Photo By John Crosby | Command Sgt. Maj. Jim Brown adjusts the sights on his M4 Assault Rifle on a firing...... read more read more
CAMP ATTERBURY JOINT MANEUVER TRAINING CENTER, Ind. — At 61-years-old, many folks are retired or planning on it. At 61, many spend time with grandchildren, focus energy on hobbies and live out their golden years. Of course, this doesn't apply to everybody.
Jim Brown is a husband, a father and a grandfather. He is a small-business owner and a Vietnam War veteran. He is also the Indiana National Guard's former most senior enlisted non-commissioned officer and is readying for a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan.
Former Indiana National Guard State Command Sgt. Maj. Jim Brown is preparing to deploy to Afghanistan, and what better mobilization platform to train and prepare for war at than the one in his own backyard, the Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center in Edinburgh, Ind.
Brown chose to answer the same call he himself had made so many times to his Soldiers of the Indiana Guard.
"I've sent many of my peers over there, but I haven't sent myself," said Brown. "As a leader, we shouldn't hold a position if we don't do what we ask others to do. As a leader, I need to [deploy] or I need to retire. It's a sense of duty."
Brown's sense of duty has him working 18 to 20 hour days, seven days a week training in freezing January temperatures to deploy. But this is Brown's bread and butter. He truly loves Soldiering.
"Being in the field under arms with Soldiers, there's nothing better than that," said Brown. "Holding ourselves out to defend the country together. Fighting alongside other American Soldiers. Serving the nation. I can't ask for anything better than that."
Brown's deeply rooted patriotism stemmed from his youth. His ancestors have been warriors since the Civil War. Growing up in post World War II Los Angeles, he was no stranger to veterans.
"On my block, most of the parents were fresh back from World War II," said Brown. "So Army man was [the game that kids] played. Army man and baseball." He looked up to the veterans. He knew since he was a young boy that he wanted to be a Soldier.
As Brown grew up he learned he had a savvy for business. He developed his own landscaping and delivery businesses. He conducted his self-owned businesses successfully in Los Angeles, but as the years passed and the Vietnam War raged on, he knew his calling.
In 1968 he enlisted in the U.S. Army as an infantryman. By 1971 he served as an acting platoon sergeant in the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. His unit saw action and he earned a Bronze Star medal with "V" device for valor as well as two Purple Hearts.
After Brown's service was up, he returned home. He then had some decisions to make about what he was going to do next.
"I returned home to Los Angeles with no job and no life," said Brown. "But I knew I could create my own business because I was a successful at it before I joined the Army."
Brown received a business proposition from a friend in Indiana. He got out of the Army and used the money he'd saved up while in Vietnam to move to Indianapolis and take partial ownership of a small bus and limousine business.
He had become a successful business man, yet this alone would not be his legacy. The business that he'd had fought a war and moved half across the country to create, would eventually land him right back into the military.
Brown's transportation limousines and busses were used by many Soldiers moving in and out from Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis to the airport. The military clientele inspired him to join the Association of the United States Army, or AUSA, a non-profit educational organization that supports America's Army, of which he is still a corporate member today.
One evening at an AUSA dinner, he sat with the commander of Indiana's 38th Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. Kenneth Himsel. The general told Brown that he had a position for him in his long range surveillance company as a team leader. Brown eventually took the position and joined as a traditional Indiana National Guardsmen in 1983.
Accordingly, Brown was promoted to staff sergeant and began work. He loved his new unit and excelled at his job fast, steadily climbing the ranks with the same dedication and passion that drove him to be successful during the Vietnam War and his entrepreneurship.
He advanced from team leader to squad leader and eventually made first sergeant in 1990. From there he was continuously promoted through the units up the ladder from first sergeant to command sergeant major of Indiana's 1-293rd Infantry Battalion in 1997 and participated in a highly successful 76th Infantry Brigade training rotation exercise at Fort Polk, La., in 2000. The event, led by Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger who at that time was a brigadier general, brought national attention to the Indiana National Guard for successfully completing the training scenario in which they staged their forces and attacked a mock enemy at the Fort Polk Joint Readiness Training Center.
In 2000, Brown was promoted to command sergeant major of the 76th Separate Infantry Brigade.
After the events of Sept. 11, Brown left his business to return to active duty as a mobilized National Guard Soldier. In June of 2002, Brown made 38th Infantry Division command sergeant major.
As 38th ID command sergeant major, Brown and Division Commander Maj. Gen. Gregory Vadnais made several short visits to deployed division units in Bosnia, Kosovo, Egypt and the Horn of Africa where 38th ID Soldiers were deployed to determine successes and areas that needed improvement. They would return and use their lessons learned to better train deploying Soldiers.
"We took what we saw over there and brought it back and reported it to better prepare follow-on units," said Brown. "We took these lessons back to Indiana and applied them to training new [tactics, techniques and procedures] to deploying Soldiers."
When Hurricane Katrina left an entire city in need of aid, Brown was there with approximately 2,000 other Indiana Guard troops, working with the operational tactical command center in Mississippi that influenced many of the operations in Louisiana and Mississippi. He witnessed National Guard units and leaders from many different states come together and learn from each other to help the people of New Orleans.
"I saw strength there that I had never witnessed before in the Guard," said Brown referring to the many states working together as one.
After returning home to Indiana, Brown was promoted to state command sergeant major, serving with Indiana National Guard state commander Umbarger.
"I see myself as a servant to the Soldiers at the behalf of the commander," said Brown. "I stand behind the commander, representing the enlisted Soldiers and non-commissioned officers to him. I address their issues and report them to [the adjutant general]. As a Soldier who has come up through the ranks myself, I have an understanding of what the Soldiers go through. I look at myself as a Soldier's Soldier."
Brown and Umbarger continued to visit deployed Soldiers overseas including Soldiers fighting the Global War on Terror.
"We would visit the Soldiers and see how it was going and also pick up current relevancies," said Brown.
In March 2009, the Indiana Joint Forces Headquarters began selecting 18 of some of Indiana's most experienced and proficient Army National Guard Soldiers to deploy to Afghanistan and embed themselves with high level officials of the Afghan army. Brown volunteered to deploy with the unit and is serving as the Indiana Regional Corps Training Team 2 command sergeant major.
"I'm at the close of my career," the old warrior explained. "I've been an infantryman since the late sixties. To be able to serve again in a combat zone is an honor and quite fulfilling to me."
Essentially, the Indiana Regional Corps Training Team 2 is an embedded training team. Their mission is to partner with high-level Afghanistan military officials as they transition to a self-sustained and independent force.
"The goal is that in a year or two that whole force won't need the United States Armed Forces to be embedded with them," said Brown. "They will be conducting reliable and consistent operations on their own."
He will be serving with RCTT2 Commander Col. Kenneth Ring.
"It's an honor to have him on our team," said Ring. "I've known him for a long time. One thing you notice and immediately understand about him is he's a Soldier and he cares about Soldiers.
The job seems a perfect fit for Brown as the unit will be acting as advisors and mentors, partnering with the Afghan people.
"He's been an advisor to anyone and everyone in the state," said Ring.
Now, as Brown trains for his deployment at Camp Atterbury, he is optimistic about his mission in Afghanistan. He knows this mission is his last. All of the experience and wisdom learned over his career as a Soldier will come into play. In a way, this mission is a culmination of all the positions he has held in the past; using that experience to teach and promote professional growth to high-ranking Afghan military officials.
"I'm older and I have gray hair," said Brown smiling. "That's really a plus over there. Their customs are to listen to the elders. I think the important thing is to be sensitive to their culture, learn their language, listen to what they have to say and establish a relationship with them based on trust."
Brown plans on retiring shortly after this mission. In all he will have had more than 30 years in the military. He plans on spending time with his wife Cheryl, their six children and eight grandchildren. Not everyone shares the same vision.
"I keep reminding him that General MacArthur was 70-years-old when he left Korea," said Ring. "He needs to stop being a wimp!" to which Brown chuckled.
Although the possibility exists that he will still stay connected to the military in some capacity, his service in uniform will likely end in 2011.
His modesty showed through as he said, "I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve and thankful to those who have allowed me to serve, despite my imperfect ways."
| Date Taken: | 01.25.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 01.25.2010 11:47 |
| Story ID: | 44407 |
| Location: | CAMP ATTERBURY, INDIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 836 |
| Downloads: | 389 |
This work, Indiana's top NCO answers his own call to duty for one last mission, by John Crosby, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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