Photo By 1st Lt. Jeffrey Balka | U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division commander, Maj. Gen. Mark Milley, from Winchester,...... read more read more
LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Mark Milley, commander of the 10th Mountain Division, made a stop at Forward Operating Base Shank on Feb. 6, to visit with the 7th Engineer Battalion from Fort Drum, N.Y.
Accompanied by Lt. Col. Mark Quander, battalion commander, and an Alexandria, Va., native, and Maj. James Handura, battalion executive officer from Clearwater, Fla., Milley went from one office to the next, speaking to the team of soldiers working there.
The main topics of discussion were work and family, but they often ended up discussing the outcome of the Super Bowl. Milley being a Winchester, Mass., native, wanted to ensure that New England Patriots’ fans in the 7th Eng. Bn. were all handling the loss well.
Following the initial orientation, Milley ate lunch with a selection of soldiers from the 7th Eng. Bn. For more than an hour, Milley fielded questions on Afghanistan, Fort Drum, and the Army.
Commenting on the candid and open discussion during this session, U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Steven Maki, from Kenmare, N.D., said, “It was really great for the soldiers.”
Maki also remarked on the importance for the young non-commissioned officers to be able to speak with the general.
“It is probably the only time many of these NCOs will be able to speak to a two-star general, and it was really great for them to get his view on their day-to-day operations.”
On the whole, Handura commented, “It’s great any time a division commander can take time to come down and spend several hours with a battalion. I think that’s a testament to Maj. Gen. Milley’s interest in what’s going, plus it’s great for him to get a sense of solders’ concerns, be it concerns with living at Fort Drum or operational concerns. Everybody in the battalion that participated was pretty motivated to have the chance to interact with Maj. Gen. Milley.”
| Date Taken: | 02.06.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 02.10.2012 23:47 |
| Story ID: | 83713 |
| Location: | LOGAR PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 558 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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