Photo By Staff Sgt. Avery Cunningham | U.S. Army Spc. Brion Houston poses for a photograph for "Meet Your Guard." Brion posed...... read more read more
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Name: SPC Brion Houston
Military Specialty: 15P, Aviation Operations Specialist
Years of Service: 10 years
Unit: Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment (Air Ambulance)
Hometown: St. Albans, Vt.
Current Town: Fairfax, Vt.
High School/Graduation Year: Graduated 2008 from BFA St. Albans
Q. Why did you join the National Guard?
A. I joined the National Guard because it became a family tradition. My grandfather, my great-uncle, my uncle, my aunt, my father, my mother, my older sister, and I joined and then my younger brother joined. So it became a family tradition.
Q. What do you do in the Vermont National Guard?
A. I’m an aviation operations specialist. Essentially we are a lot of the admin for aviation operations. We do a lot of the flight logs, we do weather, and flight planning, that’s one of the biggest, flight planning. We receive their missions, and we also stay in radio contact with the aircraft. We are like their admin and the dispatch for aviation.
Q. Is this your first deployment?
A. It is my second deployment. My mom and I deployed together in 2009 to Bagram, Afghanistan.
Q. How do you train and prepare for deployment?
A. Each drill and each AT (annual training) prepares us and each year is also a different cycle in a crawl-walk-run phase.
Q. What drew you to aviation and medevac?
A. What drew me to aviation is that I wanted to change my career and I became stagnant where I was and I wanted something that was more advanced, and more exciting and the aviation field was what I wanted. Being a state police dispatcher, the 15P series was the equivalent as far as operations. More hands on operations and more importantly the mission itself, for medevac requests in the battlefield, and they need operations to help things run smoothly.
Q. What do you do for civilian work?
A. I am a 911 operator and state police dispatcher for the Vermont State Police.
Q. What do you think is the greatest benefit of being in the National Guard?
A. I think one of the greatest benefits of the National Guard is their benefits for college and education. Also, the other benefits are staying in shape, the Guard helps maintain your physical fitness.
Q. How long have you lived in Vermont?
A. I have lived in Vermont since 1992. I was born in Fort Drum, N.Y., and my parents moved over to Vermont and went from active duty to National Guard. Because my mom is originally from Vermont.
Q. What is your favorite part about serving in the Vermont National Guard?
A. My favorite part is the family feeling, there are a lot of families connected. The National Guard is excellent about their state benefits. The biggest part is the feeling of a close-knit community, whether it’s the VFW, or the Family readiness Group, or the unit itself, there are a lot of close-knit connections.
Q. How many push-ups did you get on your last physical fitness test?
A. it was 75.
| Date Taken: | 06.11.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 06.13.2018 17:31 |
| Story ID: | 280758 |
| Location: | SOUTH BURLINGTON, US |
| Hometown: | FAIRFAX, VERMONT, US |
| Hometown: | ST. ALBANS, VERMONT, US |
| Web Views: | 182 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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