Photo By Spc. Paul Harris | Spc. Joshua Williams, bottom, a native of Alamogordo, N.M., and a radio and...... read more read more
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By Spc. Paul J. Harris
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office
FORT CARSON, Colo. - It is no secret that given the choice of facing another deployment or opting to leave the Army, most Soldiers have chosen the latter. As a result, the Army devised an elaborate bonus program to entice Soldiers to re-enlist. For one Soldier it was not a matter of money that propelled him to stay in, it was his overwhelming desire to fly.
Spc. Joshua Williams, radio and communications repairman, Company B, 64th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, always wanted to fly since his father, a private pilot, took him on his first flight. Williams applied twice to the Army's Warrant Officer program and was turned down each time.
Williams knew he needed to be promoted to sergeant to be more competitive in the warrant officer selection process. The problem was his promotion points were always in the high 700 point range for his competitive job class.
He thought about re-classing to a different military occupational specialty with a lower promotion point requirement when his next re-enlistment window opened. He was running into administrative red tape and was about to give up until a chance meeting with Col. John Hort, commander, 3rd BCT, 4th ID, at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.
"The first thing he asked me is 'why have you not been promoted?'" Williams said.
Williams explained his story and Hort took out a pen and wrote his information down on his hand, a gesture that did not give Williams confidence.
"I was thinking he was just going to wash it off," Williams said. "But sure enough he came through and he said 'I will help you out' and he did."
Upon returning from NTC, Williams received a call from a career counselor saying that he now had the green light to re-class if he re-enlisted. A decision that he was not ready to leap at given the Striker Brigade was staring down another deployment to Iraq and this would be trip number three for Williams. Married and a father of three, he had to consult with his wife Lillian first.
"I was not so sure about him staying in because he has to go back to Iraq," Lillian said. "It is very hard for me to stay home and him be gone, wondering all the time if I am going to get a phone call, if he is safe."
After weighing both the pros and cons of re-enlistment, Williams decided the security of having free medical benefits, a roof over their heads and a constant paycheck was too much to give up. And there was the option of fulfilling his dream to fly.
He decided to re-enlist and chose the new MOS of a truck driver since it had a lower promotion point total. Before signing on the dotted line he consulted with one more person: his supervisor.
"Of course I did not want to lose him," said Sgt. Gary Pettus, electronic maintenance non-commissioned officer in charge, Co. B, 64th BSB. "He is very good at what he does; he has a lot of leadership potential.
Anything you give him to get done you do not have to worry about. He knows his job real well."
But Pettus knew it was time for his Soldier to move forward.
"I told him whatever is best for his career is a good decision," Pettus said.
Williams plans to submit another warrant officer packet after returning from Advanced Individual Training and hopes to fly Apache or Kiowa helicopters. He equates the sensation of flying to the feeling of being on a roller coaster.
"I wouldn't really do anything else," Williams said. "There is really no other job like it in the world."
| Date Taken: | 08.08.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 08.08.2007 14:16 |
| Story ID: | 11702 |
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| Web Views: | 196 |
| Downloads: | 181 |
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