While Serving, What’s a Time You Remember Someone Who Went Above and Beyond to Help You Out? Login & Share to Win!

As a new private the first one you meet is your platoon Sergeant, he gave me a list of what he wanted me to accomplish during my time under him and always kept updated on it. He did made me and others better soldiers from learning by making mistakes trying to accomplish his goals.

While I was station at Dobbins AFB in Georgia, worked on telecommunications equipment (teletype). My fellow airman and I had a mission critical problem on a teletype machine. We were inexperience and we could no resolved the problem after three days. Our civilian counterpart suggested we take the equipment to Charlie Brown Airport where a civilian expert work. We did and worked on the problem for five hours. The expert then said, we know what part of the machine is failing he said lets replace it. I said we are not allowed to order a sub section of the machine. He said we order them all the time. We installed the sub section of the teletype and the mission of providing backup weather information to aid pilots in landing planes was saved

I had a few really but the one that stands out the most is J D Bishop He was a great friend He talked about his experiences Most were good some not so good but over all He was a big influence on me There are so many others that were there Lambert Moody Lawson Stumpf Jackson Turner Edwards Granger MaHoney Bay Smith Chevalia Gaudioso Russel Pitman Martin Martin Wyckoff Kelly Engelhardt Grant Gross Sena Thayer Hertz Valgos SP

Having people do that was normal. I was always well taken care of by all agencies in all the different branches

My Saginaw move care team has gone above and beyond to help me with virtual exercise classes they do 5 a day, they had me do a virtual intensive program and an in person intensive program. They helped me lose 90 lbs in a years time. They are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. They have dieticians, Yoga teachers and physiologists. We have a Facebook group where we all support each other. I live in Cleveland and they are in Michigan. So they welcome all in our area and I drive up there once a month to participate in various activities. I would not have been able to lose the weight by myself

At the end of a VAQ-129 training detachment to NAF El Centro in 2000, our jets had departed with all of the instructors back to NAS Whidbey Island, leaving a dozen of us students and 50 or so maintainers to fly back on NALO lift, which had been cancelled 3 days in a row. I took a chance and tracked down a number for the Ops Dept of VMGR-352 at Miramar and asked if there was any way they could help us out. In a matter of hours they put together a mission to come pick us up in El Centro and fly us up to Whidbey. Unfortunately, the mission experienced a couple of slides and the CPOs in charge got impatient and pulled the trigger on their plan to bus the Det to San Diego for commercial flights to Seattle. I was given permission to remain behind with any volunteers (which ended up being my fellow students). When the Raiders landed with a KC-130H configured for 60+ pax and only a dozen officers boarded with a cruise box full of classified (which would have been a nightmare transporting on individuals via commair, especially since I doubt any of us had courier cards), they groused a little bit, but ultimately gave us a great ride that got us in to Whidbey several hours before the rest of the det managed to arrive in their busses from Sea-Tac. Much love to the Raiders for helping out their brothers and sisters.

When I was a dumbass LT, I had a battalion commander who was looking out for me. There I was, just a 20-year-old kid in a combat zone thinking I was bulletproof and knew it all. The battalion commander, LTC Dougald MacMillan, took me aside and told me that he thought I had potential but if I wasn't careful, I was going to get myself killed. But that didn't bother him as much as the fact that I was also going to get some good men in my platoon killed.
I had the good sense to listen to LTC MacMillan. And from that point until he retired, he kept a watchful eye on me and, I'm sure, put in at least one if not more good words for me with the higher-ups he knew. I miss that old geezer.....

Can't think of anyone.

What us Marines consider to be above and beyond is pretty daggone subjective. I'll go over moments when generosity was clearly at hand...

During the Crucible apparently the Company CO ensured we had one extra MRE than what recruits normally got. The DIs openly said to us we got a hookup in that sense.

An instructor/ensemble trainer who let me run my brass quintet arrangements while at the School of Music.

Any time for a birthday ball the host unit fed my band with the same food/dishes the ball guests were being served instead of shitty pizza or other fast food garbage. In one case, while in my very first band, this resulted in porterhouse steak dinners for my brass quintet (Navy Chaplains' Ball). This was more common when we were TAD/TDY for the ball and we had to stay overnight (this happened while in 29 Palms; back when that band still existed). In half of those cases we were also invited to participate in the fun part of the ball afterward.

When coming back to active duty: my former CO from 29 Palms wrote me a letter of recommendation (as was needed at the time) explaining how I'd be a great asset if I came back to active duty.

A gunny who got us hooked up with unit challenge coins after a gig. This actually inspired me to do the same at my next station when I ran a brass quintet, and most host units were rather stingy about openly giving us anything (more than half the time though all it took was me asking and we were good!). Same gunny convinced me to ask for that station when I was able to make a choice, and still stands as one of the better SNCOs I got to work with.

In the Army I'd argue my sponsor, my squad leader, 1SG, OIC, and others went above what was expected of them to ensure my transfer to the Army and base was smooth for not just me but my family as well.

During the Vietnam era??? Never!