ARMED FORCES

ARMED FORCES

VETERANS

Elected president

YOUNGSTOWN

Col. Walter M. Duzzny (retired) was elected 2010-11 president of the Mahoning Chapter of the Reserve Officers Association.

Duzzny retired after 30 years’ service in the Ohio National Guard and Army Reserve. He also served many years as Mahoning County’s emergency management director. He is a member of the board of directors for the Northern Ohio Chapter of the National Safety Council, a trustee for Sts. Peter & Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church and is president of the Ukrainian Orthodox League.

Other 2010-11 officers are: Col. Willard Stamp (retired), vice president; Lt. Col. Paul Stepuk, treasurer; and Chief Warrant Officer 4, William Meshot, secretary.

PROMOTIONS

Soon-to-be major

YOUNGSTOWN

Air Force Capt. Sarah M. Robinson-Evans, a 1985 graduate of Youngstown East High School, has been selected by a promotion board to be elevated to the rank of major in the near future.

Evans, a daughter of Deborah Toomer and granddaughter of Norma Justice, was an honor student in high school and college. She enlisted in the Army Reserve in 1985, where she was a medic and air-traffic controller.

She returned to Youngstown in 1994 to attend Youngstown State University, from which she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and was listed in “Who’s Who Among American Colleges and Universities.”

After graduation, Evans worked at St. Elizabeth Health Center for a year before enlisting in the Air Force as an officer and flight nurse.

Highly decorated, Evans has received three Army Achievement Medals, three Air Force Commendation Medals, an Aerial Achievement Medal and the Air Force Achievement Medal, which she earned during a deployment to the Afghanistan area.

During her career, she has been stationed overseas in Korea, Japan and Germany. Now stationed at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., she is global operations director for aerovac missions, which evacuate wounded soldiers and return them to the United States.

In 2008, she graduated summa cum laude with a master’s degree in health-care management from Touro International University in California.

Evans and her husband, Joe Louis Evans Jr., formerly of Farrell, Pa., live at Scott AFB. They have three children, Danyel, Miya and Kai.

HONORS

Achievement medal

Army Staff Sgt. Jason Andrews of Salem received the Army Achievement Medal while deployed in Iraq with his unit, the 1192nd Engineer Co. Andrews, as a noncommissioned officer in charge of a road project on Camp Taji, was instrumental in completing the project before the hand-over of the area to the Iraqi army March 15. The new road, which leads to the Theater Internment Reconciliation Center, was part of the draw-down of U.S. forces.

Award semifinalists

ARLINGTON, VA.

Three Ohio employers have been selected as semifinalists for the 2010 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, the highest recognition given to employers for support of their employees serving in the Guard and Reserve.

The Ohio companies are PNC Bank of Cleveland, Setex Inc. of St. Marys and the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department of Cleveland.

The Department of Defense will announce the 2010 finalists in May and the award recipients in early summer during the 2010 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Awards on Sept. 23 in Washington, D.C.

DEPLOYED

Aboard USS Ashland

Navy Petty Officer Devin Tedrow, a native of Youngstown, is deployed aboard the landing dock ship USS Ashland, which is conducting anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. The USS Ashland recently apprehended several pirates aboard a skiff after returning fire upon their vessel and destroying it.

Activated at Fort Dix

Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Gordon L. Turnousky has been mobilized and activated at Fort Dix, N.J., in preparation for deployment to serve in support of either Operations Iraqi Freedom or Enduring Freedom. A member of the 253rd Military Police Co., Bristol, Tenn., Turnousky, a senior food-service specialist, is the son of Doris E. Turnousky of Poland, and a 1981 graduate of Poland High School.

BASIC TRAINING GRADS

Air Force: Airman Matthew L. Giebner (Lakeview High School, Stoneboro, Pa., ’04), nephew of Rick Heffren of Sandy Lake, Pa.; Airman Noel E. Dawson III (East Liverpool High School, ’09), son of Noel and Melanie Dawson of East Liverpool; Reserve Airman Tyler S. Burns (Poland Seminary High School, ’09), son of Denise Burns of Poland; Reserve Airman Ryan J. Gruda (Wintersville High School, ’04), brother of Shayne McClain of Boardman; Reserve Airman Brent Milankovich (Hickory High School, Hermitage, Pa., ’08), son of Robert and Jeannie Milankovich of Hermitage.

Army: Spec. Lori B. Singer (Salem High School, ’05; Hiram College, ’09), daughter of Sheryl E. and Thomas J. Singer of Salem.

Marine Corps: Pfc. Thomas A. Orlando, son of Deborah L. Kelly of Sebring and John A. Orlando of Alliance.

Items of note for the Armed Forces Digest can be sent to The Vindicator, Regional Desk, P.O. Box 780, Youngstown 44501-0780, or e-mailed to alcorn@vindy.com