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Meet Your Military: Drill Instructor, Recruit Reunite Decades Later
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Marine Corps Master Sgt. Thomas Draffen is promoted to master gunnery sergeant at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., April 1, 2015. Draffen was promoted by retired Master Gunnery Sgt. Michael Arnett, who was his drill instructor at boot camp. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Xzavior T. McNealMARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz., April 2, 2015 – Newly promoted Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Draffen stood at attention in front of the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 building here yesterday. His uniform’s collar lay bare for a moment before two pairs of hands deftly pinned in place the rank he has worked 20 years to achieve.
Behind him, friends and peers mirrored the air traffic controller’s tall stance. To his left, his wife, who he has been with since before his enlistment in 1994, secured one side of his collar. On his right, retired Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sgt. Michael Arnett -- the drill instructor responsible for making Draffen into a Marine -- secured the other.
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Meet Your Military: Female Airman Seeks to "Make a Difference"
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Air Force Senior Airman Julie Breault of the 97th Security Forces Squadron at Altus Air Force Base, Okla., is a 4th-generation service member, and she aspires to be the first female chief master sergeant of the Air Force. Breault said she chose security forces because she feels like she can make a difference as a defender. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Megan E. AcsALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla., April 1, 2015 – Air Force Senior Airman Julie Breault said the desire to serve in the military was instilled in her at a young age. “I wanted to be security forces. I know a lot of people go into the Air Force and get weeded into security forces, but I chose it because I feel like as security forces I can truly make a difference,” said Breault, who is a 4th-generation service member.
While the security forces career field has traditionally been male-oriented, Breault said she remains undeterred and unaffected by gender-role stereotypes.
Gender ‘Doesn’t Matter’ “Being in a career field that is primarily male-dominated feels relatively normal to me,” Breault said. “I understand women are outnumbered in security forces, but the guys do a really good job of treating me equally. When stuff hits the fan, it doesn’t matter [the] the gender of the person to the left or right of you. We’re defenders. That’s the label I’d prefer.” Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kevin Smith, Breault’s supervisor at the 97th Security Forces Squadron here, noted that her performance is exemplary and said she performs her duties just as well, if not better, than many of the males in the same career field.
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Meet Your Military: Marine Connects Using Sign Language
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Air Force Staff Sgt. Jon Espinoza reads aloud at the Stella Maris School Belize Academy for the Deaf in Belize City, Belize, April 4, 2014. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Kali L.BELIZE CITY, Belize – Hands wave through the air in an organized fashion, and children follow the movements as they enjoy the children's story "A Day at the Farm." PHOTO: Marine Corps Cpl. Parnell Sararana, standing left, signs to students while Gradishar Marine Corps Cpl. Parnell Sararana put his Universal Sign Language skills to use here April 4 as he translated while Air Force Staff Sgt. Jon Espinoza read aloud at the Stella Maris School Belize Academy for the Deaf.
Sararana is deployed from the 1st Civil Affairs Group at Camp Pendleton, Calif., in support of New Horizons Belize 2014, an exercise in which U.S. service members train with Belizean professionals in engineering and medical care. The civil affairs role in the exercise is to engage with the local population, as well as government and nongovernment organizations, to facilitate the best possible environment to build educational and health facilities and provide medical, dental and veterinarian care throughout the country.
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Meet Your Military: Marine Runs Marathon on Treadmill at Sea
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PHOTO: Marine Corps 1st Lt. Thomas Heemer, the logistics officer for Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, poses with his Marine Corps Marathon bib on “Broadway,” a passageway aboard the USS New York, Oct. 26, 2014. Due to pre-deployment training with the 24th MEU, Heemer ran the Marine Corps Marathon on a treadmill aboard the New York, finishing under the four-hour mark. The 24th MEU is conducting its final pre-deployment training exercise before a deployment at the end of the year. Courtesy photo Marine Corps ABOARD USS NEW YORK AT SEA – He was perhaps the very first finisher of the 39th Marine Corps Marathon, but he didn’t finish anywhere near Arlington, Virginia. Instead, he finished at sea aboard the USS New York -- on a treadmill.1st Lt. Thomas Heemer, the logistics officer for Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, finished the 2014 edition of the Marine Corps Marathon at 12:30 a.m. Oct. 26, hours ahead of the official beginning of the annual run.
Instead of running alongside tens of thousands of fellow Marines, service members and competitors on a cool Virginia morning, he ran mostly alone, on a treadmill crammed into an out-of-the-way corner just off one of the New York’s passageways, cleverly named and affectionately known as “Broadway.” Although this was Heemer’s first marathon on a ship or on a treadmill, it wasn’t his first Marine Corps Marathon. His first was in 2009, and the 25-year-old Penn State graduate has run the annual event every year since.
“I knew I might be embarked on ship this year, but I signed up anyway just in case,” he said. “I thought it would be silly to let the Marine Corps break my Marine Corps Marathon streak, so I decided I would run it aboard the ship.”
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Meet Your Military: Chicago Soldier Trains in Indonesia
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PHOTO: Army Pvt. Juan Gonzalez, a rifleman assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, performs security duties during patrol base operations for the Garuda Shield field training exercise, Sept. 8, 2014, in East Java, Indonesia. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Brooks Fletcher WASHINGTON – A 19-year-old Army private stands over a smoldering fire, cooking snake meat in the middle of a mango grove during a jungle survival training class in East Java, Indonesia. In his short time in the Army, Pvt. Juan Gonzalez, a native of Chicago and an infantryman assigned to Blackwatch Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division from Joint Base Lewis-Mchord, Washington, has transformed from a high school athlete to a squad automatic weapon gunner.
The “Legion” battalion is participating in exercise Garuda Shield and is partnered with the 411th Raider Infantry Battalion from the Tentara Nasional Indonesia, the Indonesian armed forces. Garuda Shield is also part of the training pathway for the 2nd Stryker Brigade, linking home station training to a series of military-to-military exercises in the Pacific region.
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