Courtesy Photo | Dynamic duo? - "The world is a small place," Staff Sgt. Kenneth J. Brown, (right), is...... read more read more
CAMP AL ASAD, IRAQ " "We will be forever linked," jokes Staff Sgt. Kenneth J. Brown about one of his medics.
He refers to the bond he and Specialist Dustin J. Adams, a 48th Brigade Combat Team medic attached to D Company , 3rd Battalion, 172nd Mountain Infantry Regiment share. Brown has known Adams since he was 16 years old.
Brown is a platoon sergeant for 1st Battalion, 118th Field Artillery Regiment's medical platoon, but his other life in the States is where he has had the most satisfaction.
As a drill sergeant at the Youth Challenge Academy at Fort Stewart, Ga., he gets a unique opportunity to positively influence young people by preparing young men and women who have gotten off the straight and narrow to be contributors.
"I was a spoiled kid," Adams, a native of Savannah, Ga. recounted. "I skipped school, then wrecked my car and just quit school." One of the prerequisites for the program is that the potential candidate is a high school drop out.
"When Adams came to the (Youth Challenge) program he was mouthy. I'm sure he was wondering, "what am I doing here?" and got smoked on a regular basis," Brown explained.
"If you lose them then you lose them for the remainder of the 22-week period, so I make sure I stress the five S's to them," said Brown.
"Self-confidence, self-integrity, self-discipline, self-respect and self-initiative," Adams said."When we were getting smoked you had to recite them â?¦ and years later you remember them."
The first days at the program dwindled and the journey to taking charge of his life became more bearable as Adams, in his own words, "was becoming a man."
"The thought that put me at ease the most is that I would never see this guy again," Adams recalls of graduation day.
Now it was time to make decisions about his life. He knew school was in his future but money for college was a concern. Eventually Adams decided to join the Georgia Army National Guard.
"I'm at Ft. Sam Houston (Texas) going through combat medics" school and called back to the Youth Challenge cadre to let them know," said Adams.
"I told them I was assigned to a field artillery unit in Georgia as a medic." It was then he discovered Brown would be his platoon sergeant.
"It is one of the most hideous moments of my life." Adams declared as he recalls the phone call that made him rethink his decision to be a combat medic for the Georgia Army National Guard.
"I almost quit the school," Adams joked. Adams completed the course and attended Armstrong College in Savannah.
He was about to transfer to the University of Georgia when he was mobilized with the 48th BCT.
Adams admits that when he went into the Youth Challenge program. When he completed the program, he was given the tools to better prepare for his future as a businessperson and entrepreneur. In Iraq, he relies on those with more experience.
"Youth challenge didn't prepare me for the experience (in Iraq)," Adams said. He has handled his duties as a medic with a maturity not even he realized he could possess.
"If there weren't sergeants like Staff Sgt. Brown out there you wouldn't try. They enforce the standard."
"I haven't given up on him yet," Brown says. "And I don't plan on it."
| Date Taken: | 03.10.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 03.10.2006 07:08 |
| Story ID: | 5656 |
| Location: | AL ASAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 241 |
| Downloads: | 185 |
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