As I start a second year writing these columns I realized I had yet to feature an active member of the military. The men and women who serve “far from home” are certainly some of the most memorable as each has a unique story to tell.
Take Major Jeff Huston of the United States Army. Within the last few weeks, Jeff and his family have moved to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, the latest stop in a career that has seen stops in Fort Knox, Kentucky; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Benning, Georgia; an ROTC teaching position at Bowling Green; Fort Lewis, Washington; and overseas duty in Iraq.
Of course, Jeff’s life journey began growing up in Montpelier. I taught with Jeff’s dad, Joe, at Superior Middle School. (Joe and his wife Mary now live in Montana.) Jeff stands out among my favorite seventh grade students because he always had a sly sense of humor that was always given away by a crooked little smirk of a smile.
Twenty-five years later that sense of humor is still very apparent as Jeff shares his story.
“After graduating MHS in 1991, I attended OSU. For the first year and a half, I took only the core courses while trying to decide on a major. Near the end of the winter 1993 quarter, I got a credit card bill in the mail. I owed $500 to Discover and was not exactly sure how I was going to pay it. (I only signed up for the credit card for the free 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew, but then did what many college students do – acquired debt.) Also in the mailbox that day was a brochure for an upcoming Army ROTC open house that mentioned possible scholarships. I drug my roommate (Matt Allen) to the open house with me and 3 months later we both found ourselves with shaved heads at Fort Knox, KY getting yelled at by drill sergeants and graduating on the same parade field that Bill Murray did for the filming of the movie ‘Stripes’.”
In 1995, with a new wife (Carrie), a degree in anthropology, and a commission at a second lieutenant, Jeff relocated to Fort Hood, Texas. “Suddenly at the ripe old age of 22, I was a tank platoon leader in charge of 16 men and 4 M1A1 Main Battle Tanks, worth in excess of $10 million. It was a very exciting job for a recent college graduate. There’s nothing like shooting 120mm rounds from the main gun of a tank and getting paid to do it.”
Several military (and civilian) stops … and three children (Jackson, and twins Max and Caroline)…. later, Jeff found himself back in active duty. “I was activated for 2 years (August 2004-2006) at Fort Benning and served as the Company Commander of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 54th Infantry Regiment, an Infantry Basic Training Company. It was an awesome assignment and responsibility, extremely challenging and rewarding. I was in charge of 12 Drill Sergeants and 220 men who volunteered not only to serve in the Army at the height of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but to serve in the Infantry, knowing that they raised their hands to deploy and fight. It was my job to prepare them in 14 weeks and to instill in them the seven Army values: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage and how to fight and win on the battlefield as a grunt. I’ve often said that I could write a book just about my experiences during that 2-year assignment.”
It was in 2010 that Jeff was deployed to Iraq. “. In August 2010, I entered Iraq at a very unique time, at the very end of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the beginning of Operation New Dawn, in which the Department of State (DoS) was in the lead and the Department of Defense (DoD) was in a supporting role. I was assigned as a Deputy Team Leader for a Stability Transition Team (STT) that supported the Department of State’s Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Wasit Province, Iraq. (I know, that’s a mouthful.) What that means is that I worked directly with DoS diplomats and coordinated/provided military support for their missions around Wasit Province working with high-ranking Iraqi government officials and economic leaders. Even though during Operation New Dawn there were no American combat troops in Iraq, I was part of a Regiment that was called an “Advise and Assist Regiment” that was comprised of infantrymen and cavalrymen with their associated combat equipment, i.e. tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. While Afghanistan got most of the media attention, Iraq was still anything but a safe place, as evidenced by the 6 men from my squadron killed by enemy fire. We redeployed to Fort Hood, TX in August 2011 as the last major drawdown from Iraq was taking place in order to meet the December 31, 2011 deadline for all U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Iraq.”
An avid Ohio State Buckeyes fan, Jeff notes that OSU-Michigan rivalry existed in Iraq, too. “A Michigan fan lived a few doors down from my containerized housing unit (CHU), which is basically a long trailer with partitions to make 15’ x 15’ living quarters. The morning of the OSU-Michigan game, I woke up to find my door painted blue with a big ugly yellow “M” on it in oil-based paint. Secondly, one of my cousins wrote to the OSU athletic department and told them that I was an OSU alum serving in Iraq and a huge Buckeye football fan. I received in the mail a personalized autographed poster from Jim Tressel. This was in mid-May 2011 while he was in the middle of the scandal that ultimately cost him his job and he still took to the time to reach out to a fan.”
Jeff still thinks about his early ears in Montpelier. “I don’t get back to Montpelier that often. The last time I was there was for my nephew, Ryan Heller’s graduation in 2009. I would have loved to have gotten back for our 20-year reunion, but I was still in Kuwait redeploying to Texas. I did, however, receive a very nice “Thank you” card signed by my former classmates.”
While Jeff fondly recalls football on Friday nights and playing golf at Hillcrest, that sly sense of humor and smirk of a smile reappears when he adds … “and giving Madame Boon a hard time for four straight years in French class.”
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