Marine Returns to Corps After 21 Years

KAJAKI SOFLA, Afghanistan – He can be found in the early mornings, rousing exhausted twenty year-olds from the rack with a mug of steaming coffee in hand, or come evening, shrouded in a veil of cigar smoke, reclining in a leather armchair within a plank and plywood shack of his own construction.
In the corner of the shanty, a rusty and once derelict oven has been put to good use, and the fire smoldering inside never seems to go out, which is something that can be said of Sgt. Randy King, a platoon guide with 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, who serves alongside the Marines of 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, at Forward Operating Base White House near Kajaki Sofla.



From the Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division
Story and photos by Cpl. James Clark

KAJAKI SOFLA, Afghanistan – He can be found in the early mornings, rousing exhausted twenty year-olds from the rack with a mug of steaming coffee in hand, or come evening, shrouded in a veil of cigar smoke, reclining in a leather armchair within a plank and plywood shack of his own construction.
In the corner of the shanty, a rusty and once derelict oven has been put to good use, and the fire smoldering inside never seems to go out, which is something that can be said of Sgt. Randy King, a platoon guide with 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, who serves alongside the Marines of 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, at Forward Operating Base White House near Kajaki Sofla.
At first glance, he appears weathered and hard-bitten, but within seconds a smile flashes across his face, followed shortly by a gruff, but full-bellied laugh and his eyes look back with both wisdom and benevolence.
The 50-year-old sergeant from Ashville, N.C., walks among his Marines, dolling out advice while they work, and a helping hand where needed.
He is a man of two Corps’, of two generations of Marines, having begun his time in the service in 1979, serving for eight years before ending his active duty contract, for nearly two decades, before returning once more.
“I liked everything there was about the Marine Corps,” said King, explaining how when he was in high school, he accompanied a friend of his to the recruiter’s office, and found something he didn’t know he was looking for.
“Listening to the recruiter talk, I thought, ‘I like this; I want to be a Marine.’ I was 17 years old, in high school, trying to become a man, and once I started talking to him I knew I wasn’t going any place else. Marines were the toughest, the best, and at once I knew I really wanted to do this, become a Marine and a man in the same instance, in my mind.”
Shortly thereafter, King was on his way to recruit training. Originally in the motor transportation field, he changed specialties at the end of his first enlistment, going into logistics, but after eight years, he ended his active duty service.
“I love the honor. You look out for my back and I got yours…the mentorship and seeing Marines grow,” explained King. “Even if they just stay in for four years, you’re trying to create a better person, a better man. We have honor, courage, the types of things that as a boy you idolize, like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood characters, but the real thing. As a Marine, you try to live by those standards; being a good Marine means being a good person.”
“I loved it the entire time I was in,” said King, adding that he got out for his family, and during the time away from the Corps, met his current wife. “She had two kids and I had two, so we had a sort of ‘Brady Bunch’ thing going on.”
King, who currently serves in the Marine Corps Reserve, and works as a captain in the Enka-Candler fire and rescue department in North Carolina, found himself back in the recruiter’s office 21 years later, once again accompanying another on their way to enlist; his son.
“My son went down and started talking to the recruiter … and I went down there with him to check his paperwork, and the recruiter was talking to me. He said ‘you’re a retired Marine?,’ I was like, ‘no sir, I’m not. I spent eight years in then got out.’ He asked ‘why don’t I come back in,’ and I started laughing at him. ‘I’m 47 years old, who’re you joking!’ and he said ‘no, you can get a waiver and six months you can be in.’ ‘I said, give me the paperwork.’”
King finishes the story with a long laugh, and an easy smile, before adding, “my wife says I’ve always been a Marine, and it’s true, once a Marine, always a Marine.”
Six months later, King was headed back to the Marine Corps, and his son was beginning his first enlistment, and now serves as a military policeman aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C.
With the experiences under his belt, a career back home, an associate’s degree, a wife and a family of four, most in King’s situation would be looking toward retirement, an end to work, but he seems intent on the opposite.
“I’ve been working ever since to get on active duty and I plan on finishing out 20 years,’ King said. “ I plan to show my wife some of the world. Ever since we got together we’ve always had kids, but now that it’s just her and I since they’re grown, it’s time for us to go out and see the world, depending on where I’m stationed, maybe travel, see the world. It’s just the lifestyle I’d like to show her for the next 10 years.”
But, before King can begin to work toward his long term goal of retirement, he must finish out this deployment, where both his inherent leadership skills, and experience, have earned him the respect of those he serves with.
“He’s just kind of the ‘go-to-guy’; you know he’s older and seems to know everything,” said Lance Cpl. Joseph Perry, combat engineer, from Maryville, Tenn., and a 2009 graduate of Maryville High School.
“I think he and Jesus went to high school together,” Perry added jokingly. “He’s one of those ‘there’s a thousand ways to skin a cat’ guys. In his civilian job he’s a captain at his fire department, and a lot of the leadership carries over. You can see it. He really does care about his guys.”
After a close friend of his was injured during combat operations in support of 1/6, Perry turned to King for help.
“I had a lot of trouble sleeping, and just problems with combat stress. Talking to Sgt. King at night, because he’s been there and has seen people hurt, and because he’s older and experienced, he’s given me ways to deal with it.”
Looking out for the welfare of those subordinate to a leader is one of their core roles, second only to mission accomplishment. With someone like King, it’s readily apparent the moment he introduces himself, offering a drink, or a cigar, and prowling the engineer lot for scrap wood to help make tables and desks for others.
“You see a lot of the young guys around here, and they’re like my kids,” said King. “It makes me feel good to try to help mentor or coach them along and watch them grow, like the guys on this deployment. It makes me feel good to see how they’ve grown and matured, they’re still young, all Marines are in a sense. I’m a big kid at heart, but, we’re more mature about what we do and how we make decisions. Do we make that right decision or do we goof off?”
For King, his determination to stay in is dependent not on time, but on capability, he explains, “As long as I am in shape so I can compete with them on their level, not in the 46-and-up bracket, but in their bracket and those guys have to keep up with me, I want to stay in, but when I’m not, it’s time for me to get out of here.”
With the end of their deployment just around the corner, King prepares to head home to his wife and children, but even while abroad he takes comfort in the fact that where there are Marines, he has both a home and a family.

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Last Vietnam veteran in North Dakota National Guard to retire

FARGO, N.D. — While most North Dakota Guardsmen are war veterans, one holds a special distinction: He’s the last serving combat Vietnam War veteran in the North Dakota National Guard.

When Master Sgt. Alan K. Peterson, of West Fargo, N.D., retired Nov. 30, he ended an era in both the Army and Air National Guard in the state. There’s believed to be only one remaining Vietnam vet nationwide in the Air Force, and while it’s unknown, there are presumably very few left in the Army.

“Throughout his decades-long military career, Master Sgt. Peterson served this state and nation with honor and distinction, whether assisting his fellow citizens here at home or defending this great country in foreign lands,” said Gov. Jack Dalrymple. “His retirement marks the end of an era for the North Dakota National Guard, bringing to a close the exemplary service and leadership of a generation of patriots who served in the Vietnam War. We are grateful to Master Sgt. Peterson and all of our Vietnam veterans for their noble and courageous service.”

During the ceremony, Peterson received the federal Meritorious Service Medal and North Dakota Legion of Merit, as well as several certificates, a commemorative musket, plaques, a host of letters wishing him well and a cased U.S. flag. His wife, Christie, also received a framed certificate of appreciation in honor of her support during her husband’s decades-long military career.

“Thank you for sharing Al with us all of these years,” Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, North Dakota adjutant general, said to Peterson’s family during today’s retirement ceremony at the Fargo Armed Forces Reserve Center. “As I said to Christie, it’s the family that really has the tough job when our Soldiers are called to war and called to duty.”


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Former Airman Saved the Dog Who Saved Him

Former Senior Airman David Sharpe embraces his dog Cheyenne at their home Sept. 22, 2011, in Arlington, Va. Sharpe is the founder of Pets 2 Vets, a nonprofit organization that pairs shelter animals with veterans who live with post-traumatic stress disorder. Sharpe credits Cheyenne with saving his life. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes)

ARLINGTON, Va. – When former Air Force Senior Airman David Sharpe adopted a pit bull puppy from a rescue shelter 10 years ago, he thought he was saving her life. In a dramatic twist of events just a few months later, she ended up saving his.
Sharpe was on the verge of taking his life.
As he sat on the kitchen floor of his apartment with a .45 caliber handgun in his hand — “ready to finish the fight with the demons that followed me back from the war” — that pit bull puppy, named Cheyenne, sat down on the floor next to Sharpe and licked his ear. It made him laugh — something he hadn’t done much. Something clicked for him, he said, and his reason for living became clear at that moment: to care for Cheyenne.
Sharpe had been suffering from an undiagnosed case of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. As a security forces airman stationed at Langley Air Force Base, Va., he went on his first deployment in December 2001 to Saudi Arabia, where he came face to face with a Taliban sympathizer who would change his life.
Sharpe said he had been working with the man for a while, though he was mostly quiet and kept to himself. One day he found the man laughing hysterically in the guard shack and asked what was so funny. The local man pointed to a picture in an Arabic newspaper of the planes crashing into the twin towers and he said he praised Allah the day this happened. Sharpe said he got angry with the man and told him to stop talking like that. Then he turned to walk away.
“I turned around and I heard a couple of ‘clicks’ and ‘clacks’ and this little guy is pointing his [submachine gun] right at me,” Sharpe said. “I froze for a few seconds, but it felt like days. I looked at him and pulled my M-16 up and charged it. We were yelling at each other and then a [British] guard came in and pointed his weapon at the guy, and then a French guard came in the side door and pointed his weapon at the British guard.”
Once the incident de-escalated, Sharpe had to recount it to his unit leaders numerous times. With the official procedures for debriefing such an incident completed, Sharpe was referred to the chaplain.
“I went and saw the chaplain, and that lasted for all of about two minutes,” Sharpe said. “[The chaplain said], ‘Tell me what happened, Airman Sharpe.’ I said, ‘I don’t even want to talk to you right now, sir. No offense — I just want to be left alone.’”
Sharpe said the chaplain told him to come back when he was ready, but Sharpe never went back. He finished the rest of his deployment without incident and returned home to Virginia, but things did not go back to “normal” for Sharpe.
“I started having nightmares about this guy taking his weapon and pointing it in my face,” he said. “I had visions of the bullet going through my head and coming out the other side. I woke and I started crying, and then I started calling myself a bunch of names and saying to myself, ‘Suck it up.’ ‘What’s wrong with you?’”
Sharpe said he began having violent outbursts with his family and friends over the simplest of questions, especially about his deployment. He began starting fights with strangers and even turned on his friends. One friend in particular continued to reach out to Sharpe.
“One of my friends came to check up on me and said, ‘Hey, there’s this pit bull rescue I want to check out. Do you want to come with me?’” Sharpe said. “I said, ‘Absolutely. I want to get a fighting dog — I’m a fighter.’ So I went, and there were about eight puppies running around in a pen, and all of them were all over me. But there was one that was off in the corner, and that was the one I chose.”

Cheyenne belongs to former Senior Airman David Sharpe, the founder of Pets 2 Vets. Sharpe adopted Cheyenne from a pit bull rescue when she was just a few weeks old. She has been with Sharpe for more than 10 years and has helped him cope with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes)

 
Sharpe said when he took Cheyenne home he felt better immediately. Though he was happier since he had gotten his new companion, he said, he continued to have violent outbursts. During one outburst in the kitchen of their apartment, Cheyenne watched and waited for Sharpe to calm down.
“I picked her up and took her back to my bed, and I just lost it — started crying, bawling,” Sharpe said. “She didn’t say anything. She inched her way up [to my face]. She knew something was wrong. She just started licking the tears off my cheek. It makes you laugh, it tickles, and I immediately starting feeling relief, because I didn’t have anyone [saying] to me, ‘How do you feel now? Are you glad you got that off your chest?’ She never asked. I told her on my own terms.”
Sharpe didn’t realize it at the time, but he and Cheyenne were engaging in a form of pet therapy. She would be his confidant on the road from that lonely night on the cold linoleum floor when he considered suicide to being a champion for other veterans with the same struggles.
“Pet therapy helps people who have PTSD to reconnect with the world,” said Megan O’Connell, a clinical nurse specialist at Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center at Fort George G. Meade, Md. “It helps to create a routine, a sense of connection, when you have to feed the dog and make sure the dog is watered, that it has all of its shots. It helps you. It forces you to become part of this world and to start to reintegrate.
“Especially dogs — they react to body language,” O’Connell continued. “If your body language is stressed, they want to come over, because they want you to stop being stressed, so they pay a lot of attention to you. It makes you feel like they care and they’re listening, and that makes you feel comfortable to want to open up more.”
In the meantime, Sharpe separated from the Air Force after six years of service. A few months later, after watching a TV news special about service animals, Sharpe came up with the idea to pair up shelter animals with veterans living with PTSD. He called the program Pets 2 Vets.
Sharpe took $3,500 of his personal savings to get started. Unlike other programs, P2V provided companion animals to veterans versus other programs that provided service animals to perform physical tasks for disabled veterans.
Initially, Sharpe would pick up veterans who were recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and take them to local shelters to interact with the animals. As the program grew, P2V provided an avenue for veterans to adopt their own companion animals as well as give veterans at Walter Reed an opportunity to visit shelter animals during their recovery.
About a year after Sharpe founded P2V, he reached a milestone. He was finally ready to talk to a human about his experiences while deployed. After meeting with doctors from the Veterans Affairs Department, Sharpe was diagnosed with PTSD and depression — five years after he separated from the military, and nine years after the incident in Saudi Arabia.
“One of the problems with PTSD is that it really destroys people’s trust,” O’Connell said. “They feel disconnected. One of the things a dog can do is help to be that bridge to trust. Unless you’ve had a bad experience, most people have very positive feelings toward pets, so people are more willing in a lot of ways to talk to the dog or relate to the dog than they are to another person, especially if they’ve been through a traumatic experience.”
Although the battle with PTSD is never over, P2V has placed more than 50 shelter animals with veterans, and Sharpe is now married to his long-time friend, the former Jenny Fritcher. Later this year, David, Jenny and Cheyenne will welcome a baby boy into their family.
“I always say Cheyenne brought me to Jenny,” Sharpe said. “If it wasn’t for Cheyenne, I wouldn’t have this beautiful wife and beautiful life. She saved me.”

Former Senior Airman David Sharpe and his wife, Jenny, share a family moment with their dog Cheyenne outside their home Sept. 22, 2011, in Arlington, Va. Sharpe is the founder of Pets 2 Vets, a nonprofit organization that pairs shelter animals with veterans. Sharpe came up with the idea for P2V after he realized how Cheyenne’s companionship helped him deal with traumatic events he went through while deployed to Saudia Arabia. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes)

By Air Force Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes, Defense Media Activity
From www.defense.gov 

photos hi-res versions:

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Portland Marine engages enemy, leads team to safety

FORWARD OPERATING BASE PAYNE, Afghanistan – For much of their deployment, Marines of 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion have found an insurgent force which was reluctant to fight them toe to toe. Rather, the enemy has relied more on improvised explosive devices and indirect fire.




Regional Command Southwest
Story and photos by Cpl. Adam Leyendecker

However, on April 20, Lance Cpl. Jesse K. Knerr, section leader for 3rd Platoon, E Company, 3rd LAR, and native of Portland, Ore., found that when insurgents have their backs against the wall they are left with no choice but to fight.

The mission of the day was to conduct a search of an area that hadn’t been explored by coalition forces, but was suspected of being a site for possible insurgent fighting positions.

When Knerr and his fire team patrolled the area, they found structures made of rock, which blended into the ridge of the mountain. This was different than the buildings they were accustomed to seeing, which were mainly mud huts.

Knerr signaled for his team to search the structures, where they found battery packs, rocket-propelled grenades, enemy propaganda and half-eaten meals that were still warm.

After radioing in the intelligence, Knerr and his fire team followed a trail outside the buildings, which led up the ridge of the mountain to a small cave with an even bigger cave about 100 meters above it.

As they walked up the ridge, the fire team found fighting positions all along the ridge. Suddenly, they began taking small-arms fire from insurgents in the bigger cave, only about a football length away from their positions.

The fire team immediately found cover. It was around 4:30 p.m. when Staff Sgt. Yobani Tejada, platoon sergeant for 3rd Platoon, received a radio call from Knerr stating that his team was engaged by enemy fire on the mountain ridge.

Tejada, who was in a Light Armored Vehicle 25 at the bottom of the mountain, told the Marines to find cover so they could provide fire from their turret and call in air support.

Knerr realized he had to come up with a plan which would get his Marines out of there safely.

Spotting an area which supplied sufficient cover, Knerr directed the Marines to suppress the enemy’s fire while each of them advanced toward the area.

After the Marines were clear, Knerr radioed back to Tejada, who had two vehicles simultaneously suppressing the enemy’s fire. The insurgents returned fire with rocket-propelled grenades, but came no closer than 100 meters of the vehicles. Air support arrived in the form of F-18s, which destroyed the enemy positions.

Afterward, Knerr was thankful that he and his fire team made it out safely.

“I knew that we all had to come together at that very moment when we were under fire and execute my plan perfectly or lives could be lost,” said Knerr. “In a situation like that, there is no room for error.”

Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua I. White, a corpsman who was with the fire team, said he and the other fire team members give credit to Tejada for preparing them for the situation.

“He’s always told us to strengthen our mind, or we’ll lose it,” said White.

In this particular battle, the strong mental awareness of Knerr and his fire team made all the difference in successfully getting the team out of a dangerous situation.

Members of 3rd Platoon, E Company, 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, stand in front of their Light Armored Vehicle 25 at Forward Operating Base Payne in Helmand province, Afghanistan, April 26. From left to right: Staff Sgt. Yobani Tejada, 3rd platoon sergeant; Cpl. Samuel E. Sirman, combat engineer; Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua I. White, corpsman; Lance Cpl. Luis Maldonado-Santiago, LAV 25 gunner; Pfc. Tyler A. Nikkel, LAV 25 driver; Lance Cpl. Levi R. Hale, rifleman; and Lance Cpl. Jesse K. Knerr (center), section leader.

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