Photo By Sgt. Anthony Hooker | Chief Warrant Officer 5 Michael Hayduk speaks to members of the 359th Theater Tactical...... read more read more
AUGUSTA, Ga. - Members of the 359th Theater Tactical Signal Brigade recognized Chief Warrant Officer 5 Michael Hayduk for 24 years of military service during a retirement ceremony on Oct. 12 at the Army Reserve Training Center on Fort Gordon.
Hayduk, who has been with the unit since December 2011, has had a variety experience in his military service. Among his assignments was a tour of duty to Vietnam as a Marine, a year of service with the West Virginia Air National Guard and an assignment to Afghanistan in 2011 where he first met personnel from the 359th TTSB. Upon retirement, Hayduk is scheduled to receive the Army’s Legion of Merit Award, conferred to military members of the U.S. Armed Forces who “have distinguished themselves by exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services.”
Hayduk, a Chambersburg, Pa., native, was joined at the ceremony by his wife, Elizabeth, and invited guests, to include retired Col. Eddie Sanders, who Hayduk cited as the catalyst to begin a long tenure of service as a citizen/soldier. Working together at Fort Richey, Md., in 1987, Hayduk said it was private conversations with Sanders that convinced him that returning to the military would enhance his professional proficiency and benefit his family financially.
“[Sanders] was like a brother to me,” said Hayduk, who worked for the Department of the Army as a civilian after separating from the Marines in 1972. “He helped me understand that being intimately involved in the military gives you a deep understanding of (how) this country works, and a greater appreciation of supporting the Warfighter.”
Since 1970, the rank of CW5 has been awarded to highly-experienced senior warrant officers who serve as branch technical integrators as well as advisers to commanders and their staff.
During his time in service, Hayduk has worked in a vast number of skilled positions. He has served as an aviator radar technician, a combat missile systems technician, an electronic equipment technician and the acting chief of the Pennsylvania National Guard’s Computer Emergency Response Team.
Hayduk’s most recent assignment was as the Brigade’s liaison during Operation Grecian Firebolt, a communications network training exercise which the 359th TTSB provided network services to over 22,000 military-related customers. Units located in California, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Puerto Rico relied on Hayduk’s ability to properly identify any logistical or technical issues to Operation Grecian Firebolt’s controlling element, the 335th Theater Signal Command. Hayduk said his focus was to prove himself as a true advocate for his home unit as well as show his coworkers in the 335th’s Network Operations Center (in East Point, Ga.) that he could be relied on to improve customer service.
Hayduk, who turned 62 in August, has reached the age where the Army has instituted a mandatory retirement for active-duty and reserve component soldiers. A number of folks with Hayduk’s credentials would be eager to reminisce on their past accomplishments as their careers come to a close. Hayduk, however, elected to spend time in a Warrant Officer Professional Development meeting, giving his peers with the 359th TTSB any insight he believed could improve the mission for the next generation of soldiers.
“I know how to reach out and orchestrate the subject matter experts,” Hayduk said. “I can leverage their ideas, intelligence and experience to resolve a problem. I try to pull in the right people to make things work and then move on to the next challenge.”
Hayduk also pushed himself personally during his final duty weekend. Falling short of a perfect fitness score of 300 points during an April physical-fitness test, Hayduk obliterated his previous results with a final tally of 105 push-ups, 92 sit-ups and a two-mile run completed in 15 minutes, 18 seconds. The pushups and situps were a maximum score regardless of a soldier’s age and his run time would have exceeded the minimum standard that a 17 to 21 year-old male has to meet for service.
Chief Warrant Officer Cynthia Thomas, a fellow member of the 359th TTSB, worked as a network systems administrator during Grecian Firebolt. She said although her time to work alongside Hayduk was limited, she has been impressed with what he offers.
“He is a warrant officer who is very soldier-focused,” said Thomas, who has been with the 359th TTSB for nearly eight years. “Since coming to the unit, he made himself available to all the leaders in the unit. He also has been a good mentor to the warrant officers in the unit. Although his rank designated him as the senior technician for the company, he (was) also a good listener.”
During his remarks, Hayduk let people know that he can be as self-deprecating as he is skilled. Reflecting on how he wasn’t really known that well by the troops in the unit initially, Hayduk shared a conversation he overheard when a young soldier was trying to identify him.
“‘Does anybody know where Chief Hayduk is?’ said the supervisor. After a period of silence, a soldier responded, ‘You mean the little man with the big feet?’” (Hayduk at 5’8, wears a size 12 boot and a size 13 sneaker). The assembled group laughed loudly as Hayduk openly wondered who the soldier was so he could tell him how much that comment tickled his funny bone.
“I told my wife that I want that comment to be put on my headstone.”
| Date Taken: | 10.12.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 11.11.2012 08:13 |
| Story ID: | 97625 |
| Location: | AUGUSTA, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 216 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 359th Theater Tactical Signal Brigade recognizes soldier with 24 years of service, by SGT Anthony Hooker, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT