He knows how to talk to soldiers, and he’s very low-key. I like it.â€Â Jan. 26, 2011: By Army Staff Sgt. Ashlee Lolkus- Task Force Red Bulls

Zuniga, a member of the 1021st Engineering Company, 205th Engineer Battalion, overcame tremendous odds recently when he racked up well over the maximum number of points needed to score an excellent rating on the test.Just 18 months ago, and 100 pounds heavier, Zuniga was battling despair and depression. One day, he’d had enough. "When I was bigger, I was on the edge of depression. I felt helpless," Zuniga said. "Just one day something someone said struck me. I am so much more confident now." Too large to run, Zuniga started by walking. Within a couple of months, he was able to run three miles without walking. Today, he runs four miles a day, six days a week, then boosts his workout with 100 push-ups a day and lifts weights for at least an hour. This strict program allowed Zuniga to achieve a feat few Guardsmen attain. "I almost passed out when I heard," Zuniga said. His first sergeant had a similar reaction. "I said, 'Are you serious?'" Army 1st Sgt. Jack Toney said about hearing Zuniga's score. "A perfect score is 100 points in each of three categories on the test, for a total combined score of 300. I have never seen a score like this one in 24 years of service." Zuniga completed 112 push-ups, 117 sit-ups and ran the two-mile run in 10:07. An unofficial extended scale is used once a soldier passes the total event requirement for a perfect score. He was awarded one additional point for each push-up and sit-up, and six seconds off his time for the run. Toney saw Zuniga's work ethic first-hand when they served together on Task Force Kout Men in Haiti last summer. Even after an exhausting day of construction work, the devoted soldier still made time for a workout. "Zuniga would work, and I mean work, all day on his project site and come back to the base camp and run and do PT on his own," Toney said. "It was incredible. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself," said Army Sgt. Patrick Mahoney, who graded Zuniga's fitness test. Mahoney said his main concern was being able to count fast enough. Not content with his personal success, Zuniga has started helping others achieve their exercise goals as well. "I want to be a trainer for the National Guard," he said. "I want to be that person to go to get help. If I was 265 pounds and lost 100 pounds, I know everyone else can, too." Jan. 25, 2011: By Army Sgt. Rebekah Malone- Louisiana National Guard

Army Spc. Diego Medina -- one of the 40 infantrymen who make up the Massachusetts Army National Guard’s 3rd Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 181st Infantry Regiment – has a lyrical talent that he uses to light his way. Medina, who calls Boston home, was born in La Ceiba, Honduras, and moved to the United States as a child. He learned English from listening to hip-hop music, he said, and as a young teen, he lived a life filled with rage and frustrations. But he learned to turn negative into positive in the 10th grade, he added, and began to use music as an outlet of expression, freestyling in studio basements and school lunchrooms.As time passed, Medina said, he began to take music seriously. “I started to articulate poetic consciousness and take the art of lyricism more seriously, as a stronger means of communication,â€Â Medina said. In 2008, Medina joined the Army National Guard. The continuous trials he faced not only inspired his musical talent, he said, but also influenced his decision to enter the military. Medina said he looked for a new path when his hope of playing college football didn’t come to fruition. The National Guard gave him the chance to attend college and the ability to develop and use his leadership skills, he said. Medina said he’s using his experience with the provincial reconstruction team to write new material and learn the meaning of appreciation, finding peace where others find stress. “Somehow in war, I find peace of mind, because grunts are comfortable in conflict,â€Â he explained. “I’ve always performed best when under pressure, and it doesn’t get harder than being out here while maintaining composure.â€Â His first show was in Boston’s Strand Theater and he has since performed at the Youth Peace Conference for Teen Empowerment of Boston, the Verve Lounge, Zumix, the Boston Festival and more. Medina’s stage name is Rey Leon, and his music can be found on social media sites. His next performance is scheduled for Feb. 8 at an event called Verbalization in Boston during his mid-tour leave. Jan. 24, 2011: By Air Force Senior Airman Ashley Avecilla- Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team

“When Gunny Abernathy talks, everybody shuts up and listens,â€Â said Marine Corps Sgt. Maleah Slaughter, a military policeman in the company. “He’s definitely somebody to be heard.â€ÂAbernathy was born and raised in the small town of Madison, Miss., and graduated from Madison Central High School. “I was 16 years old before we got our first stop light,â€Â he said in a distinctive Southern drawl.Once he completed high school in May 1996, Abernathy quickly started down the path he’s been on ever since. “I walked across the stage, gave my diploma to my mom, gave her a hug, got in [the recruiter’s] car, went to [Military Entrance Processing Station] and went to boot camp,â€Â he said. Abernathy said he became a Marine because he wanted to serve his country, but not in the sense of ‘Corps, country and Momma’s apple pie.’ Rather, he said, joining the military was more of a requirement than a career choice, in line with his belief that every American citizen should serve at least two years in any branch of service. For Abernathy’s first four years in the Marine Corps, he served as an infantry machine gunner before making a lateral move to military police. In addition to his time here, he has been stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and Kanoehe Bay, Hawaii, and he even did a tour of duty as a recruiter in LaGrange, Ga. "It was absolutely the worst tour of duty I've ever had,â€Â he said. “And I've got five combat tours." One of those tours was in Fallujah, Iraq, where he met his wife, Rachel, in 2005. “Our guys went through a lot of ammo, … and she was our battalion [ammunition technician] chief,â€Â he said. “When we got back, we kept up conversations, started dating, and a year or so later we got married.â€Â Abernathy’s other deployments also have made lasting impressions on him. On his last deployment to Afghanistan in 2009, where he was told by Afghan villagers the Taliban had a $50,000 price on his head, Abernathy found himself in a vicious firefight. While repelling an enemy assault, Abernathy quickly and calmly helped every wounded Marine and established a casualty collection point behind barriers that effectively shielded the wounded from indirect fire. It was during this firefight that he employed a unique first aid tool he tells all of his Marines to have in their individual first aid kits. "I always carry tampons with me,â€Â he said. “They plug bullet holes pretty good." After the fight was over, Abernathy’s uniform was covered with blood from many of the Marines he helped. He wore that blood-stained uniform for more than a month, he said. “I didn't have any water to wash the blood off my clothes,â€Â he explained. “I barely had enough water to drink. I wore those kids' blood on me for about a month and a half. My commanding officer made me burn my uniform. I still got the boots that have blood all over them. I keep them in my house. I can't bring myself to throw them away. I just can't.â€Â Abernathy has a simple explanation for how he stays calm in battle: “I made my peace with God a long time ago,â€Â he said. It’s essential that leaders stay calm when under pressure, he added, because loss of bearing and panic only multiply the chaos. "If my guys don't have faith in who's leading them, then we're all screwed,â€Â he said. “I'm depending on them to beat back the bad guy, and if I'm flipping out, then they can't do that effectively." It was also on this deployment that he suffered a mild case of traumatic brain injury caused by a high-mobility artillery rocket that exploded near him while he was chasing a sniper. This injury is keeping him from deploying with his fellow Marines. “It kills me to see guys I know go to very bad areas and know that I can't go with them,â€Â he said. “I'm not a warmonger. I know what I'm capable of and I damn sure know how to fight the Taliban. There's just one way to deal with them that's effective and gets results: You gain ground, you push them off, and you own the real estate. It is what it is.â€Â Many of his Marines say that if there is one thing Abernathy teaches them, it is how to stay alive, and Abernathy said that’s important to him. “I’ve seen how brutal [the Taliban] can be,â€Â he said. “I’ve seen what they do when they get their hands on one of ours. I’ll be damned if I take a kid into harm’s way and I don’t give him every tool that I have to use.â€Â Even though he has been through the wringer on more than one occasion, Abernathy said, he doesn’t use his experiences to brag or boast, but rather to validate what he is teaching. “I try not to be that guy that’s got a story for everything,â€Â he said. “I’m not the only one who’s seen and done combat. There is nothing glorious in war. There is nothing glorious in taking another life. There’s no awesome feeling that you get filled with. Dead is dead. You just killed somebody’s son, husband or brother. There’s nothing awe-inspiring about that stuff. It’s a necessary evil.â€Â Abernathy’s Marines are more than willing to hear his advice. “When he talks, he says everything in a way you understand, and you know he’s not lying,â€Â said Sgt. Brad Bianchi, a military policeman in the company. “You always want to hear what he has to say.â€Â Abernathy said he has yet to decide what he wants to do when his Marine Corps days are over. Many of his peers have encouraged him to pursue a college degree in psychology, he noted, because of his ability to counsel Marines who may be suffering from the effects of a combat deployment. “I can relate to them,â€Â he said. “It’s kind of hard for a combat veteran who’s chewed dirt, spilled blood and had his blood spilled to relate what he’s gone through to some 25-year-old psychologist who’s never even left the country or gone into combat. I put a different spin on things. For some of them, it helps. For others, it’s still a work in progress.â€Â Simplicity is the key to success, Abernathy said. “Focus on the basics -- high speed is not always better,â€Â he said. “So many people get wrapped around the axle about their own personal success, they forget what the purpose of this gun club is, which is to fight wars and to take care of our own.â€Â Jan. 21, 2011: By Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Bryan Nygaard- 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force