Meet Your Military: Married Army Paratroopers Serve Together

Army Staff Sgts. Zachary and Michelle Evans pose together for a photo outside the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team headquarters building in Vicenza, Italy, after earning their Senior Parachutist Wings together, Jan. 23, 2018. This was the last jump they completed with the unit; it was also the last jump they both needed to obtain the title of Senior Jumpmaster.

By Army Spc. Charlton Pope, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team
VICENZA, Italy, Feb. 13, 2018 — Army Staff Sgts. Zachary and Michelle Evans have spent almost their entire military careers together.

They met while in-processing with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in December 2010, after both had completed Airborne School. They were placed in the same company and platoon. Michelle jokes about Zach having to ask her out on a date three different times before she finally said yes. They have been practically inseparable since.

They deployed together to Afghanistan in 2012 with the 82nd Airborne in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, both earning a Combat Action Badge. The couple were married soon after returning from the deployment.

Both soldiers came into the Army as privates and have risen through the enlisted ranks together. While Zach beat Michelle to private first class, Michelle has beat him to every rank since; however, he has never been far behind her. This competitive spirit has kept them both striving to get to the next level and to be better than they were before.

Deployments to Afghanistan

In 2014, the couple were rotated back overseas for their second deployment together with the 82nd to Afghanistan. During this deployment, Michelle won the Sgt. Audie Murphy Board.

After returning from the deployment, the couple were posted to Italy with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, heading to the Brigade Support Battalion. While serving in Italy, they both attended Jumpmaster School, failing together the first time. They were able to attend again soon after; this time, Michelle passed, but Zach would have to attend one more time.

Meet Your Military: Sisters in Different Services Train Together

Sisters and service members, Navy Seaman Michelle Panchana, left, and Air Force Airman 1st Class Gisella Panchana are photographed as students together at the Medical Education and Training Campus at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Feb. 9, 2018. They attended school at the base from August 2017 to January 2018. Gisella graduated from the METC Radiology Program Jan. 30, while Michelle is scheduled to complete the METC Pharmacy Program in April.
Photo by David DeKunder

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas, Feb. 12, 2018 —

When Air Force Airman 1st Class Gisella Panchana graduates from the Medical Education and Training Campus here, Jan. 30.

The graduation will start the next phase of Panchana’s service in the Air Force, continuing her training as a radiology technician at Travis Air Force Base, California.

Even though Panchana, 26, is excited about continuing her military career, her graduation means she will no longer be able to be around her younger sister, Navy Seaman Michelle Panchana, 21, a Navy hospitalman who is also a student at METC.

While the two sisters will be separated from each other, Gisella said she’ll keep in touch with Michelle.

“It’s another chapter in my life,” Gisella said. “Even though I won’t see her as much, I can still talk to her on the phone. It will definitely be a different experience without her.”

Learning Together

The two sisters appreciated the time they were students together at METC for six months, from August 2017 to January 2018. Michelle was the first sister to arrive at METC in June 2017, beginning her classes in the pharmacy program. Two months later, Gisella arrived at the campus to start her training in the METC radiology program.

Michelle found out that her older sister would be joining her at METC during a phone call with Gisella, who was finishing up basic training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.

Meet Your Military: Navy Nurse Saves Man’s Life on Ferry Trip

Meet your Military: Navy Nurse Saves Man’s Life on Ferry Trip Navy Lt. Cmdr. Erika Schilling, a nurse midwife at Naval Hospital Bremerton, Wash., is interviewed by radio and television reporters in Seattle, Jan. 18, 2018. Shilling was recognized by Washington State Ferries with the Life Ring Award certificate for her life saving efforts on Dec. 2, 2017, when she saved a male passenger's life by administering emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation for 14 minutes on the Kingston-Edmunds ferry. Photo by Douglas H Stutz

BREMERTON, Wash., Jan. 30, 2018 — By Douglas H. Stutz, Naval Hospital Bremerton
Navy midwifes bring new life into the world. Occasionally, they also save lives.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Erika Schilling, a military nurse midwife at Naval Hospital Bremerton here, recently used her medical skills to pull back a man from the brink of death on a local area ferry trip.

Meet Your Military: Marine Rescues 4 People From Rip Current in Okinawa

Marine awarded for saving local Okinawans from riptide.
Marine Corps 1st Lt. Aaron Cranford, left, speaks in an interview with Justin Kinjo and Yusuke Teruya, divers who almost lost their lives at the hands of a rip current, after the he receives the Navy and Marine Corps Medal at the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion Headquarters building on Camp Schwab, Okinawa, Japan, Jan. 8, 2018. Cranford was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for risking his life while rescuing three divers and a local Okinawan who were caught in rip current during a recreational dive at Onna Point, Okinawa, Japan, in April 2017.
Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Josue Marquez

CAMP SCHWAB, OKINAWA, Japan, Jan. 18, 2018 — A Marine received the nation's highest medal for non-combat heroism during a ceremony here, Jan. 8.

Marine Corps 1st Lt. Aaron Cranford, a supply officer with Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for saving four divers, including a local Okinawan, who were caught in a rip current during a recreational dive at Onna Point, Okinawa, Japan, on April 23, 2017.