Photo By Staff Sgt. Timothy Jackson | Sgt Ed Winkler, a musician with the 2-34th Army band, poses with his trumpet at Camp...... read more read more
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Sgt. Ed Winkler remembers facing the mirror in 2021 wearing his army combat uniform, with a Lt. Colonel rank on his chest, pulling the velcro rank off, and replacing it with the three chevrons of the sergeant stripes. He looked at himself and said, “Damn, that looks good on you!”
Winkler is currently a trumpet player in the 234th Army Band out of Camp Withycombe in Clackamas, OR, but his military career started in 1983 at the age of 17. He served in the active duty army until 1986. He then went to officer candidate school, where he made his way up the officer ranks in the Oregon National Guard. In 2003 he was the first commander to lead Oregon troops into combat since World War II, as the commander of Bravo company with the now disbanded 1st Battalion, 162nd Infantry Regiment. With 41 years in service, Winkler didn’t allow a lack of Colonel slots to slow his service .
“As I approached 30 years as an officer, I had to ask, ‘Am I ready to stop being a Soldier’”? In 2021 he enlisted into the 234th Army Band, becoming a music performance team (MPT) leader. Winkler said he doesn’t believe service is a matter of a rank on your chest, explaining that he never let his ego get wrapped around his rank or his title.
“I didn’t have anything to prove to those in the band,” he said. “I’m an old man, I’ve been married for 34 years, and I’ve been in the army for forty-one years, six and a half years of which I was in command. I don’t elevate myself, I'm very approachable to the soldiers.”
Specialist Enrique Mesa, a trombonist with the 234th Army band, was given the opportunity to experience Winkler’s leadership as his line leader.
“Winkler puts in huge amounts of time giving advice, and in everything Winkler does it does two things,” Mesa said. “One - it shows you how you should lead at the front doing things for your soldiers proactively.” Mesa said that Winkler did an incredible job of building trust and creating high morale within the MPT; and Winkler's openness about his career has brought the lower enlisted soldiers within the unit to a different level of professionalism.
“Secondly", Mesa detailed, "Sgt. Winkler gives a perspective of what officers think. I have a good understanding of how a non-commissioned officer operates, but when it comes to how officers view things and look at doctrine, all of these things are a mystery, especially as a lower enlisted member… and Winkler gives you a really good window if you’re paying attention, into how officers think and operate and it's really valuable.”
Mesa says that this has created an ability for him to perform his duties as a specialist more thoroughly. “I now have more patience with officers, by understanding what they have to deal with. It’s enlightening; it can be easy to feel that the higher ups are spraying random stuff towards you like ‘do this’ and ‘do that’, so understanding what they’re dealing with through someone like Winkler makes it a lot easier, it keeps morale up.”
Winkler says the evidence of his leadership is shown in one of his specialists being promoted to the sergeant rank under his tutelage, with one now promotable, and another making a jump into officer candidate school. Winkler says that his wisdom to enlisted soldiers is that the only thing they have complete control of is their attitude.
Staff Sgt. James Cameron is Winkler's first line leader, and also joined the army at age 17. As the enlisted concert band director, and also leader of the MPT alongside Winkler, their combined wisdom brings 70 years of experience to the table. Cameron believes it's Winkler’s great sense of humility that makes his transition from a lieutenant colonel to a sergeant so seamless.
“Given that he has a ton of experience, I am giving him as much leadership as he would like to take,” Cameron said, noting that Winkler leads by example in the small things, such as continually practicing his instrument. “He does a lot of training by pulling people aside and doing leadership training. This MPT is highly motivated, they practice harder than any group I've ever had in my 29 years in the army band.”
Winkler echoes this sentiment in assessing his team as a whole, saying the 234th Army Band “is amazing, an incredible group of citizen soldiers.”
Outside of his military career, Winkler's excellence in life extends beyond his influence on the 234th army band. He’s the CEO of a franchise in 10 states in 38 markets, and a published author with the book “Sheltered from the Storm,” which details his deployment to Iraq in 2003 and the sacrifices he and his family made.
Winkler was called up on state active duty orders along with approximately 1,500 National Guard members mobilized in January of 2022 to support understaffed hospital employees during a COVID-19 variant surge. The Soldiers served in over 41 hospitals throughout the state, performing critical non-clinical support roles such as administrative and phone duties, janitorial and food services, logistics and supply, transportation, COVID-19 screening and testing, information technology and lab support.
Winkler found himself serving at the Kaiser Sunnyside hospital, where he took an assessment of the hospital floor where he was stationed. He could see he was not in a time consuming role.
“That’s when I went and developed relationships with other teams, and began transporting patients when there was a need.”
Winkler would go to each department at the start of every shift, so they knew he could be reached with the hospital provided ‘Walkie Talkie,’ each soldier carried around, so that patients wouldn’t have to sit and wait for transport.
In making sure his efforts were impactful, Winkler made his rounds to each unit, making a memorable effect on each citizen who he interacted with.
“I’d say - ‘my name is Sergeant Ed Winkler, I’m a soldier in the Oregon National Guard and we have been deployed on an active duty status to support this hospital because of the shortages of medical personnel. It is an honor to be here and provide service to you here today, and I am proud to be a member of the Oregon National Guard.’”
Winkler said he kept that same message consistent for everyone he met in the hospital, whether it was a patient or a nurse. He recalled the nurses being ecstatic about the way patients would feel cared for by the Oregon National Guard being present. Two years after the mission ended,
Nurses at Kaiser Medical Center on Sunnyside still remember the impact soldiers like Winkler provided.
Olivia Weber, a nurse at Kaiser Medical Center said, “It was a critical time. I remember looking forward to coming to work because the Guard was there assisting. Our patients were appreciative of the presence of the Oregon National Guard... the community was coming together.”
Danielle Delves, an Emergency Room nurse, remembers Winkler being a calming presence.
“Soldiers like Winkler's willingness to go out of their way to make our job easier - it took the workload off all of us nurses. Every interaction was positive, she said. Winkler said ‘yes’ to every job we handed him.”
“The National Guard is such a unique organization with an opportunity to step up at times when your neighbor next door can’t step up; when there’s fires, or riots, or global pandemics, " Winkler said. “This is what it means to be an Oregon National Guard soldier, when stuff happens you can count on me going to make it possible for you doing what you are doing.”
Now, in the swan song of his career, Winkler has been tasked to use his vast military experience to promote and publicize the 234th Band’s new Cascade Brass MPT. Winkler said his bird's eye view and deep connections, resourcefulness, and history in the Oregon National Guard allow him to create new inroads, even when his rank is “just” a sergeant.
“We could use a 40-foot banner to stretch across the highway in Astoria to promote our gigs during the world's largest volleyball tournament in Seaside. I am able to produce results, and some people call it a mystery, they ask ‘how did you get that done?’ Because of my corporate and military experience, I know how to beat the jungle drums.”
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| Date Taken: | 04.07.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.04.2024 16:49 |
| Story ID: | 468086 |
| Location: | CLACKAMAS , OREGON, US |
| Web Views: | 66 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Gold to Green: One soldier's journey from O-5 to E-5, by SSG Timothy Jackson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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