HHouses ouses ofof WWorshiporship

LIVINGMarch 19, 2015 C3www.FortHoodSentinel.com

BY STAFF SGT. KIMBERLY LESSMEISTER

69th ADA Bde. Public Affairs

Sgt. Mitchell Stout set the example for air defense artillery Soldiers when he selflessly gave his life to protect his fellow comrades in 1st Battal-ion, 44th Artillery, when a grenade landed inside their bunker March 12, 1970, in Vietnam.

His actions earned him the Medal of Honor and leaders at the ADA Senior Leaders Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, commonly refer to the distinguished leadership award as the Sgt. Mitchell Stout Leadership Award.

When Sgt. 1st Class Yancy Hamp-ton, the first sergeant of Battery B, 1-44 ADA Regt. attended SLC in late February, he said he felt it was his duty to earn the award on behalf of Stout.

“Once I learned Sgt. Mitchell Stout was actually in (1-44 ADA Regt.) … that just made me want to win that award even more and honor him because he’s the first and only air defense artillery Medal of Honor recipient,” Hampton explained.

The 12-year 69th ADA Bde. vet-eran earned the leadership award and also made the Commandant’s List, which is comprised of the top-scoring 20 percent of the class.

Hampton said he has had many mentors who influenced him to be the best leader and Soldier he could be.

He initially joined the military to follow in his uncle’s footsteps, who was a sergeant in the Army.

Later, while stationed in Germany as a private, Hampton met his “life-long mentor” Command Sgt. Maj. Jerome Wiggins, who is currently the incoming command sergeant major for the U.S. Space and Missile Defense Command.

“My initial impression was that he could really be anything he wanted to be,” Wiggins said.

He said that when Hampton was a private, he began to fall in with

the wrong crowd, but Wiggins never gave up on Hampton because he saw his potential.

“I love my Soldiers because I want to afford them the opportunity to be the very best they want to be,” Wiggins said. “Had someone not invested time and energy in me, I would not be in this position.”

Hampton has adopted many of Wissings’ teachings.

“You’re only as strong as your weakest link” is one of the phrases Hampton said Wiggins taught him that has become one of his own mot-tos in life.

Wiggins’ lessons on believing in troubled Soldiers now transcends through Hampton’s leadership style, as Lt. Col. Maurice Barnett, the dep-uty commander of 69th ADA Bde., who has worked with Hampton on and off since 2008, attested.

“(Hampton’s) engagement and

passion for training Soldiers is prob-ably the most of any NCO I’ve worked with,” Barnett said. “He sees the good in every Soldier, I think that’s one of the great things about him.”

Wiggins said Hampton is the quintessential throwback noncom-missioned officer with new school flavor.

“Hampton has ‘old school’ Army leadership abilities, but puts a new spin where it resonates with new Sol-diers,” Wiggins explained.

Barnett said Hampton’s leadership style makes it easier for Soldiers to trust him as a leader.

“He has the type of personality that Soldiers gravitate toward him and I think, for the most part, it’s because they can sense his genuine care and concern for their individual wellbeing and development,” Barnett explained.

Hampton’s stellar performance at SLC heightens his credibility as a sergeant first class who is filling the shoes of a first sergeant, Barnett said.

“He’s at the next level of responsi-bility even though he hasn’t achieved the next level of rank,” Barnett said. “I think that’s kind of the example that you want Soldiers to see, espe-cially for a guy like him, who men-tors a lot of the junior NCOs not just in his battery, but in the bat-talion.”

Wiggins served as a first sergeant while he was a sergeant first class, also, and said he is proud of Hamp-ton’s career path and the potential he still displays that Wiggins identified so many years ago.

“Some command sergeant major had to see something special in him,” Wiggins said, referring to the fact that Hampton was chosen over numerous candidates for the job of

first sergeant. “It speaks volumes about his work ethic and love for Soldiers and their Families.”

As a first sergeant, Hampton said he often thinks back to another motto Wiggins shared with him- “Never forget where you came from.”

He takes that one to heart.“You have to practice what you

preach,” Hampton said. “I’m never going to tell a Soldier to do some-thing I haven’t done already.”

Hampton said that even as he earns more rank, he never forgets that he used to be a private or a spe-cialist, and that he likes to help with tasks, including motor pool responsi-bilities, when he can.

“I’m not one of those people who stands with my hand on my hip giv-ing direct orders,” he explained.

Having modest attitude toward being in a higher-ranking position is something else Hampton learned from Wiggins.

Wiggins said that even though he is the command sergeant major of an Army Service Component Command, he still has the ethics and discipline first instilled in him when he was Pfc. Jerome Wiggins in 1984.

With more than 30 years in the military, having served in many positions, including the Air Defense Artillery Branch command sergeant major, Wiggins said he humbly looks up to his former Soldier.

“I’m proud he’s figured out how to balance his Family life and military life,” Wiggins said. “I admire him more for being able to figure out something I couldn’t figure out.”

Both Barnett and Wiggins said they were proud of what Hamp-ton has accomplished, and that they expected great things from him.

While the praise of his mentors means a lot to him, the accolades are not what Hampton is after, he said.

“Knowing that I’ve had a positive impact and seeing Soldiers excel … that’s the greatest award,” Hampton explained. “That’s what gives me reassurance why I do what I do.”

ADA leader excels at SLC, credits mentors

Sgt. 1st Class Yancy Hampton (center), the first sergeant of Btry. B, 1-44 ADA Regt., 69th ADA Bde., poses for a photo with Lt. Col. Maurice Barnett, then the battalion commander of 1-44 ADA Regt., 69th ADA Bde., and Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Sanchez, then the senior-enlisted Soldier of 1-44 ADA Regt., 69th ADA Bde., during Hampton’s promotion ceremony in September 2013 at Fort Hood.

Courtesy photo