Ohio National Guard News
| Heroes Don’t Just Fall from the Sky, or do they? |
Story and Photos by Sgt. Sean Mathis, Joint Force Headquarters Public Affairs SYCAMORE, Ohio—The marching band proudly plays a tune as the homecoming king and queen walk through the corridor of brass and woodwind instruments. The football team takes the field and with a cue from bouncing cheerleaders, what seems like the whole town begins to applaud from the sidelines. Their eyes aren’t on the field however; they are looking toward the golden, sunset sky, searching for a local hero returning home. The 101st Airborne parachute demonstration team and Soldiers from several Ohio National Guard units held a pre-game show for the Mohawk High School Warriors homecoming football game Sept.25, dropping Sgt. Adam Sniffen out of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter back into his hometown of Sycamore, Ohio. “We’re here so people to don’t forget about the guys overseas,” said the 1999 graduate of Mohawk High School, now assigned to the 101st Airborne parachute demonstration team. “We’re glad that we could be here to represent the Army at large.” The homecoming pre-game show was a combined effort of the 101st, the Ohio National Guard and Mohawk High School staff to thank Soldiers for their service, provide graduating seniors with military career options and present an extraordinary experience for the students, faculty and parents who attended the game. “They don’t get enough credit when they get home,” said Staff Sgt. Jody Passeno, a recruiter with I Company, Recruiting and Retention Command, of the Soldiers he invited to the game. “We also wanted to give the guys a chance to show off a little.” Passeno used his wide network of recruiting contacts to acquire help from E Company, 237th Brigade Support Battalion, C and D Companies, 1st Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment, the 323rd Military Police Company and the 1483rd Transportation Company. The troops brought with them an armored Humvee with an integrated acquisition target system on a tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided (TOW) missile launcher, a front line ambulance Humvee, two light medium tactical vehicles (LMTVs), a heavy expanded mobility tactical truck (HEMTT) wrecker and a tactical operations center, along with more than a dozen Soldiers clad in their Interceptor body armor and modular integrated communications helmets. Passeno said getting all equipment together was “just a matter of calling up different units and saying ‘Hey, I’m trying to do a big event and show off your guys.’ “These are warriors, they’re the people you work with in the factory, they’re the guy walking down the street delivering mail, same people you’re going to pass by everyday,” Passeno said. “But you don’t know that they’re Soldiers too, here’s their shot at letting you see them that way.” Taking pride in being a Soldier was an underlying theme of the event, as graduates of Mohawk High School returned home in uniform. “A lot of people don’t know I’m a Soldier,” said Pvt. Cody Fleming, a 2009 graduate of Mohawk who is currently in the Recruit Sustainment Program with I Company. “It makes me feel good about myself when people recognize me while I’m here. I played football, everybody knows me and they’re all proud. It makes me feel like I’m doing something better with my life.” Sam Martin, superintendent of schools for Mohawk High School, said the Sycamore community is proud to recognize their Soldiers. “This community is very, very supportive,” he said. “They have a high respect for the armed services.” This support was evident in the logistics required to bring the military show into a high school sporting event. The idea originated with a Brett Graham, a Mohawk High School science teacher, or as members of the Ohio National Guard know him, Maj. Brett Graham. “You can’t separate me from the Guard because it’s my life and it’s what I’ve done for 24 years,” Graham said. “Everybody here knows I’m in the helicopter business.” As an aviator and a teacher, Graham was able to contact Sniffen, a former student, and obtain a CH-47 Chinook helicopter for 101st Airborne to jump out of. He then contacted and received support from the American Legion and other veterans organizations, a fellow teacher wrote a newsletter to student’s parents to raise awareness of the event, Martin advertised the Guard’s show on the school’s website and the football coach helped Graham fill out the paper work. “We got all these people together and it really just clicked and ran,” Graham said. “It was really a great experience.” The students, faculty and parents of Mohawk High School were open to Graham’s idea and welcomed the opportunity to thank Soldiers for their efforts. “It made the Mohawk community feel special,” said Tamara Lynch, mother of Wyatt Lynch, a Mohawk High School senior in Graham’s class and substitute teacher at the school. “I appreciate everything; I don’t have the internal strength to do what [Soldiers] do. It means a lot.” -30- |
