By 1st Lt. Courtenay W. Cullen
DIYALA PROVINCE, Iraq — For extraordinary performance of duties above and beyond his current pay grade, Sgt. Patrick Collins received a battlefield promotion from corporal to sergeant halfway through his unit's deployment to the Diyala province, Iraq.
Serving his third tour in Iraq, Collins, of Fayetteville, N.C., joined the 37th Engineer Battalion- Joint Task Force Eagle, based out of Fort Bragg, N.C. vertical construction platoon after graduating Airborne School November, 2008. Since that time, he repeatedly served in positions above his pay grade as a team leader and squad leader in Headquarters and Headquarters Company.
Collins is recognized as one of the most experienced and professional construction supervisors in HHC's vertical construction platoon. Collins' chain of command nominated him for a battlefield promotion due to his maturity, expertise, and outstanding leadership.
"I think that it is a truly a well deserved promotion, for a hard working and dedicated soldier like Sgt. Collins. He has proven himself as a leader in combat operations and in partnership operations throughout Iraq," said Sgt. 1st Class Brian Money, vertical platoon's platoon sergeant from Fayetteville, N.C.
Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, the commander of HHC and native of Ocanto, Wisc., feels that Collins demonstrates attributes cited in the creed of the non-commissioned officer not just to vertical construction platoon, but to the entire company.
"Sgt. Collins is a rock. He has repeatedly demonstrated a tremendous commitment to his Soldiers and the unit. He's clearly on top of his responsibilities."
Since June of 2009 the platoon has had the unique ability to travel independently throughout northern Iraq and conduct vertical construction operations with their Iraqi partners from the 5th Iraqi Army Field Engineer Regiment.
According to Bowman, in the last eight months, Collins has been a critical asset on all of the platoon's missions. He served as a construction supervisor during the partnership construction project of a Tactical Operations Center in support of the 5th IA FER on Forward Operating Base Ghalibiya and a Combined Operations Intelligence Center on FOB Cruz Morris. Both buildings were wooden structures with truss roofs. The platoon's most recent completed project involved a 40' by 70' concrete masonry unit building in support of the 5th IA Division on FOB Khamees, a building which will play an integral role in the command and control for security in the upcoming Iraq elections.
During all of these missions, Collins proved to be a huge asset and a consistently reliable NCO. He was awarded the Army Achievement Medal for his hard work at Ghalibiya and the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Paul Huszar of Fayetteville, N.C., presented him with a coin for his efforts.
1st Sgt. Ezell Pete, also of Fayetteville, N.C. and HHC company first sergeant believes younger Soldiers need role models such as Collins, saying that "Sgt.Collins epitomizes what a junior non-commissioned officer leader should be."
| Date Taken: | 02.03.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 02.03.2010 09:29 |
| Story ID: | 44848 |
| Location: | DIYALA PROVINCE, IQ |
| Web Views: | 603 |
| Downloads: | 482 |
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