ARMED FORCES

ARMED FORCES

DEPLOYED

2001 Boardman grad

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class James A. Lising, son of Lauren J. Macek and Ken E. Francis-Macek, both of Boardman, is assigned to the amphibious transport dock USS New Orleans, home ported in San Diego, Calif. It has departed Naval Base Point Loma after completing preparation for deployment. Lising is a 2001 graduate of Boardman High School.

HONORS

1996 Chaney grad

Air Force Maj. Kristopher Kripchak, a 1996 graduate of Chaney High School and a 2000 graduate of Akron University, has received the Meritorious Service Medal while assigned as director of operations with the 14th Weather Squadron in Asheville, N.C.

Kripchak, son of Joe and Ethel Kripchak of Youngstown, has completed requirements for a second master’s degree through the Air Command and Staff College. His thesis, which investigates and analyzes emerging trends that affect national and international security, received the schools’s Future Trends Award.

He and his wife, Kay, live in Belgium where he’s an operations officer with NATO and the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe.

ADVANCED TRAINING

Military musician

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Eric T. Shields, whose wife, Amy, is the daughter of Joseph E. Sabol of Masury, graduated as an instrumentalist from the Music Basic Course at the School of Music in Virginia Beach, Va. The 21-week course provides entry-level training to qualify Navy and Marine personnel for careers as military musicians in their respective service. Upon completion, graduates receive their bandsman designation and are assigned to their first fleet or field band in locations throughout the United States and abroad.