Last Update
March 4, 2010

Fort Bragg welcomes
new garrison command sergeant major
by Sharilyn Wells
Paraglide

	photo by Sharilyn Wells/Paraglide Command Sgt. Maj. Samuel B. Campbell accepts the Fort Bragg Garrison colors from Fort Bragg Garrison Commander, Col. Stephen J. Sicinski, during a change of responsibility ceremony Tuesday at Memorial Hall. Campbell received responsibility as the garrison command sergeant major from Command Sgt. Maj. Sultan A. Muhammad.

Promising to continue on the initiative to take care of Soldiers and Families, Command Sgt. Maj. Samuel B. Campbell, a native of Greensboro, N.C., assumed responsibility as the Fort Bragg Garrison command sergeant major during a change of responsibility ceremony held at Memorial Hall, Tuesday.

Campbell replaces Command Sgt. Maj. Sultan A. Muhammad who served as the garrison command sergeant major for just over eight months.

Even though Muhammad’s assignment was short, Col. Stephen J. Sicinski, garrison commander, said that the impact Muhammad has had is enormous.

“This is a man who doesn’t take no for an answer and doesn’t allow ‘no’ to stand in the way to complete the mission,” said Sicinski.

Campbell expressed gratitude for being chosen to continue on Muhammad’s initiative of taking care of Soldiers and their Families.
“I am very honored and humbled for being selected for garrison command sergeant major,” he said.
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Dental Soldiers compete for top honors
by Eve Meinhardt
Paraglide

photos by Eve Meinhardt/Paraglide Sergeant Igor Cavalcante, right, from the Fort Eustis, Va. Dental Activity scales a wall while squad member, Spc. Ricardo Melendez, Fort Bragg DENTAC provides assistance during one of the events at the U,S. Army Dental Command Best Warrior competition Feb. 17. The five-day competition tested dental Soldier’s and noncommissioned officer’s basic skills to determine who garnered top honors.

Each year, Soldiers and noncommissioned officers from the U.S. Army Dental Command compete to be named the “Best Warrior.” Fort Bragg hosted this year’s contest from Feb. 15 to 19, where seven Soldiers and seven NCOs representing all the regions in DENCOM fought for top honors.
The competition included a road march; a written exam; an oral board; a physical fitness test; range qualification; day and night land navigation courses; lane testing; and a mystery event, which was the air assault obstacle course.

At the end of the week, Staff Sgt. Chris J. Ciro from the Army Dental Laboratory at Fort Gordon, Ga. and Spc. Steven P. Canales from the Fort Gordon Dental Activity won the competition as the DENCOM NCO and Soldier of the year. The two will go on to compete at the next level of competition against the other winners across the U.S. Army Medical Command.
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WWII paratrooper visits Fort Bragg
by Eve Meinhardt
Paraglide

	photo by Eve Meinhardt/Paraglide Edwin Persons, right, a former paratrooper who jumped into Normandy, France on D-Day, looks on Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brian Perinon from the 11th Quartermaster Sustainment Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, shows him today’s T-10 parachute.

Edwin S. Persons, a former paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division, isn’t able to boast about the hundreds of jumps that many of today’s paratroopers have. He doesn’t have to. His two combat jumps speak for themselves — Normandy, France on D-Day and Holland during Operation Market Garden.

Persons visited Fort Bragg in February to meet with today’s paratroopers and learn about how airborne operations compare with those of years past. His first stop was Fort Bragg’s Advanced Airborne School. There he traded stories with the school’s command team, Maj. Gregory Sakimura and 1st Sgt. John Coomer, and looked at today’s parachute rigging. As Sakimura described the changes, he told Persons that while the container was different, the parachute inside was virtually unchanged from the one he jumped with in World War II.

Persons told them about what it was like jumping from gliders instead of planes and reminded them that he jumped from only 400 to 600 feet from the ground instead of the 1,200 feet that today’s paratroopers exit the aircraft from.

“I’m just thankful I had a static-line,” said Persons. “If I didn’t, I think I’d still be falling. I don’t even remember my first jump — I think I fainted.”
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Former Soldier drives bobsled team to gold
by Tim Hipps
FMWRC PAO

photo by Tim Hipps/FMWRC PAOs Former U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program bobsledder Steven Holcomb (front right) leads “The Night Train” team of Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curtis Tomasevicz to a start time of 4.77 seconds in the third heat of the Olympic four-man bobsled event. The quartet won an Olympic gold medal in bobsleigh for Team USA for the first time in 62 years at the Whistler Sliding Centre on Saturday.

WHISTLER, British Columbia — Former U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program bobsledder Steven Holcomb ended Team USA’s 62-year gold medal drought in Olympic bobsleigh competition by driving Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curtis Tomasevicz to victory in the four-man event Saturday at Whistler Sliding Centre.

Holcomb, 29, of Park City, Utah, piloted “The Night Train” sled designed by former NASCAR driver Geoff Bodine down the fastest bobsled track in the world to a four-heat combined time of 3 minutes, 24.46 seconds. They lowered the track record in each of their first two runs Friday, leaving it at 50.86 seconds.

“It’s incredible,” Holcomb said. “We’ve been working so hard the last four years and it’s finally paid off.  It’s kind of overwhelming. It’s been stressful but awesome, kind of all over the place.”

Five-time Olympic medalists Andre Lange and Kevin Kuske teamed with Alexander Roediger and Martin Putze aboard Germany I to win the silver medal with a time of 3:24.84. The Canada I quartet of Lyndon Rush, Chris Le Bihan, David Bissett and Lascelles Brown claimed the bronze in 3:24.85, marking the first time in 46 years Canadian bobsledders have medaled at the Olympics.
 Team USA’s .38 margin of victory is considered a landslide in the sport of bobsleigh.
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