Army Spc. Nathaniel Rockhill, a Hope, Ind., native assigned to the 38th Infantry Division, tested his chess-playing skills against military members from 14 other countries during the 21st NATO Chess Championship in Koege, Denmark, in October. More than 80 chess players competed in the event.Rockhill, an instrumentalist for the 38th Division Band, said he earned his seat after he competed at the 2010 All-Army Chess Championship in May. He was one of six top Army players to advance to the NATO tournament.“I had never competed at an international level, so I wasn't sure how I would do,â€Â said Rockhill, who placed 51st overall in the NATO event. Though he was slightly disappointed at his performance, he said, he did place higher than the tournament staff projected he would. “It was a great honor to represent the United States and the Army at such an event,â€Â he said. “Very few people get that chance, and I'm proud to have had this opportunity.â€Â Rockhill said the endurance and dedication required in chess relate to his service as a military member. “It requires extreme patience to succeed in chess,â€Â he said, noting that a single chess game can last five to six hours. “It also requires a fighting spirit and dedication. These attributes directly relate to my experience with the military. You don't get far in the Army if you're impatient and don't have dedication to what you do.â€Â Nov. 30, 2010: By Army Sgt. William E. Henry- Indiana National Guard

Brown received commendations from the post commander of Fort Leonard Wood, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command representatives and the president of military police for her outstanding leadership ability, discipline and performance while under her training environment’s command. She said she draws her motivation from her mother. “My mom has been through a lot and always perseveres,â€Â Brown said. “She got good grades and ran track in high school. I try to be like her. She always pushes me to do my best.â€Â Brown said she joined the military to follow in the footsteps of her brother and uncle, both Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans, and her grandfather. Her father is a reserve police officer for Huntington County, Ind. She wanted to enlist from a young age, she said, and she joined the Indiana Army National Guard on Feb. 13, 2009, at age 17. She chose the Army’s Split Option program, completing basic training during the summer break between her junior and senior years of high school, and attending MP school after she graduated. “I always knew I wanted to join,â€Â Brown said. “I think everybody should serve their country in some way.â€Â As a Split Option soldier, Brown served in the Recruit Sustainment Program in Fort Wayne, Ind. The program’s cadre teaches recruits the soldier skills that prepare them for basic training. Those returning from basic training then can teach new recruits what it’s really like. “There wasn’t a thing that was introduced in basic [training] that wasn’t already touched upon in RSP, so it made me feel like I wasn’t completely thrown out of the water,â€Â Brown said. At the recruit program, soldiers are taught the military rank structure, military courtesies and culture, drill and ceremony, weapons systems and other information. “It was a lot easier to have learned all those things I needed to know beforehand, as opposed to learning everything right when I got [to basic training],â€Â she said.

 

 

[caption id="attachment_3226" align="alignleft" width="179"] Army Pfc. Alyssia Brown of the Indiana National Guard receives the Army Commendation Medal and a Minuteman statue during a ceremony and banquet in Indianapolis, Nov. 22, 2010. Brown was recognized for her outstanding performance in basic combat training. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. John Crosby[/caption] While at MP school, Brown was recognized for her outstanding leadership skills for taking charge during a detail at the 2010 MP Warfighter Competition at Fort Leonard Wood. She was tasked with setting up tents for the competition. A group of people dressed in civilian attire asked for assistance in setting up a tent for their organization. Although she didn’t have to, Brown helped them. She quickly took charge, giving them guidance and expediting the process so she could return to her detail. As it turned out, the people she helped were high-ranking officials of the Criminal Investigation Command, and several weeks later she was recognized in front of her company for her efforts. Brown also was recognized as the distinguished honor graduate for her unwavering motivation, outstanding physical training scores and excellent rifle marksmanship. “I’m really glad to be honored like that, especially in front of my family on graduation,â€Â said Brown, whose mother recorded the ceremony. “They were all really proud of me. I’m just glad that I was able to work hard enough to get to be able to go up on stage and have my name called off. If even to be recognized just for a fraction of a second, it was truly an honor.â€Â Now that she has graduated, Brown will return to her roots at the RSP for one last drill before moving onto her permanent unit. “It has been a great pleasure having her as a RSP soldier; she really sets the standard as to what we want all of our soldiers to be like,â€Â said Army Staff Sgt. David Grimm, training sergeant for the recruit program’s Detachment 2 in Fort Wayne, Ind. “When I first met her, she was very respectful and eager to learn and grow as a soldier. She always has a great attitude and demeanor, and that ‘never-say-quit’ attitude always rubbed off on others.â€Â Grimm added that he believes the leadership qualities Brown has displayed and her experience to become an MP will carry on when she returns to the RSP. “She has a great relationship with her fellow soldiers,â€Â he said. “She goes out of her way to help others with anything they may be doing at the time. She takes pride in being a battle buddy and a friend, and she shows all of the leadership qualities a young soldier could possess.â€Â Brown’s family has embraced her role as a soldier and takes pride in her achievements. “I couldn’t be more proud of her,â€Â said Jeff Brown, the soldier’s father. “I’ve always encouraged her and her brother to join. I couldn’t be more proud of them both. “I think there might be a bit of a rivalry growing between her and her brother now,â€Â he continued. “He didn’t take home all those plaques and medals that she did.â€Â His daughter’s enlistment has strengthened their bond, he said, and has given them something else in common: law enforcement. “Alyssia and I will sit and talk about law, what she can and can’t do as a soldier, what I can and can’t do as a civilian,â€Â he said. “She’s really grown into it.â€Â Brown said she plans to maintain her professionalism and always remember the promise she made to her country, her mother and to herself. “It’s been a life-changing experience for me,â€Â she said. “There’s a responsibility that you put on yourself that you can’t put on anybody else that pushes you to your limits and shows you that you can still succeed.â€Â Nov. 26, 2010: By Army Sgt. John Crosby- Indiana National Guard

 

Capt. Rob Marshall, with the 8th Special Operations Squadron, and Capt. Graydon Muller, with the 6th SOS, will depart here tomorrow en route to the world's coldest continent, with the goal of scaling the 16,076-feet-high Vinson Massif. The captains believe that their task dovetails with the Air Force Special Operations Command's focus on physical fitness and its motto: “Any Time, Any Place.â€Â"We think it fits well with the military mindset," Muller said. "There's a lot of teamwork involved in mountaineering, a lot of goal-setting, a lot of risk management." The climb is part of the U.S. Air Force Seven Summits Challenge, whereby Air Force members endeavor to carry the Air Force flag to the highest point on each continent and to be the first U.S. military group to conquer all seven peaks. "The Seven Summits is about airmen setting a goal that some would think would be unobtainable and gutting it out to achieve it," Marshall said. "It's about camaraderie and pushing each other to achieve new heights." Air Force climbers have conquered Asia’s Mount Elbrus, at 18,510 feet; Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro, 19,340 feet; Argentina’s Mount Aconcagua, 22,834 feet, and Alaska's Mount McKinley, at 20,300 feet high. Antarctica’s remoteness, extreme temperatures and potential for hazardous winds make the endeavor uniquely challenging. Vinson Massif is part of the Ellsworth Mountains, which rise majestically and menacingly from the icy landscape. Largely due to its isolation, Mount Vinson was the last of the seven summits to originally be scaled. It was as recently as 1966 that an American team sponsored by the National Geographic Society first submitted the peak. The captains said transportation remains an obstacle to this day. "Probably the most significant hurdle we ran into was getting to Antarctica and close to the mountain," Marshall said. "There's only one commercial company in the world that flies you to Antarctica." Their route will bring them by way of Punta Arenas near the southernmost tip of Chile, the closest landmass at more than 600 nautical miles away. After two days of preparations in Chile, the airmen will fly to Antarctica's travel hub, Patriot Hills, the continent's only privately-owned arctic base. From there, they will take a ski-equipped turboprop aircraft to Vinson Massif's base camp. "The other option was to ride a boat to the coast, then ski or dogsled to the mountain," Muller said. "It's doable, but it takes so much more time." Antarctica is a land of extremes. Southeast from the continent's highest point is the world's lowest exposed elevation, the Bentley Sub-glacial Trench, which descends 8,200 feet below sea level. Approximately 98 percent of Antarctica's landmass is covered by a vast sheet of ice which measures, at its thickest, more than 15,000 feet. This frozen sheath gives Antarctica an average elevation of 6,100 feet above sea level, the highest of all seven continents. Marshall and Muller admit that the thought of entering Mother Nature's untamed lair is a bit intimidating, but say their experience in AFSOC has helped prepare them for operating in such harsh conditions. The captains met with Dr. (Maj.) Michael McBeth, the 6th SOS’s flight surgeon, who has seven years of medical experience working with personnel in a wide range of environments to include cold weather, and Tech. Sgt. Tommy Ward, a 6th SOS medical technician and paramedic, who recently returned from a training course in high-altitude medicine. "We primarily discussed altitude illness and recognition of symptoms, prevention and self-treatment, as well as safety of the member and providing care and assistance to teammates," McBeth said. "We also discussed frostbite recognition and treatment, which was one of the things they were really concerned about due to the extreme cold of this environment as compared to some of their other climbs." The medics also provided the captains with individually-tailored travel medicine kits and training on how to administer treatments for both minor issues and more serious conditions such as altitude-related illnesses. "The special training the medics have been through was extremely useful," Muller said. "They obviously have a wide range of experience with all kinds of environments. At the 6th SOS we almost always have people spread across the six populated continents, so our medical team is constantly ready for anything." Embracing the principle of "train like you fight," the captains have been stair climbing with 60-pound backpacks and towing a weighted kayak to simulate pulling a supply sled. "I think it's awesome you can train for a 16,000-foot arctic mountain living in Florida at sea level when it's 70-degrees in November, purely using the facilities available to us on base," Marshall said. The training is the final piece of a puzzle the Seven Summits team has been building for several years. "You need a lot of experience to go to Antarctica," Marshall said. "The fact that we had two experienced climbers stationed together who could handle the funding and the schedule; it was too good an opportunity to pass up." The Air Force mountain climbers won't be alone. Once in Antarctica, they will join a group of fellow mountaineering enthusiasts eager to scale Mount Vinson's summit. "We ended up getting support from a mountaineering mentor, who happened to be going down to Antarctica at this time," Marshall said. "He basically said, 'Team up with me!'" The mentor, Phil Ershler, has conquered the Seven Summits and was half of the first husband and wife team to accomplish the feat. But beyond the glory of achieving a daunting task, and what will perhaps be a greater driving force in the captains' success than their training and preparation, is a humble reminder of what unites them as AFSOC personnel, airmen and U.S. servicemembers. "[The Seven Summits] has become a tribute to the U.S. servicemembers who have fallen in battle since 9/11," Marshall said. "We'll be placing a plaque on the summit in their memory." The captains’ expedition is expected to take two to three weeks. Nov. 23, 2010: By Air Force Capt. Lauren Johnson- 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs