Aaaaah-tennn-Hut! Sergeant Major Little on Duty!!!

0600 hours - Civilian Kelton Little get’s up and gets ready to go to his Radiation treatment
0700 hours – Arrive at the UW
0715 hours - Depart UW for Auntie Christy and Uncle Mike’s house
0900 hours- Specialist (SPC) Joe Brown arrives and the day officially begins….

After a quick video call with Uncle D and some silly picture taking we left for Camp Murray and Ft Lewis, arriving on base at about 1000 hours at Bldg 15 of the Washington Army National Guard.

We were met by a huge group of Soldiers and Kelton was issued an official uniform and went to the latrine to change. A transformation occurred! Out of the restroom stepped “Colonel” Little. He looked very official and perhaps even a bit taller. We were then honored to attend the quarterly “birthday bash” that the unit has for members that have birthdays during that quarter. At the start of the party, Colonel (Legit Colonel) Johnson introduced Kelton and Family and gave a wonderful speech about bravery, courage and inspiration and how Kelton displays those traits and inspires others with his courage, needless to say there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Kelton was then officially mad an honorary member of the Guard and was also “promoted” to the rank of Sergeant Major! We had an awesome breakfast and many wonderful gifts, and then moved on to the main building on base. Where all the big wigs hang out. We civilians didn’t really know where we were headed; we got there and were escorted back to a nice office with plaques and awards all over the walls and a secretary outside.. Uh oh.. being a former military man, I knew this had to be something big…. Outside the door, the Sergeant Major that was escorting us and Specialist Brown taught Kelton how to properly do a hand salute, well the lesson paid off we stepped into the office of a full blown General!!! Brigadier General Gordon D. Toney who is the Commander of the Washington Army National Guard and Assistant Adjutant General-Army!! Kelton did his salute and it was returned by the General. Introductions were held and then the amazement began. All the adults in the room were already in “Shock and Awe” just in meeting the General , but then the General took Kelton over to a table in the office that had a remote control model helicopter on it with a landing pad. The General, who is a Master Aviator and has the wings on his uniform to prove it, sat down and flew the copter a few times and brought it in for a “bounce in” landing, impressive. Well he then turned the controls over to KK. Kelton did a minute of familiarization with the aircraft and then we was off, he flew it around like a skilled aviator. Well General Toney was so impressed that he took off his Master Aviator wings off of his own uniform and PRESENTED them to SGM Little on the spot! I think I nearly passed out! What an honor! General Toney then talked to Kelton about his bravery and courage and presented him with a command coin (click here for what these coins mean and the history about them) that basically “trumps” any other coin on that base!

We were then led to a conference room where we got to meet the Command Sergeant Major and other Officers and NCO’s of HQ. Where they also presented coins. It was here that SGM Little got to give his first orders of the day! He ordered a Staff Sergeant to Drop and give him 10 push-ups, it took some prompting but KK finally got the order out, he even managed an “I CAN”T HEAR YOU SERGEANT” between chuckles. Kelton was presented with some special posters signed by soldiers and other gifts.

1215 hours SGM Little travels to UTES and is surprised to see WELCOME SGM LITTLE on the sign outside the unit.

This is the Unit that maintains and repairs all the vehicles and radios for the National Guard and Army on Ft Lewis. A few very funny moments happened here…the first was the “patch” dance. Nearly everyone we met saw KK’s unit designator patch and wanted to swap it out, I can’t count the number of soldiers that took off their own patch, took off whichever was on Kelton’s sleeve at the moment place that on is KK’s pocket and place their unit patch on his sleeve. It was very touching and humorous. Though the 1st time it happened, it was very special as the Lady that gave Kelton his first patch at the PSB unit (the 1st place we stopped) took of her patch from the 10th Mountain division that she got from serving in Iraq and presented that to Kelton. Not only do these folks fight for our freedom and serve voluntarily, they also make other sacrifices like this for a young man fighting his own battle. There were so many small, but poignant and cherished moments like this throughout the day.

Back to UTES: We got a tour of the facility and met the (no lie) Government issued Kitty - Yes a live GI Cat, it’s supposed to catch mice.. but it doesn’t HA HA! These guys were great! They had a helmet stenciled with Kelton on it, and set him up on a radio net to demo some cool field radios and there were more then a few “niners” roger over and out’s thrown around! OK Outside NOW soldiers! Move it Move it Move it… KK was taken out in a “gator” to the parade ground where he got the grand tour of the new ASV (Armored Security Vehicle) Brand spankin’ new! Along with other vehicles they maintain like the “Tank Tow truck” holy moly that thing is a monster! Kelton even got to look like “Rambo” for a minute and hold an M4 with an M203 Grenade launcher!

At this point and probably 500 pictures later they started up a Bradley Infantry fighting vehicle and invited Kelton to take the ride of a lifetime! It was a very short fight to see if it was going to be Richard or Alanna that got to ride with…if you can’t guess who won that well wait until you’re married you’ll know.... so off they go into the wild blue yonder… oops wait that’s the Air Force… ok so off they go over hill and dale rolling along in this monstrous tracked vehicle, standing up in the turret with grins from ear to ear looking super cool in their helmets and shades. They were gone for about a half hour and when they got back I didn’t think the grins could get any bigger but they were all teeth! I guess they got to do some “off roading” and barely bumped a tree, backed up to go around and when they saw the tree it was mangled from just a tiny bump! The Soldiers at UTES were just amazing! Our main guide had his own battle with Cancer and presented Kelton with some awesome gifts including Rainier’s tickets, and a Jersey from one of the players, and eerily it was the same as KK’s number! They also gave KK some MRE’s for those days when Hospital food just isn’t cutting it.. Yeah right hmm the lesser of two evils maybe?

PllllaaaatoooooOON HALT!
RIGHT FLAAAANNNK March..
Destination:
The Flight Line!!

SMG Little arrives on the Flight line with his Master Aviator wings prominently displayed on his chest at 1345 hours.

Here we are greeted by Captain King of the Washington Air Guard. We were honored to watch an incredible video of Captain King and other crews flight operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the things they do with the CH-47 Chinook!! Helping others and fighting for our freedom, definitely awe inspiring! KK got to put on Captain King’s personal flight helmet for the rest of the tour where he got to try out night vision goggles get more patches (of course) and was presented with an amazing poster of the Chinook. A tour of the flight facilities and hop into an OH-58A Kiowa Helicopter.

After the “Check off” in the Kiowa, we moved out to the HUGE CH-47 outside on the actual flight line. We got indoctrination and met the crew that works so hard to keep these 23 Million dollar aircraft is tip top shape. Ok Platoon, MOUNT UP, All Hands into the BOXCAR (Army term of endearment for the Chinook)!! The Civilians and SPC Brown loaded into the back of the behemoth and those Master Aviators and Pilots filled up the Cockpit with Kelton riding jump seat. Checklists completed, start engines, start rotors…start getting sea sick on the ground… that thing rocked and rolled just sitting there you could feel the power of nearly 10,000 horsepower in the Jet turbine engines and the pull of the rotors begging to be released. All systems are go, we’re cleared for taxi on runway niner over.. roger, rogers, what’s your vector Victor and don’t call me Shirley! Brakes are released by SGM Little and we are literally being piloted (on the ground) by an 11 year old!! Well he did great and proved he was worthy of his Master aviator wings, he drove us around the tarmac and did a perfect park job when we were finished. A perfect end to an incredible day.

Thank you to all of the men and women of Ft. Lewis and Camp Murray who serve our country honorably every day and who do amazing things for their communities as well. We know that our freedom isn’t free and we thank you for all you do and for all you did for SGM Little on Friday, a special thank you to SPC Joe Brown for all of his efforts in setting up this special day for Kelton and family!!

Kelton’s personal war on cancer was an inspiration to the men and women we met and his bravery in the face of battle provides courage to us all. Keep fighting Kelton, you have all of these people fighting for you and lots of people pulling and praying for you!!

You can now hear retreat playing in the back ground,

Platoon, Parade Rest

Until Next update this is Lt. Mike Over and Out.
At Ease Soldiers
Platoon DISMISSED.

Pictures of this amazing day are up in the Gallery!!