Pell City soldier travels through Afghanistan, Kuwait
Published 7:15 pm Tuesday, November 8, 2011
- Joining the military right out of high school, Michael Brown has served his country for 29 years.
Michael Brown read the email. In it, his daughter asked him to call her, offering no explanation as to why.
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He had been watching the April tornados rip across the state of Alabama from the other side of the world.
“It’s hard to know there is nothing you can do except offer moral support over the telephone,” Brown said. His daughter called to tell him she was all right but the tornado destroyed her neighbor’s house across the street. “I was glad to know she was okay, but it’s still hard to know that you are completely helpless in the situation,” Brown said.
Having spent 29 years in the military, Brown knows the value of a rewarding but challenging career despite some of the sacrifices any military service man or woman makes.
Brown joined the Pell City Army Reserve in August 1982. “We had aviation practice at the airport in Cropwell.” He started in the military as a helicopter mechanic, and then went on to become a Human Resources Sergeant Major.
In June 2010 he received his first overseas assignment travelling around Afghanistan and Kuwait until May 2011 as the non commissioned officer in charge of the Joint Control Movement Control Center at the Transit Center at Manas.
“This was the gateway for the majority of troops, Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines entering Afghanistan,” Brown said. “We ensured timely transport of men and re-deporters who were coming back.”
Brown and others also loaded commercial planes into C-17 aircrafts. “There was a lot of learning while working with other services because everyone spoke a different language while trying to accomplish the same goal,” he said.
By that time, Brown helped move 200,000 troops. When the Surge added 30,000 more troops in 2010. “The addition of troops made the operational tempo very high and stressful.”
Now back home in Pell City, Sgt. Major Brown still travels to Jackson, Miss., for unit drills. His unit is the third HR Sustainment Center in Jackson.
