WEATHERFriday

Thursday, July 29, 2010 www.paraglideonline.net

BY CAROLINE GOINS

USAJFKSWCS PAO

John Wayne has toured Afghani-stan and Iraq, huntedgrizzly bears inAlaska andearned the Sil-ver Star; andas of July 16,he is the firsto n e - l e g g e dSoldier tog r a d u -a t e

the Special Forces Sniper Course.Staff Sgt. John Wayne Walding of

Groesbeck, Texas, that is.In April 2008, Walding and nine

other Special Forces Soldiers froma 3rd Special Forces Group assaultteam were attacked by the HezebIslami al Gulbadin while search-ing for insurgents in Afghanistan’sShok Valley.

Walding, one of several teammembers who were injured, took abullet through his right leg under

his knee.“I ripped off my boot laceand literally tied my leg

to my thigh to keep itfrom flapping around,”Walding said.

Over the six-and-a-half hour fire-fight, more than150 insurgentswere killed. Themembers of theassault team wereeach awardedthe Silver Star inDecember 2008,for their coura-geous actions in

Shok Valley.While recu-

perating, Waldingworked as an assistant

instructor at 3rd SFG’s sniper de-tachment at Fort Bragg. In orderto become a full-time instructor, he

Saturday Sunday

courtesy of NOAA

91° 70°93° 71°

91° 69°

WHERE TO GOIn Brief ........................ 6AProvost Marshal ......... 6AFlightline..................... 8ARange Schedule ........ 2BJump Schedule.......... 2BAt The Movies............. 2CStraight Up ................. 2CSpotlight ..................... 3CYour Health................. 4CWorship ...................... 5CNoteworthy................. 8CSidelines..................... 1DClassifieds.................. 4D

IN THE KNOW

Sweet SouthernSoftball: Pope wom-en’s team places inpost softball finals.

SPORTS - 1D

LIFE - 1CMilitary miracle: Sol-dier’s survival an in-spiration to woundedwarrior community.

FOCUS - 4B

FLIGHTLINE - 8A

Preparing for theworst: Fort Braggresponds to a mockradiologi-cal deto-nationduringannualOrbit Comet exercise.

NEWS - 4AHometown heroes:Military Police brigaderedeploys to cheeringFamily and friends.

Air Force aims high:Shooting star lightsthe way for TeamPope Airmen.

Armed ServicesYMCA Kids’ Olym-pics: Aug. 7 from 9a.m. to 1 p.m. at thePolo Field, corner ofKnox and Randolphstreets. Downloadregistration form atwww.braggasymca.org and mail to 208Thorncliff Drive, Fay-etteville, N.C. 28302or drop it off at Build-ing 2-2411 on Jack-son Street. 436-0500.

Telling the Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base Story TM

Volume XLVI, Number 30

BY SGT. TONY HAWKINS

USASOC PAO

Soldiers from all seven SpecialForces groups looked on fromtheir formations like living stat-ues as the regiment welcomeda familiar face during the U.S.Army Special Forces Commandchange of command ceremony onMeadows Field, July 21.

Out-going commander, Maj.Gen. Michael S. Repass said anemotional farewell to the Soldiershe has lead for the last two yearsas he passed command of the reg-iment to Fayetteville-native Brig.Gen. Edward M. Reeder Jr. dur-ing the ceremony. Lt. Gen. JohnF. Mulholland Jr., commandinggeneral of U.S. Army SpecialOperations Command, servedas the reviewing officer for theevent.

“It’s a wonderful, but bittersweetmoment, as we say farewell to anextraordinary command teamand then welcome another one,”Mulholland said. “(Repass) hasprovided extraordinary leadershipdefined by absolute commitmentand passion and the willingnessto take on the toughest challeng-es. We cannot thank you enoughfor the great work you have done.

As well as ithas been donein the past, noone has done itbetter.”

A l t h o u g hthe majorityof his SpecialForces ca-reer has beenserved withunits not lo-cated at FortBragg, in-cluding 1st,5th and 10thSpecial ForcesGroups, Re-pass said hehas always feltat home here.

“It was greatto return herebecause I wastreated like one of your own,” hesaid.

Reflecting back on his tenureas the commander of all ArmyGreen Berets, Repass had partingwords of respect and admirationfor those “Quiet Professionals” heled.

“Your success daily in placesboth famous and obscure con-tinually amazes all of us who

know what you are up to,” hesaid. “Your nation has relied onyou heavily in times of peril, andyou’ve delivered results time andtime again.”

Repass is slated to take com-mand at U.S. Special OperationsCommand Europe in Stuttgart,Germany.

Mulholland spoke with highregard for his old friend Reeder,

who comes toUSASFC afterserving as thecommander ofthe CombinedForces SpecialO p e r a t i o n sC o m p o n e n tCommand-Af-ghanistan.

“To Ed andAdrian, wel-come home,”M u l h o l l a n dsaid. “A lo-cal boy donegood. I’ve hadthe pleasure ofserving along-side and know-ing Ed for manyyears, and I willtell you with-out hesitation,

there’s not a better man for thisjob than Ed Reeder. There’s noone better or more experienced tohelp continue to shape this greatregiment.”

Closing the ceremony, Reederremarked of how honored he isto be given the opportunity tocommand.

82ND ABN. DIV. PAO

K A N DA -HAR, Af-g h a n i s t a n -An 82ndA i r b o r n eD i v i s i o nparatrooperwas killedin southern Afghanistan,July 19.

Staff Sgt. Brian Piercy,an infantryman withCompany A, 2nd Battal-ion, 508th Parachute In-fantry Regiment, 4th Bri-gade Combat Team waskilled by an improvisedexplosive device during acombat patrol in the Ar-ghandab River Valley.

“Staff Sergeant Piercywas an extraordinary Sol-dier, friend, mentor and aneven better person,” said1st Lt. Matthew J. Her-nandez, his platoon leader.“He always led by exampleand took care of his menbefore himself.

He has made a lastingimpact on all of us andhe will always be remem-bered.”

The 27-year-old non-commissioned officer wasa native of Clovis, Calif.He joined the Army Oct.19, 2004, and attendedOne Station Unit Trainingand Airborne School atFort Benning, Ga., beforearriving at Fort Bragg.

Piercy was assigned to3rd Battalion, 325th Air-borne Infantry Regiment,July 9, 2005, after com-pleting training.

Shortly after Piercy ar-rived, the battalion wasreflagged 2nd Bn., 508thPIR and became part ofthe newly activated 4thBCT.

Piercy deployed with theunit from February 2007to April 2008 and stayedon to deploy again in Au-gust 2009.

He is survived by hiswife Christina, and hisparents, Thomas and Car-olyn Piercy.

A memorial in his honorwill be held in Afghani-stan.

Eagle eye: Special Forces Soldier becomes firstamputee to graduate sniper course

Army Special Forces welcomes Fayetteville native as new commander

Soldier killedin Afghanistan

Piercy

Photo by Capt. Michael Greenberger/5th MPAD

OperationWelcome Home

BY STEPHENIE TATUM

PARAGLIDE

The Lt. Dan Band, including Emmy-award winning actor, Gary Sinise, will wel-come Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Basepersonnel home from recent deploy-ments by playing a free concertSaturday.

The concert, OperationWelcome Home, will begin

CSI: NY actor Gary Sinise playshis bass guitar with the Lt. DanBand during a concert in Afghani-stan Nov. 23, 2009.See Band, Page 5A

Photo by Cherish Washington/USASOC PAO

Lieutenant Gen. John F. Mulhol-land, Special Operations Com-mand commanding general, pinsthe Silver Star on Staff Sgt. JohnWalding during a ceremony on Dec.12, 2008, for his valorous actions incombat. He received the Silver Starwith 18 other fellow Soldiers from3rd Special Forces Group.

See Sniper, Page 5A

Photo by Sgt. Tony Hawkins/USASOC PAO

Brig. Gen. Edward M. Reeder Jr., left, incoming commanding general ofU.S. Army Special Forces Command, receives the command’s colors from Lt.Gen. John F. Mulholland, USASOC commanding general, during a changeof command ceremony on Meadows Field at Fort Bragg July 21. Reeder as-sumed command from Maj. Gen. Michael S. Repass in the ceremony.

See Commander, Page 5A

30%

July 29, 2010 5Awww.paraglideonline.net

with doors opening at3:30 p.m. at the CrownColiseum and musicstarting at 5 p.m.

About 7,615 ticketswere given away throughunit chains of commandto servicemembers whorecently redeployed andtheir Families to attendthe exclusive show.

According to TommyBolton, civilian aideto the secretary of theArmy, the concert ideawas suggested in De-cember 2009 by Maj.Gen. Curtis M. Scapar-rotti, 82nd Airborne Di-vision commander, dur-ing a trip Bolton madeto Bagram Airfield, Af-ghanistan.

Then in mid-January,Sinise contacted Boltonand they were able toget the project started.Bolton said it was greatto see civilian and mili-tary organizations at thenational, regional andlocal level come togetherfor a common cause —to support and welcomehome the troops.

“America is an incred-ible place to call home.The most amazing assetthat our country has everproduced is the Ameri-can Soldier. These menand women place them-selves in harm’s way forus everyday … We are soprivileged and fortunateto have them in our com-munity. The very leastwe can do is say ‘thankyou’,” said Bolton.

The concert is an ex-ample of the ArmyCommunity Covenantat work demonstratingFort Bragg and the local

communities continuedsupport for the troopsand their Families.

Since the 1990s,Bolton has been orga-nizing events for thetroops and their Fami-lies. He started Opera-tion Celebrate Freedom,which is held every yearon July 4 at Fort Braggand he was instrumen-tal in bringing the Dis-ney on Ice performanceto Fayetteville for theFamilies of Soldiers lastyear.

Bolton was quick tosay that he was not alonewhen it came to bring-ing the band to playfor the troops. He alsocredited Keith Allison,Ron Matthews, Sha-ron Lewis, John Elliott,John Meroski, CharlesBroadwell, Bruce Sykes,Ramona Moore, as wellas the Special Forces As-sociation, Association ofthe United States Army,Bragg Special ActivitiesCommunity, Associationof Special Operations,and the Armed ForcesCommunications andElectronics Association.

Sinise is best known asLt. Dan from the popu-lar movie from 1994,“Forest Gump” and hiscurrent role as DetectiveMac Taylor, in the TVshow “CSI: NY.”

According to theUSO website, over thepast seven years, Siniseand the Lt. Dan Bandhave entertained near-ly 150,000 troops andmilitary Families in theU.S., Japan, South Koreaand Afghanistan. Musicplayed by the band in-cludes Linkin Park, JimiHendrix, Aretha Frank-lin and a variety of popsongs.

had to complete the Special ForcesSniper Course at SWCS.

During the course, many ofWalding’s classmates didn’t knowabout his injury and prostheticleg. Walding said he enjoyed hisfellow Soldiers’ reactions uponlearning about his missing leg.

“At first, (my classmates) wereshocked to realize I was missinga leg,” Walding said. “Then, theyrealized ‘Wow, he’s doing every-thing I’m doing!’”

After his injury, Walding knewhe wasn’t going to give up andleave the Army. He also didn’twant to spend the rest of his ca-reer behind a desk.

“You don’t become a Green Be-ret because you ‘kind of like it,’you become a Green Beret be-cause you love it and can’t imaginebeing anything else,” he said.

Walding said he refused to lowerhis personal standards followinghis injury and pushed himself toexcel as an instructor because heknew teams and Soldiers were re-lying on him. Because of his pastexperiences, Walding said he hasa lot to offer as a member of aSpecial Forces team, and wouldn’t

bother trying to get back to a teamif he hadn’t felt he could be an as-set.

The seven-week Special Forc-es Sniper Course teaches snipermarksmanship, semiautomaticshooting, ballistics theory andtactical movement. Sergeant 1stClass Christopher Owens, anSFSC instructor in 2nd Battal-ion, 1st Special Warfare Train-ing Group, emphasized the im-portance of these skills and saidit takes Soldiers like Walding topush themselves to the limits.

“Snipers have become moredynamic over the past 10 years,”Owens said. “Considering cur-rent operations overseas, snipershave never been more prevalent,because of the need for distanceshooting in rugged terrain.”

Walding said he loves everythingabout training to be a sniper, par-ticularly the mission, the guns andthe skill. He even enjoyed train-ing during the hottest June everrecorded in North Carolina.

“The skill of a Special Forcessniper is unparalleled,” Waldingsaid. “This is the most prestigioussniper school in the world. Thatmeans something,” Walding said.

“There was never a doubt thatWalding would do well in thiscourse,” Owens said. “He is

extremely motivated and that nev-er dropped during the course.”

“He never asked for specialtreatment; he did the same train-ing as everyone else and scoredwell in all the exercises.”

Walding’s no-quit attitude hastaken him from Walter ReedArmy Medical Center in Wash-ington D.C. back to Fort Bragg,where he’s become the first ampu-tee to graduate from the SpecialForces Sniper Course.

During his initial recovery atWalter Reed Army Medical Cen-ter in Washington D.C., Waldingset up short-term goals for him-self. He was a runner before theincident, averaging 50 miles perweek. During recovery, he wouldget up and run a little more everyday, always keeping his focus onthat next step.

Walding is using the same pro-cess to work his way back to anoperational role.

As a Soldier, his first step was tofinish the sniper course; the nextstep is acting as an instructor forhis fellow Soldiers. He said he’shoping to work his way back toa place on an operational SpecialForces detachment.

“I’m John Wayne, born on the4th of July. This is what I wasmeant to do.” Walding said.

“As a member of this hon-ored regiment … as a son ofthis great city, it’s also great tobe home,” he said. “I’d like tothank General Mulholland forthe opportunity to serve thisgreat regiment once again. Iwas present at the ceremonycasing the colors of 1st SO-COM and activating the U.S.Army Special Forces Com-mand as a young captain and Iwould have never in my wildestimagination thought I would bestanding here one day receivingthe colors of this magnificentcommand.”

Band� from page 1A

Sniper

Commander: Hometown brigadier general honored to lead

� from page 1A

� from page 1A

Photo by Sgt. Tony Hawkins/USASOC PAO

Brigadier Gen. Edward M. Reeder Jr., incoming commanding general of U.S.Army Special Forces Command, delivers the closing remarks during a changeof command ceremony on Meadows Field at Fort Bragg, July 21.