Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Hohman | Col. Ross Guieb, commander of the 89th MP Bde., awards Sgt. Maj. Reginald Turner the...... read more read more
FORT HOOD, Texas - It was both a joyous and sad day for the 89th Military Police Brigade as they honored and bid farewell to two of its legendary leaders during a retirement ceremony Nov. 14 at Howze Auditorium on Fort Hood.
Sgt. Maj. Franklin Blanche and Sgt. Maj. Reginald Turner served a combined 52 years in the Army. If that didn’t astonish enough, 17 of those years were in the 89th MP Bde.
Both Blanche and Turner were awarded with the Legion of Merit and a Certificate of Appreciation from the president of the United States. This was just a small symbol of the positive effect the two senior leaders had on both the 89th MP Bde. and the Army.
Blanche, along with his wife of 25 years Sharon, were the first to be recognized on stage.
When Blanche joined the military, he had just left college where he was attending with a full basketball scholarship. He was doing well and was working as a security guard for one of the college alumni.
While working as a security guard, he started to talk about college and basketball with one of his co-workers who had retired from the Navy.
“I realized they were treating me like cattle, and I wasn’t learning jack,” Blanche said.
He decided after talking with that man that he wanted to join the Army.
“After my shift, I went straight to the Army recruiter,” he said. “I didn’t want to join the Navy, because back them they wore those bell-bottom pants.”
Fast forward a few years and Blanche was working as a first sergeant with the 720th MPBattalion.
Col. Ross Guieb, commander of the 89th MP Bde., spoke about how Blanche was one of the first people he met when he came to the 720th MP Bn.
Guieb could instantly see Blanche’s professionalism and was impressed with his ability to put Soldiers at-ease, “despite his height,’” Guieb added, jokingly.
“He could communicate with Soldiers and get them to get after it,” he added of Blanch.
This image was a direct reflection of Blanche’s personal philosophy of leadership.
“Since being in the military it has never been about me,” Blanche said. “It was the satisfaction of dealing with Soldiers.”
Blanche challenged those in attendance by saying, “It’s not only when a Soldier does great and you want to stand up there and say, ‘Hey, that’s my Soldier!’ It’s when that Soldier steps on it, and you still go in there to back them up.”
Following Blanche’s speech, Turner and his wife, Nichelle, took the stage to be recognized.
Guieb recalled the first time he met Turner, who was a platoon sergeant at the time.
“He told me, ‘Sir, I’m just going to tell you – this is the best platoon in the 411th [MP] Company,’” Guieb said. “‘[During Operation Iraqi Freedom 1], we were tearing it up. We have the best platoon leaders and squad leaders.’”
When Turner commented on his unit’s excellence rather than on himself, this stuck out to Guieb.
“He was promoting his unit, not himself,” Guieb saidd. “He didn’t say he was the best platoon sergeant, he was saying this was the best platoon in the battalion.”
Turner reflected on the passion he felt toward helping his Soldiers by starting off his comments with thanks to his wife.
“I have served in the Army for a long time, from Desert Storm to Afghanistan, and before I start I want to do something fitting,” Turner said. “Throughout the years, I have always thanked my wife at the end, I want to turn and thank her for her unwavering support throughout the years.”
Turner spoke about how through his time in the Army he found that one must be willing to give.
“There were many occasions where my wife would get upset with me and say, ‘I think you care more about your Soldiers than you do me,’” Turner said. “I don’t think it was that, but the passion I felt going to work every day and helping my Soldiers develop and succeed – whether in the Army or civilian life – is what made me work so hard every day.”
Turner said he found that just by working closely with Soldiers, they could grow into great leaders within the Army.
“It’s not just about chewing a Soldier out when they make a mistake, but giving them an opportunity to recover from that mistake,” Turner said.
“You are all very lucky,” Turner told the Soldiers in attendance. “I have been all over the globe and it is hard to find good leadership like you have here in the 89th MP Bde.
“I feel honored to have served in the best Army in the world,” he added. “It has been a great ride and I thank you all.”
“I can only imagine heading to your last formation as an active-duty Soldier, what you think about – Is it, ‘Did I make a difference with the Army? With my units?’” Guieb asked. “And I think that these two guys have nothing to worry about.
“Not because of the medals we are going to pin on their chest or the awards and accolades they are going to receive by me or the president of the United States,” he added, “I think their legacy is woven into the Soldiers that they helped grow.”
| Date Taken: | 11.14.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 12.05.2014 10:29 |
| Story ID: | 149485 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 318 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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