Face of Defense: Guard Soldier’s Experiences Put Her Ahead of Civilian Peers

By Army Capt. Robert Taylor, Idaho Army National Guard

SARABURI PROVINCE, Thailand -- Sgt. Mikki Fritz joined the Idaho Army National Guard because she wanted to jump-start her medical career. Though she decided not to pursue a civilian medical career, she’s found experiences that she feels have placed her ahead of her peers.

“I feel ahead of my peers who aren’t in the military sometimes with all the difference experiences I’ve had,” she said.

Her military experience has also taken her to places the past four years that most of her friends won’t ever visit. She participated in exercises Angkor Sentinel 2015 in Cambodia as well as Saber Guardian 2016 in Romania and is currently participating in Hanuman Guardian 2018 at the Royal Thai Army’s Cavalry Center in Thailand.

“None of my friends can say they have flown over Romania in a [UH-60] Black Hawk [helicopter],” she said.

Best of Two Worlds

Fritz joined the Idaho Army National Guard when she was 17 and has spent the past five years as a combat medic.

During high school at Meridian Medical Arts Charter High School she earned her emergency medical technician certification and wanted to become a flight medic. She joined the Idaho Army National Guard because she thought it would help prepare her to do so while she also went to college. In college she decided she didn’t want to have a civilian medical career but has no regrets about being a combat medic.

“I like doing both and having two different worlds of experience in my military and civilian careers,” Fritz said.

She graduated college from the University of Idaho with a geography degree because she likes being outdoors. She currently works as a soil lab technician in Boise, where she tests soil for engineer projects; a job she likes because it keeps her outdoors.

Around the World

While in Thailand, Fritz is attached to the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team’s Company C, 2nd Battalion. Throughout the exercise she is spending time in the field with the Idaho Army National Guard’s only infantry company.

Because she’s attached to the state’s medical detachment, Hanuman Guardian 2018 is the first time Fritz has been assigned to a line unit to perform combat medic tasks.

“It’s been really great to work with a line unit,” she said.

She can add Thailand to the list of countries she’s flown over in a Black Hawk helicopter and on a recent overnight mission she ate every bug a vendor was selling near the training site just to try something new.

Cambodia was Fritz’s first trip abroad. She’s now used to seeing different cultures and has come to know what to expect when she travels.

“I love international missions,” she said. “They really help me grow and I get to travel. I like to learn how other people live.”

She’s also made friends in each country she’s visited and uses Facebook to stay in touch with them.

Hanuman Guardian 2018

Fritz is one of more than 150 U.S. Army and Army National Guard soldiers participating in the Hanuman Guardian 2018 exercise alongside 350 Thai soldiers at the Royal Thai Army’s Cavalry Center in Thailand’s Saraburi province.

The 11-day training event began Aug. 20, and is a bilateral army-to-army exercise that strengthens capability and builds interoperability between U.S. and Thai forces. Soldiers from both countries completed a battalion staff exercise, conducted infantry operations, and improved their skills in counter-improvised explosive device operations, battlefield medical treatment and aviation capabilities.

“I get experiences in the military that none of my friends get to have,” Fritz said.

Dunford Arrives for Consults in Athens, Readies for Indian 2+2

By Jim Garamone, DoD News, Defense Media Activity

ATHENS, Greece -- The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff arrived here today for meetings with Greek defense officials.

Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford is being hosted by Greek navy Adm. Evangelos Apostolakis, the chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff. The two men and their staffs will discuss ways to increase cooperation between the two already close NATO allies.

Greece is a member of the coalition to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Greek forces are also cooperating in the refugee crisis that affects the nations of the Mediterranean Sea.

Both countries would like to see greater cooperation moving forward, defense officials said.

India

The chairman will leave Greece and travel to New Delhi to attend the two-plus-two meetings there. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Indian Minister of External Affairs Shushma Swaraj, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and Indian Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be leading the meetings.

“India is one of our premier security partners and an important and influential global leader,” Dunford said to press traveling with him. “Our nations are united by shared values and a commitment to freedom. The Two-plus-Two presents an historic opportunity to develop our growing partnership and to explore ways of enhancing our security cooperation.”

India is the only non-treaty ally with whom the United States has this form of discussion, officials said.

A senior administration official speaking on background put the meeting in perspective: “[Pompeo’s] travel in tandem with Secretary Mattis is a strong indication of the deepening strategic partnership between the United States and India, and of India’s emergence as an important security provider in the region,” the official said. “India's central role in our National Security Strategy is enshrined in the President's National Security Strategy as well as the administration’s South Asia and Indo-Pacific strategies.”

Officials said the U.S. would like to see increased cooperation with India and would like to explore ways to “operationalize” India’s unique status as a Major Defense Partner.

The U.S. would like to see defense trade grow with India and would like to see an expansion and broadening of the exercise program between the two nations, officials said.

McCain’s Life Celebrated at Washington National Cathedral

WASHINGTON -- The nation bid farewell to Arizona Sen. John S. McCain III -- former Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, war hero and Vietnam prisoner of war -- in a patriotic and emotional service today at the Washington National Cathedral.

McCain lost his battle with brain cancer Aug. 25 at age 81. He will be laid to rest tomorrow at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

VIPs, from former presidents Barack Obama, George Bush and Bill Clinton, to Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and former defense secretaries Leon Panetta and Ash Carter, attended the funeral.

The military provided ceremonial support for the retired Navy captain from body bearers and ushers to the U.S. Navy Band and U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club during a service that spanned two-and-a-half hours.

McCain’s ‘Amazing’ Life

Former President George W. Bush said what was remarkable about McCain’s life was the “amazing sweep” of it.

“From a tiny prison cell in Vietnam to the floor of the United States Senate, from trouble-making [Naval Academy] plebe to presidential candidate, wherever John passed throughout the world, people immediately knew there was a leader in their midst,” he said.

“And one epic life was written of courage and greatness of our country,” Bush added.

“John was, above all, a man with a code,” the former president said. “He lived by a set of public virtues that brought strength and purpose to his life and to his country.

“He was courageous, with a courage that frightened his captors and inspired his countrymen,” Bush said.

“As John would say: ‘My friends,’ we come to celebrate an extraordinary man -- a warrior, a statesman, a patriot, [who] embodied so much that is best in America,” former President Barack Obama said.

‘He Made This Country Better’

Obama said McCain made him and Bush better presidents during his Senate tenure, “just as he made the Senate better. Just as he made this country better.”

McCain showed a largeness of spirit and an ability to see past differences in search of common ground, the 44th president said.

He answered the highest of callings to do something that was bigger than he was by serving his country during a time of war, Obama said.

“Others this week and this morning have spoken of the depths of his torment and the depths of his courage there in the cells of Hanoi, when day after day, year after year, that youthful iron was tempered into steel.” he said of McCain’s five-and-a-half years spent as a prisoner of war.

In captivity, McCain learned how each moment, each day and each choice is a test, the former president noted. “And John McCain passed that test again and again and again. And that’s why when John spoke of virtues like service and duty, it didn’t ring hollow. Those weren’t just words to him. It was a truth that he had lived, and for which he was prepared to die.”

A Family Man

McCain was also lauded as a great family man, husband and father.

His daughter, Meghan McCain, gave the eulogy and said, “the nation is here to remember you,” to her father.

“That fervent faith, that proven devotion, that abiding love -- that is what drove my father from the fiery skies above the Red River Delta to the brink of the presidency itself,” she said.

“Dad,” McCain said, “your greatness is woven … into the life and liberty of the country you sacrificed so much to defend.”