MG Anthony Cucolo, 3rd Infantry Division Commander, presents Spc. Sixto Garcia the Bronze Star with “V” device.
On Feb. 23, 2009, Spc. Sixto Garcia was awarded the Bronze Star with “V” device for actions in Anbar province, Iraq, March 23, 2007.
Spc. Garcia provided overwatch with his M240B machine gun as his unit secured a village. The unit’s routine was disrupted when a vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (IED) raced toward them. Spc. Garcia immediately engaged and hit the vehicle, causing it to veer off the road and detonate just short of the unit. Next, a series of IEDs exploded in succession that knocked Spc. Garcia from his position to the ground. Regaining his senses, he set his M240 back up and re-engaged. His steady contact with the enemy enabled his unit to re-group and evacuate the wounded to safety. Spc. Garcia’s role in the fight contributed to no loss of American lives.
Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division commented on Spc. Garcia’s “incredible calm under fire and presence of mind to report everything that was happening to his non-commissioned officer in charge.”
For his gallantry in action, Spc. Garcia is this week’s Warrior-Soldier.
I met Collen a year and a half ago through Christian Military Wives. What I have come to admire the most about her is her faith in Christ, her devotion and love for her husband and family, and her willingness and desire to reach out and offer practical help to other families. Colleen has helped many of us at CMW in one way or another, whether through prayer, offering sound advice, or pointing us to resources.
She knows the military inside and out, and after being an Army wife for more than 20-years she possesses a tremendous amount of experience and wisdom. These are all of the qualities that I have had the pleasure of witnessing up close and personal, but let me pull some information for you from the Bio she sent to me and you to will see an Army wife extraordinaire!
I will have the pleasure of interviewing Colleen and other women who participate in Operation Life Transformed this month. We will be announcing the airing date of that special broadcast here at You Served.
It’s not mentioned here in the Bio, but Colleen and her husband were invited to the White House for President Bush’s farewell address! It was her second trip to the White House and to meet the President. This video records her first meeting with President Bush. Colleen was one of last year’s reciepients of the Presidential Volunteer and Service Award. If you forward to 9-minutes in you will hear Colleen’s name mentioned for the first time and then again around 16-minutes. The whole video is worth watching.
LINK to video
COLLEEN SAFFRON
Colleen Saffron is 37 years old and an 20 year army wife who has served alongside her husband to receive the Molly Pitcher and the Commanders Award for civilian service over the years as well as filled executive positions on the board for PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel through the Chaplain’s system), been involved in FRG, and also participated in community programs and volunteered in her children’s schools.
In May of 2004 her husband was severely injured in Iraq and thus her participation and service to the military community changed. Seeking to pursue her family’s own financial stability should they need to be retired medically immediately from military service, she returned to school and graduated with honors from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with her degree in Residential Interiors.
In March of 2007 she joined with her current business partner Air Force wife Tania Mercurio and Navy wife Kim Marrero, to create Operation Life Transformed. A nonprofit charitable foundation that serves the military community by educating and training military spouses and care givers to our nation’s war wounded in rapid certification programs that allow them to work from home while continuing in their role as military spouse or caregiver. This is done for free through donations from corporations and private donors at no cost to the military families.
She has spent countless hours seeking to further educate the general public about the needs of the care givers to our nations wounded as well as create partnerships with a network of programs to meet the immediate needs of military families in crisis. She has worked to create a pilot program that gave 10 web based businesses to families of war wounded soldiers called Project Hope as well as received the Newman’s Own Fisher House Grant within the first 3 months of conception of the program. She also works with her partners to raise funds and create unique ideas to raise money for programs and funding for the training of the spouses.
To date Operation Life Transformed has paid for over 100 spouses and caregivers to enter into online training programs for careers o in fields that are done from the home which allows both military spouses and caregivers to our war wounded to continue in their main roles as support to their soldier while still bringing in a viable second income for their family. She has helped to create unique programs with Central Texas College and worked with families across Texas and the US to improve their quality of life through employment.
Colleen’s joint creation of Operation Life Transformed with her partners has brought awareness to the cause of military families and their unique needs. Colleen herself has provided numerous interviews with radio and news media such as to Army Wife Talk radio, speaker for the Soldier’s Angels Convention in San Antonio, KLIF radio the Wells report with Jon-David Wells, Talking With Heroes Radio and the Ft Hood Sentinel to name a few. She has worked to make this organization a recognized part of America Supports You a Department of defense Program and works to find unique solutions for the unique situations military families face in the realm of employment and as war wounded care givers transitioning to civilian life. She conceptualized, designed and oversaw the creation of a pendant called to Devotion to honor military spouses which is exclusive through Operation Life Transformed to raise awareness for military spouses and caregivers.
Colleen is, for all legal purposes considered deaf and depends on assistive devices such as hearing aids and a service dog to aid her in her day to day life but allows nothing to slow her down. She does not only work 8 to 10 hours a day with her duties as Chief Communications Officer of Operation Life Transformed but also manages to find free time to speak to groups of children and other organizations about her hearing dog Gretchen and the organization who trained and gave her to her Texas Hearing and Service Dogs. They have even featured on the front page of the Killeen Daily Herald. Colleen is the mother of 3 teenagers ranging in ages from 14 to 19 and makes herself available to them and their friends
as well as to their church and school programs and projects throughout the year including the Signs of Love Sign Choir, Take Five Drama Ministry costumes and other events such as the Choir boosters and FCA is her newest endeavor this school year.
Her first priority will always be her family. She is currently still going through the recovery process with her husband as he faces his surgeries and rehab from his injuries sustained in 2004 as she pursues her goals to see Operation Life Transformed grow into an organization that serves the military community for years to come.
Colleen’s dedication to the military community is evident throughout her husband military career and will continue as a legacy through her creation and leadership of Operation Life Transformed as well as her continued work with her FRG and other local programs such as THSD and working with her children and local church congregation. In April of 2008 her dedication led her to be awarded the Ft Hood Volunteer of the year and on May 6, 2008 she was invited to the White House and received the President’s Award for Life Time Volunteer service on Military Spouse Day representing Army Spouses from President George W. Bush.
BAGHDAD – Routine badge checks on the 14th of July Bridge, one minor escort violation, and teenagers hanging out on the causeway at dusk and stopping to play with some children – no major incidences of violence, no indirect fire, not even a minor traffic accident.
For the International Zone Police, it was a typical day with one exception – It was Election Day.
“It really wasn’t all that different. We saw a lot more Iraqi army and Iraqi police out on the streets, and a lot less of the public was out as well. Other than that, it really hadn’t changed all that much,” said Air Force Staff Sgt. Steven Baumann, IZ Police officer from the U.S. Forces Police Squadron in Vogelweh, Germany.
But it could have easily gone the other way. While Iraqi citizens in Baghdad celebrated the day as a holiday, inside the IZ heightened security and restricted travel was the theme, anticipating the worst possible scenarios.
“We didn’t quite know what the expectations were for today. We knew there might be a little bit of hostile activity in the area, possibly some indirect fire attacks. So we were kind of expecting that. But it’s been pretty routine throughout the day, pretty uneventful,” said IZ Police officer Tech Sgt. Brandon Wolfgang.
In fact, the only real difference was the purple index fingers of the Iraqis who the police stopped to talk to. Dipping their finger into purple ink is the last step in the voting process and a badge of honor for the citizens who voted.
“I asked them about their finger and they looked at me with a big smile and said, ‘I voted.’ That’s just a special thing,” said Airman 1st Class Ryan Patrick Meehan. This is the Airman’s first deployment to Iraq, and he said it’s one he will remember fondly.
“It’s one of the best things to know that Iraqis can vote without consequences and elect who they want to office,” he said. “It’s something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life and my kids are going to learn about in their history classes. I can help them on their school reports tell them what it was like over here.”
Meehan said that he identifies with the people of Iraq. The 19-year-old Airman participated in his first U.S. presidential election in the last year, albeit absentee. “Voting, to me, is one of the best things you can do as an American citizen. Vote for who you want in office and who you want to represent your country. We gave Iraq the freedom to vote for who they want in office and that’s just a special feeling,” he said.
The elections marked another success story in the overall picture of Iraqi independence since the implementation of the Security Agreement Jan. 1, where control of securing the International Zone was transitioned to the Iraqis.
For Wolfgang, it’s another sign that Iraqis are eager to take full control of their country, a scene he sees played out almost daily in his interaction with the Iraqi Police.
“We’re already transitioning. When they are riding with us, we let them take the lead on any incidents that involve the Iraqi people and the local nationals in the area,” said Wolfgang.
While he said he can’t speak for the Iraqi Police in other parts of the country, he feels confident that the IZ will be in good hands under the watch of the Iraqi Police.
“They take the International Zone being a safe zone very seriously,” he said. “I think it shows how seriously they are taking this. They’ve shown a lot of force in the area and they’ve done a really good job of actually securing the International Zone for the elections.”
As for the day’s events, Meehan summed it up nicely.
“The people in Iraq have been shown that they have a voice and they can vote. I knew that it would be a special day for Iraq and their history. I expected a little more chaos for us, but it’s been a pretty good day,” he said.
During tonight’s show we will be talking with Brandon Friedman, veteran of Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan and the initial invasion force into Iraq. Brandon is an outspoken advocate of soldier’s being active in the political process of this country. Brandon wrote the book, The War I Always Wanted: The Illusion of Glory and the Reality of War, and has served since 2007 as the Vice Chairman of VoteVets.org–a 100,000-member organization dedicated to getting veterans elected to public office.
We are also talking with Professor Andrew Lubin, a proud member of the distinguished USMC Combat Correspondents Association, Andrew has spent much of 2006 and 2007 in Iraq, and Afghanistan. Embedded with Marine – Army – National Guard units, he’s out in the field with the “boots on the ground,” and covering the story with the 0311’s and 0811’s in Ramadi, Mahmudiyah, and the Khyber Pass who are getting the job done. Prior to those embeds, Andrew was one of only 5 journalists on the beaches in Beirut with the 24 Marine Expeditionary Unit as they evacuated the American refugees, and earlier he was in Okinawa with 12th Marines. Andrew is about to go back to Afghanistan to do another embed so we are touching base with him before he does. Andrew also wrote the book, Charlie Battery; A Marine Artillery Unit in Iraq which he sells on his website, www.andrewlubin.com where the proceeds of the book fund his repeated trips back into Afghanistan in order to embed and tell the story of what is happening on the front lines.
In addition to those great guests we are talking to Clint Van Winkle, author of Soft Spots: A Marine’s Memoir of Combat and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. SOFT SPOTS moves effortlessly back and forth across time and continents as war scenes in reality are intermixed with war ravages remembered. Van Winkle desperately sought help from the Veteran’s Administration, but each trip to a VA facility would be another maddening adventure into bureaucratic red tape and ineptitude. He discovered it was an indifferent system that gives lip service about their concern for veterans but in reality seems to abandon them.
GEN David Petraeus, Commander of U.S. Central Command, delivers the keynote address at the Third Annual Angels of the Battlefield Award Ceremony in Washington, DC. Look at all that candy on his chest!!
I wrote about this back in January when the competition first opened, but wanted to put out a reminder. Every service is included, so this isn’t an Army thing.
It’s that time of year again. The Military Times is looking for this year’s Service Member of the Year. Each year Military Times honors an “Everyday Hero.” Someone with whom you are proud to serve. Someone whose dedication, professionalism and concern for their fellow soldiers and community set a standard for us all. It’s time for you to submit your nomination for the 2009 Service Members of the Year Awards!
To nominate a Soldier, click HERE.
To nominate a Marine, click HERE.
To nominate a Sailor, click HERE.
To nominate an Airman, click HERE.
To nominate a Coast Guardsman, click HERE.
If you know someone who is committed 24/7, here is your chance to nominate them to receive the Military Times’ Service Member of the Year Award. Previous winners have cited their award as one of the highlights of their military career.
Winners will be announced in July 2009. Don’t delay, submit your nominee now! Need some inspiration or motivation? Check out last year’s winners. To nominate someone, tell them in 300 words or less why you feel your nominee deserves this award based on his or her exceptional service achievements between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008.
I saw this on our local news this morning. Congratulations Airman Trivette, and welcome home as a citizen of the United States of America!
This military wife, turned military service member, was 14 when she arrived in the US from the Philippines. Read below on Senior Airman Trivette’s pride in serving her Country, before she was able to claim her citizenship, and how proud she is now that her citizenship has been realized.
Airman serving country now finally U.S. citizen
Brittany Bailey
3/11/2009
Excerpt
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“I always wanted to come to America, but never in my mind did I think that I would be an American citizen,” Trivette said.
In fact, Trivette would wait years for that to happen, first following in her husband’s footsteps by joining the Air National Guard.
“After being a military spouse for a while, I’ve decided, you know, I’m tired of you leaving me, I’d like to go and join the fun, and I’ve had fun ever since,” Trivette said.
For three years, Senior Airman Trivette served her country while not being able to claim it as her own. That was the case until Wednesday in Greeneville.
Trivette took an oath of U.S. citizenship along with about 245 other people from more than 60 different countries.
“It’s like a rebirth, just totally brand-new day, and it’s a world of opportunities out there for Americans,” she said.
“I’m just proud to be an American,” she said. “I can actually say that now. I’m proud to be an American, and I’m proud to fight for the country, I really am.”
Another great video from Great Americans. Sergeant First Class, Gerald Wolford describes his adventures as a U.S. Soldier and how loyalty and respect are just another common bond Soldiers earn in today’s U.S. Army!
25 moderate-to-difficult military history queries to challenge our passionate readership. Think you have what it takes to get them all right ? Take the Quiz Now.
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**Bonus: Any participant who gets a perfect score on their first try automatically wins a FREE You Served T-Shirt and is entered into a drawing to win a You Served HD Flip video camera. We’ll announce the winner on March 23rd!
Well, you all know how much I love these kinds of stories and I think you do too. A surprise visit recently brought tears of joy to one little girl’s eyes. Pentagon
