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TM IT|l fill 111 20cXillJ #llOlll lltll FRIDAY/SATUROAY NOVEMBER 10/11, 2006 :■ , ; • From Army to GBI agent t 0... By NANCY HAWK Journal Staff Writer The history of our country is loaded with phrases, cute,' dramatic or even strange that describe “the American Warfighter.” A man who eons ago spoke to and about Ben Collins is Aristotle, when he said.” We make war that we may live in peace.” Collins works in Perry but he was born in Newnan, Dooly County. He is currently a mem ber of B Company, 2nd Battalion 121st infantry of Cordele for the Army National Guard. Collins went to basic training at Fort McClellan in Alabama, and then went to school as a military policeman, also at McClellan. That wasn’t too far from Dooly County, but that soon changed with his change of station. Collins was regular Army for four years. As a single man in Heidelberg, Germany, there were many opportunities and he could have stayed in, but that was not the future he said he had in mind. When first meeting Collins you are addressed by a man of some professional bearing. He is a person who immediately takes your hand and offers a smile while remaining in charge James D. Burch Hpre is his story: “My name is James D. Burch and I live on Houston Lake Road in Kathleen. I am a veteran, having served in the Army and the Air Force from March 1946 to September 1947. “I was old enough to enter service in 1943, but I was so little (97 pounds) that they would not take me. I tried to join both the Army and the Navy to no avail. “(Then) I was called up in the draft every six months and finally in 1946 I gained enough to weigh 102 lbs. Then they took me. I received basic train ing at Amarillo, Texas, M Ipfe '• 'JTT'' p ■ •• A*A - "/H f H . r ’ - , &v> ” JUI >Jf jmSmm . ✓. .• “ipb Jf» - * ir "BBfcfeijt .,.jfeSsfc* 1 WfcgMT- Hg 3 Jp9^ Submitted Gene R. Salyer, middle of the first row, is shown during his time as leader of the Moods in Blue show band. Gene R. Salyer Salyer is now a resident of Houston Springs in Perry. He retired from the Air Force as a chief master sergeant in 1979, after serving 22 years in the Band Career Field. During his tenure, he was stationed at Scott AFB, 111., Chanute AFB 111., Lackland AFB, Texas and Amarillo AFB, Texas, where he played clarinet, alto sax, tenor sax and flute in the field bands. In 1966, he auditioned and was accepted at the AF Academy Band, where he served from 1965 until his retirement. He played with the Falconnaires Dance Band and had leadership of the Moods in Blue show band. ;>* H ■# ■■ M Ben Collins of the situation. He is a mem ber of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Perry Office. In fact, the Collins family is ■ - • «!» / 1 Submitted Picture taken on Okinawa, 1947. then transferred to Boca Raton, Fa., to attend radar school. But they closed the school so I was trans ferred to Kedima AFB on Okinawa. “I was on Okinawa from September 1946 to Special one whose service to the com munity has been in law enforce ment for a long time. As far as Ben Collins, working with the >; • September 1947, where I worked as an aircraft engine mechanic. “I’m married to my sweetheart of 57 years and have three children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.” Sheriffs department south of Atlanta he accepted a position as a GBI agent in 1993. This was the first of his career moves in the GBI. He next accepted special training as a narcotics agent. In that capacity, he went through yet another boot camp to in order to meet the standards that the GBI operates by. Career set, married to a “won derful” wife, named Robyn, and a son over a year old, why would anyone join the National Guard? “I am a professional who believes in giving back to my country. A country that gave me so much ...” Collins said, eru dite as he continued to explain, ’’The men who fought in World War 11, were gone for years. Eighteen months is little for my country to ask of me. We (our country) are based on that sacri fice and the sacrifices after that, which is reality.” Then, he delved deeper into the facts of his personal sacri fices. “I lost my father and my father-in-law to cancer while I was assigned to Baghdad,” he said. “It was a rough time to work through; duty and respon sibility to a unit of people far away, duty and responsibility to my family here at home. Journal/Nancy Hawk % > * m ■dlpr * Horace Woodruff of Perry signed up for service in the U.S. Navy a month and three days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, on Jan. 10, 1942. “I was blessed to go in as a First Class Petty Officer,” he says, ‘and served at the Charleston S.C. Navy yard in the office of Naval Officer Procurement for 18 months, and in Knoxville Tennessee, before being assigned to the aircraft carrier U.S. Mission Bay. Cornelius Vance Jr., lives in Perry. A retired master sergeant, he served in the Army from January 1977 until February 2002. After completing basic training at Fort Dix in New Jersey and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Lee in Virginia as a Materiel Supply man (76D10), Vance’s travels took him to a myriad of assignments. He was stationed at Fort Stewart; Yongsan Garrison, Korea; Fort Riley, Kansas; Nuremberg/Fuerth, Germany; West Berlin, Germany; the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and Okinawa, Japan. “I served as a prescribed load list, quick supply and reparable exchange clerk,” he said. “I held numerous leadership Horace Woodruff then and now. Horace Woodruff Cornelius Vance Jr. “Dad gave me an option, when he came from the doctor’s office one visit. He explained to me that the doctor could write me a letter, and let the Guard know that he was sick. I just shook my head. I told dad ‘no.’ I told him he did not raise me that way and as a sol dier, ’I have to go.’” Collins stayed through the time allowed by the military, then returned to Iraq. This was the first deployment to the Middle East Theater for the Cordele Unit, he said. “When Thanksgiving comes and Christmas gifts are put away there will still remain the feel ing that every day is a lucky day here in America,” he said. “Every day is a day that you share with a family and with those you work with, because you have worked not only to keep the peace here at home, but when you have done what you can to make the world a little safer.” And making the world a little safer has brought additional rewards. Collins has been tapped to possibly accept a greater roll as an officer in the National Guard. A believer in the things that grow a home place for a family and his nation, he will again answer the call because he believes. 1 1 ■ Hrefeaiir,, / pjpi* • / : IS ‘- : f “We were engaged in anti-submarine warfare against the Germans.” Woodruff, who was born and grew up in Perry, returned to Perry and has lived here the rest of his life. He and his wife now live in the Gatwick Senior Community, and he is actively involved in a First Baptist Church ministry of visiting those who are homebound, in nursing homes or hospitals. positions as supply branch and division noncommissioned officer in charge, stock and document control NCOIC: Squad leader: platoon sergeant; exercise and billeting NCOIC and plans and opera tions NCOIC.” Vance was also a graduate of the Basic and Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course; Department of Defense Security Specialist Course; Standard Property Book Redesign; Defense Distribution Management; Standard Army Retail Supply, Army Precommissioned and Supervisors Development Courses. His greatest achievement, he said, was earning two Meritorious Service Medals, the Army Commendation Medal and Achievement and Good Conduct Medals. SECTION c