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thedrifter
01-03-06, 10:44 AM
Father, daughter celebrate promotion, New Year
2nd Marine Aircraft Wing
Story by Cpl. James D. Hamel

AL ASAD, Iraq (Jan. 3, 2006) -- Master Sgt. James Silva, a Laguna, N.M., native, has served in the Marine Corps for 24 years, but New Year’s Day 2006, was a day like no other.

The heavy equipment operator for the 8th Engineer Support Battalion has seen many Marines attain the rank of corporal, and become noncommissioned officers, but on Jan. 1 he pinned the chevrons of an NCO on his own daughter, Cpl. Melanie Silva.

“Anytime you get promoted is a great thing,” said Gunnery Sgt. Keith Kulman, the crash chief for Marine Wing Support Squadron 272’s aircraft rescue and firefighting section, who serves as one of Melanie’s senior enlisted leaders. “Getting promoted to NCO makes it a bonus, and then to get promoted by a family member in a combat zone makes it perfect. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

James enlisted Dec. 31, 1981. During his time in the Corps, he raised three daughters and watched them all join the military. Two joined the Air Force, while Melanie followed him into the Marine Corps.

Silva said he always expected Melanie would become a Marine.

“I was not surprised because she was into the (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) in high school,” said Silva, a heavy equipment chief with the 8th Engineer Support Battalion, based in Camp Al Taqaddum, Iraq. “She enjoyed it, so I always had a feeling she’d join the Marines. The (Air Force recruiters) tried to coax her into joining with them, but she wouldn’t have it, she wanted to be a Marine.”

Melanie said she had been around the Marine Corps her entire life, and wanted to give it a try for herself.

“I wanted to do it since I was a little girl,” she said. “Nothing was going to stop me.”
She enlisted during February 2004, and reported to Marine Wing Support Squadron 272 during November of the same year. Her unit deployed to Iraq during August 2005. When she received word of her deployment, she didn’t think her father would be coming with her.

James was stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., with a unit that wasn’t scheduled to deploy. After hearing his daughter was going to Iraq, he tried his hardest for an assignment to a unit that would allow him to go.

“I knew I had to deploy, too,” he said. “The way I saw it, I couldn’t sit back in the rear while she was in Iraq.”

James joined the 8th Engineer Support Battalion and deployed in the same month as his daughter. He said his unit has been very helpful in affording him occasional opportunities to visit his daughter.

“I think this is really good,” said Melanie. “I miss my family, but I have a little piece of it here and that keeps me going.”

She said her mother was happy she and her father were able to spend the holiday together and mark such an occasion.

“She’s not really too concerned about me,” said James. “She knows I’m older, and that I’ve been in longer. But naturally, she still has a lot of concern for her daughter.”

After the festivities of the day, James returned to Al Taqaddum. Both he and his daughter are scheduled to return to the United States during March 2006. It will be a great day for both of them, but they’ll always remember New Year’s Day in Iraq.

“This means a lot to me,” he said. “It’s not a chance that many fathers have, to promote his son or daughter during a conflict. It’s a very special occasion. I’m just glad to be out here with her, and (glad) I didn’t miss this.”

Ellie

greensideout
01-03-06, 07:43 PM
Aircraft and firefighting takes balls!