Photo By Spc. Michael Creech | Staff Sgt. Melisha Kidd, of Compton, Calif., an information technology specialist,...... read more read more
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Staff Sgt. Melisha Kidd, 23, endured a childhood filled with challenges and adversity.
She was raised in Compton, Calif., in a single parent household as the second youngest child to mother Rosalind Rose. She was raised with her brothers Willie and Allen, and endured the death of her sister Ericka, who died from a brain aneurism in January 2004 at the age of seven.
But through it all, she has persevered. This year, five years after joining the Army, Kidd was named Non-commissioned Officer of the Year for 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne).
As an information technology specialist from Group Support Company, Group Support Battalion, 3rd SFG (A), Kidd went on to compete in May at the United States Army Special Forces Command (Airborne) NCO and Soldier of the Year Competition as the only female competitor. Despite not taking the top NCO title at that level, she said she was happy to be able to compete against the best in the Special Forces arena.
Following the competition, Kidd gave insight into her life as an NCO, her childhood, and what she plans for the future.
Q: Why did you join the Army?
KIDD: I wanted a challenge, and I figured the Army would give me a chance to start my career. Plus I had never gone outside of California. Since joining I have met people I would have never met and been to places I never thought I would go.
Q: Are you happy with your decision to join the Army, and why?
KIDD: Putting on this uniform every day gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment. The amount of respect I get for being in the military when I go home is an amazing and humbling experience. My mom always wants me to put on my uniform, and I tell her “I wear it every day mom, and I don’t want to put it on when I’m back home,” but I do it for her because she is happy with the decision I made to join the Army. My mom is proud of me to this day, and she tells everybody.
Q: When did you start going to the NCO and Soldier of the year boards?
KIDD: It all started when I was a specialist. When I deployed to Afghanistan for the first time in 2009, I competed and won the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force - Afghanistan soldier of the quarter and soldier of the rotation.
This recent board, one of my NCOs said: “We need some guys to go to the NCO of the quarter board.” I was the first person they chose because I had been going to boards for so long. They said, “We should send Staff Sgt. Kidd because she has done an outstanding job at all her other boards.”
Q: Are you glad you did it: won and went on to compete at the USASFC level?
KIDD: It was all worth it – I definitely enjoy competing. The experience has definitely helped me as an NCO. I would say to any soldier, “Go to the board at least once so you can see how it is to actually compete, and it will change your whole perspective on going to boards, especially if you win." I haven’t been let down since because of it.
Q: What do you see in your Army future?
KIDD: I am looking towards making the Army a career. In the next couple of years I would like to become a drill sergeant. I would like to stay enlisted for 10 years and then go warrant my last 10 years, so I can get the best of both worlds.
Q: Why drill sergeant?
KIDD: Transitioning a civilian to a soldier is a challenge that I am willing to take. To take a civilian and be able to transform them into a soldier, where you have standards and discipline that you have to live by, would be a great experience. I would like to teach somebody my knowledge, what I’ve learned and experienced, as a way to help soldiers excel in their military career.
Q: Can you tell me your thoughts on the Army’s NCO Corps?
KIDD: I have a lot of my NCOS to thank for the success I have.
Growing up from a private and having NCOS care about me, and want to see me excel, was a great feeling. I am now an NCO with soldiers, and I want them to feel the same way I did as a private. Certain people pride themselves on making sure that other people have what they need to excel in life, and I think that is one of the good qualities NCOs like myself have.
When you have a soldier, basically you’re the parent. You have to make sure they have everything they need to grow and develop, so I think if it wasn’t for some of my NCOs, I wouldn’t be on the right path that I am now. I came into the Army determined to accomplish my goals, I knew what I wanted to do and nobody was going to steer me wrong.
Q: What has been your personal reward throughout this whole experience?
KIDD: Just the fact that I can do it. I can pull my head together, and it is possible of someone like me to come from somewhere where there is so much violence to somewhere where now people know my name. People know Staff Sergeant Kidd, and they know her for a good reason. Not because she was in jail or she was constantly in trouble. The fact that I can sit here today and change my whole life around from five years ago – to know that I can come from the bottom and still be at the top of my game. There aren’t words for it.
Staff Sgt. Melisha Kidd is a 2005 graduate of Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles.
She joined the Army at the age of 18 in February of 2006 and has since deployed twice to Afghanistan.
She has been with 3rd SFG (A) since 2006.
Her former boss took time to tell why she has succeeded since joining the Army.
Sgt. 1st Class Marlin T. Lee, from Bethune, S.C., and tactical local-area-network non-commissioned officer-in-charge at the GSC, GSB, 3rd SFG(A), said he saw the potential in Kidd when he first arrived in Afghanistan in 2009.
Q: What struck you different about Kidd?
LEE: A lot of energy. She has always been motivated, and once I saw that potential in her as a young E-4, I started to push her to go to those boards. She made E-5 and she continued to go to the boards. She continued to work hard, we continued to push her and keep her motivated. She became an E-6, and she is still winning. She has a knack for it.
Q: What do you think has gotten her to where she is today?
LEE: Her staying focused, motivated and doing all the right things. Plus she has the ability to make a decision versus a type of person that you constantly have to tell do something. Her being proactive, motivated and being able to conduct her duties in the absence of orders has gotten her to where she is now. She is going to succeed in whatever she tries to do in the United States Army. She has a bright future.
Kidd said she plans to stay at 3rd SFG(A) a while longer, and looks forward to one more deployment before moving on and possibly getting that dream job as a drill sergeant.
| Date Taken: | 07.05.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 07.05.2011 11:51 |
| Story ID: | 73249 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 2,614 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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