In Country With Our Troops

FOB HAMMER
Following in your parents’ footsteps takes on new meaning for a 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat team Soldier.
Pfc. Stephanie McCulley, a combat medic with 3rd HBCT, from Uniontown, Pa., followed the steps of her grandfather, who raised her. They both served in the Army. They both served in combat, and they both earned a Bronze Star Medal as a private first class.

“My grandfather raised me,” said McCulley. “He was more of a dad than a grandfather. I lived with him and my grandmother from the age of 2 until I graduated high school.”

Ronald Jobes instilled a strong sense of patriotism in McCulley at a young age.

“He would always put up a flag for my grandmother on her birthday because it was the same day as Flag Day,” said McCulley. “I remember that he fell and broke some ribs twice, but he still did it. It was very important to him.”

The man who McCulley affectionately called “Pap Pap” is much more than a patriotic father figure, however.
During World War II, Jobes fought with the 398th Infantry Division in France. From January 1945 to March 1945, Jobes routinely volunteered for dangerous night patrols to hinder the Nazi defensive preparations in his sector. Jobes went out an average of three nights a week for three months. His service and commitment did not go unnoticed by his superiors. As a private first class, Jobes was awarded the Bronze Star for his exemplary performance in Eastern France.

“I didn’t even know I had been awarded the thing until I re-enlisted for my second tour,” said Jobes. “We didn’t have a formation or anything like that. We just did our duty as best we could. Every patrol was pretty much the same. I don’t recall any one time that I earned it, but they gave it to me.”

Sixty-two years later, Jobes’ granddaughter would earn the same award for her service in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
For McCulley, receiving the same award as her grandfather was a special moment.

“I think it is interesting that we both received our awards as privates first class,” said McCulley. “Col. (Wayne) Grigsby told me my grandfather would be proud after he pinned it on me. I couldn’t help but smile after that. “

While on a combat patrol with her platoon, the lead convoy vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device. McCulley reacted instantaneously.
Leaving the safety of her humvee, she ran through the thick smoke with her section sergeant, Staff Sgt. Michael Henderson, from Vidor, Texas, to the disabled.

“I felt the IED before I heard it,” explained McCulley. “They train us to wait and let Soldiers bring the casualties to us, but I knew if anyone was alive in that truck; they were barely alive. I didn’t have time to wait. I didn’t feel much at the time. I just hopped out of our truck and ran to the truck.”

Henderson was not surprised to make it to the vehicle with McCulley by his side.

“She did what she was trained to do and then some,” said Henderson. “I knew she wouldn’t stay in the truck. That’s just the type of Soldier she is.”

Two of the three Soldiers in the vehicle were dead, but the third was alive.
Henderson and McCulley quickly freed him from the wreckage and went to work stabilizing the seriously wounded soldier.

“It’s important to remember that neither of them knew what was on the other side of that cloud,” said Capt. Steven Hemman, their team leader in the 3rd HBCT, from St. Louis. “Both of them could have run into small-arms fire or a secondary IED, but they didn’t think about that. Their only thought was getting to that vehicle and taking care of their battle buddies. I think that says something about them both.”

Hemman, who was there and nominated both Soldiers for the Bronze Star, was impressed with McCulley’s performance.

“I can’t say enough about how she performed,” he said. “I know without a doubt that if she had not performed how she did we would have lost three Soldiers that day.”

Sacrifices of a sole bread winner : Single father labors in Iraq for kids at home
By Staff Sgt. Jon Cupp, 1st BCT, 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Nearly three years ago during his first tour to Iraq, things were a little different for Sgt. Chester Temple, a supply specialist for Battery A, 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment.
He had a wife and twin premature babies to worry about – a boy, Trey, and girl, Abbey, who weighed just a little less than three pounds each and could fit in the palm of his hands.
Shortly after their birth, he had flown home to Fort Hood, Texas on emergency leave to see them for the first time but then had to return to Iraq. Later, when his tour was over in early 2005, his wife moved far away leaving him custody of the ailing twins. Eventually, a painful divorce left him a single father raising his children.
For his second deployment to Iraq, Temple had to leave his son and daughter in the care of his parents, who live in Killeen, Texas.

“The kids are doing really well now, they’re nearly three years old and healthy,” said Temple, who calls Fort Hood his home. “I had no worries leaving them with my parents. I’m glad to know that my babies are being taken care of.”

He said he worried more when his children were younger and dealing with health issues. It’s easier now.

“My son has become a chunk, getting big,” Temple said. “His sister was always bigger than he was, but now he’s outgrown her. But they’re both healthy and happy.”

Temple’s father is a retired Soldier and his mother now works at home with her own business, processing physician’s orders for nursing homes via computer. They are able to easily watch Abbey and Trey and take turns doing so, Temple said.

“My parents are great people. I was raised by the best,” he said. “I really appreciate what they’re doing for me and the sacrifices they’re making at home. I’ve got pretty good kids and they’re not that hard to manage,” added Temple. “They’re communicating well now and can tell you when they’re hungry and thirsty.”

“I also call them on the phone,” he added. “They tell me they love me and miss me. Trey will usually tell me what he’s watching on TV and Abbey will look at the phone trying to figure out how I got in there.”

To stave off depression and keep his mind off his family, Temple said he often keeps himself busy so the time goes by quicker.

“The best thing to do is for me to engulf myself in my work,” said Temple. “When I can’t contain thinking about them, a telephone call always softens things up and makes it easier to cope. It can be lonely (without your family), but I joined the military for a sense of pride-my family heritage.” Temple noted that not only did his father retire from the Army, but both of his grandfathers, most of his uncles and three brothers have all served in the military.

When he gets back home from this deployment, Temple said he has a lot of things he wants to do with his kids. Most of the things they like to do together involve being outdoors, but there is one special place he likes to take them.

“They love to look at the animals at the zoo in Waco,” said Temple. “I plan on taking them first to the zoo and then out to eat.”

For Father’s Day this year, Temple said he hopes to convey a simple message to people who ask him why he’s in Iraq when he could instead have chosen another career path that would have allowed him to have been home with his kids.

“I love this,” he said. “Too often the American people as a whole forget the price that’s been paid for freedom. They’ll take the freedoms they have for granted and lay them by the wayside.

“People in Iraq have never had true freedom before, but you can see they love the taste of it,” Temple said. “We’re helping them to get those freedoms. Everybody needs to think about that, especially when so many people have laid their lives on the line for it.”

Wild Thing’s comment……….
Love it when we share the stories of our troops and how they are doing. Each one has their own story to tell. I am so proud of all of them.