Photo By Staff Sgt. Erick Yates | Sgt. James Madden (right), received the Basic Leader Course Distinguished Leader Award...... read more read more
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CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo - A North Carolina National Guard combat veteran and citizen-Soldier was awarded for exceptional leadership during an Oct. 27 graduation ceremony for the Army’s Basic Leader Course at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo.
Sgt. James Madden received the Distinguished Leader Award during the ceremony in recognition of his confidence and professionalism throughout the three-week course, which serves as a gateway for Soldiers working up to senior noncommissioned officer positions.
Madden is an infantryman and operations NCO assigned to the 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 252nd Armor Regiment headquarters, a North Carolina National Guard unit known as the “Thunderbolts” and based out of Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The Edina, Minnesota, native said he’s grown to call Fayetteville home after spending about 10 years in the area. With the exception of two combat deployments to Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division, Madden has lived in Fayetteville as an active-duty Soldier, a student at Fayetteville State University, and now as a 7th grade math teacher at New Century Middle School.
“After five years active duty at Fort Bragg, I got out of the Army but stuck around because my wife teaches on Fort Bragg,” Madden said.
“It was my last year at FSU that I decided to join the Guard,” he said. “I felt like I had more in me—more to do. A lot of my buddies were still serving, so I decided I had to do something more.”
Now on his second year as a National Guard Soldier, Madden is serving as part of the U.S. contingent with Kosovo Force, NATO’s 16-year peace support mission in the region. The 1-252nd headquarters is deployed with its North Carolina higher headquarters, the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team, and serves as its Forward Command Post north of Kosovo’s capital of Pristina.
In his role as an operations NCO, Madden works closely with the multinational forces attached to the FCP, which include Polish, German, Italian and Slovenian soldiers.
“I get to communicate with a lot of different countries, so my job is kind of crazy sometimes,” Madden said.
The FCP’s units must always be ready to restore safety, security and freedom of movement in Kosovo, if threatened. In order to do this, troops rotate between different bases, and frequently hold multinational training events to refine their skills.
“This is a completely different kind of mission than I’ve ever been used to,” Madden said. “It’s really a great experience, especially working with all the different countries. I don’t think there’s any other place in the world where you could interact with so many different people with different backgrounds.”
Madden’s graduating class of the Basic Leader Course was the first to be offered to this 20th and current rotation of U.S. forces into the Kosovo Force mission. Run by instructors on loan from the 7th Army NCO Academy out of Grafenwoehr, Germany, the course teaches Soldiers and junior NCOs to be leaders, trainers and warfighters.
“The Distinguished Leader Award—I guess it’s somebody who stands out, somebody who can take charge of situations and get things done,” said Madden, who said the class material included leadership techniques, counseling procedures and programs available to help Soldiers get support when needed.
Madden said he appreciated the opportunity to attend BLC—a mandatory course for further promotion—during his unit’s deployment, rather than taking more time away from his civilian career while home.
“It’s great just to be able to get [BLC] done,” he said. “I guess slots are pretty hard to get back in the states, so to be able to get it done when I’m already away from my Family is a big bonus.”
While Madden doesn’t know what’s next in his military career, he said he hopes it includes a promotion and the chance to stay in the 1-252nd headquarters.
“I like the 252nd, and I think it’s a great unit,” he said. “The bonds that you build in the Army are unlike the bonds you can build anywhere else. Even the guys I was in the 82nd with, almost nine years ago, we could all get together right now and get right back into it.”
“In the Guard, where you see each other less often, it takes a little longer to get to know one another. But now with the deployment, we’re right there with those bonds and relationships.”
Madden, the 1-252nd, and other U.S. units serving with Kosovo Force and Multinational Battle Group-East, will continue their mission throughout the winter and are scheduled to return to the U.S. this spring.
| Date Taken: | 10.27.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 11.03.2015 02:33 |
| Story ID: | 180707 |
| Location: | CAMP BONDSTEEL, ZZ |
| Hometown: | EDINA, MN, US |
| Hometown: | FAYETTEVILLE, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 732 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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