Photo By Maj. Michael Wallace | The United States Ambassador to Kosovo (left) Ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson, awarded...... read more read more
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PRISTINA, Kosovo — The current Chief of Staff for KFOR, Brig. Gen. David N. Aycock, turned over his duties to incoming Chief of Staff, Brig. Gen. Michael Lee Scholes during a multinational ceremony at Film City in Pristina on June 24, 2014. The ceremony was attended by local Kosovo dignitaries and leaders in KFOR, including the commander of KFOR, Maj. Gen. Salvatore Farina and the U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo, Ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson.
Farina spoke at the ceremony and commented how much of an influence and perspective that Aycock had during his time as chief of staff to KFOR. After the short speech, Aycock was awarded the NATO NON Article 5 Medal by Farina, then awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal by Ambassador Jacobson.
Aycock spoke afterwards, the Lisbon, Louisiana native, looking back fondly on his time spent in KFOR in Kosovo and regretting leaving KFOR for this end of tour, but admits that the opportunities in his career so far have been due to his being a combat engineer.
The 1978 Homer High School graduate joined the Army because he was looking for something to belong to and be a part of a group of comrades—to be a part of a bigger team.
“Right out of high school I drove an oil truck for a transportation company,” says Aycock. “I knew then that I had to find another calling in life if I wanted to grow bigger than my rural Louisiana roots were trying to limit me to.
Since then, the awardee of the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and many other awards has spent time in Central America, Afghanistan and served in Desert Storm.
“Every duty position I’ve filled, whether active duty, or in the Guard,” says the former 1980 enlistee to the Louisiana Army National Guard, “has been a tremendous learning experience in life, social and career lessons; and this helped prepare me for this KFOR mission.”
Aycock refers to lessons learned, and how he would evolve those lessons, such as when he was the Director of Military Support at the Louisiana Joint Force Headquarters, or the chief of staff for the National Guard Bureau to his current assignment in KFOR, for example.
“My position as chief of staff for KFOR was tremendously different than my time at the National Guard Bureau,” he said. “At each level of my assignments, I learned so much. For example, when I was at the Louisiana Army National Guard, I learned all we had to accomplish to get our forces in Louisiana ready for missions; then, at the bureau, it was a task for all National Guard units throughout the United States—the challenges were always different, and so were many of the solutions.”
“KFOR was even more radically different than all of the other assignments—due to the international aspect,” says Aycock. “There have been more than 30 other countries that have been contributing to the Safe and Secure Environment in Kosovo, and each of them learning from each other on how each country’s social, military and political machines operate doctrinally and what makes each of them tick.”
Aycock says it is a rare opportunity and a great learning experience for a U.S. Soldier to serve on NATO missions. “NATO,” he claims, “is a big beast and very rigid in it bureaucratic processes which poses challenges for the neophyte—especially the language challenge.”
Even though the official language for NATO operations is English, Aycock says that everyone picks up language idioms from each other. “I’m sure that my American Louisiana ‘twang’ was a challenge for my fellow KFOR members, as it was a challenge for me to pick up on the Italian, Greek, Turkish, German and other language injects I learned here. But, at the end of the day, I don’t think of my operations officer as being Turkish, or my Plans officer as being German—I think of them as comrades and brothers and sisters in arms that are doing a real and necessary mission in keeping a stable environment in Europe. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve alongside them.”
Aycock holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Louisiana Tech University, and a master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College. He likes to hunt, fish, read, ride mortorcycles, and he is an avid firearm enthusiast. He is the son of Don and Gerry Aycock of Athens, Louisiana, and he now currently lives in Springfield, Virginia, with his wife of 28 years, Margaret. She has been an Intensive Care Unit nurse and is now a case manager at the Fort Belvidere Hospital. They have two children, Emma (20) who is now a student at Virginia Tech; and Kenneth (18) who will be attending the University of South Carolina this fall.
| Date Taken: | 06.24.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 07.01.2014 09:43 |
| Story ID: | 134930 |
| Location: | PRISTINA, ZZ |
| Web Views: | 333 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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