Roy Exum: From Private To General

  • Sunday, May 3, 2015
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

It was quite a thing back in March, when Florida Gov. Rick Scott named Maj. Gen. Michael Calhoun to command the state’s National Guard. After all, not many who sign up as a “buck private” climb the ladder all the way to become the state’s Adjutant General, and when you add the fact the highly-respected Calhoun is an African-American, the story only gets better.

But there is more: In a 2 p.m. ceremony this afternoon at the St. Francis Barracks in St. Augustine, Maj. Gen.

Calhoun will install Sgt. Maj. Jeffery Young as his Senior Enlisted Advisor. That’s because, as Maj. Gen. Calhoun said, “He thrives on new challenges and responsibilities. As the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Adjutant General, he will focus on the morale, welfare, and individual readiness of the Florida National Guard and strengthening our (non-commissioned officers) Corps.”

Maj. Sgt. Young, hand-picked by Maj. Gen. Calhoun, is white and, in light of what happened last week in far-away Baltimore, it is important to note Young’s “daytime” job is with the Miami-Dade Police Department. He works in the Homeland Security Bureau but, for the present, he has been detached to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Strike Force in Miramar.

Maj. Gen. Calhoun, who joined the Guard right after he graduated from Florida A&M in 1976, is by trade a pharmacist, but his new position with the Guard is a full-time job which he is going to relish almost as much as our nation will enjoy watching Calhoun and Young work together to assist the state of Florida in times of peril.

Calhoun was a Sergeant by 1980 when then-Governor Bob Graham called out the Guard twice. The first time they went to Key West to help sick and malnourished Cubans struggle onto the mainland in the Mariel boat lift. His medical unit was soon called back to Miami, setting up a triage unit on the Hollywood, Fla., baseball field in the event any Guardsmen were hurt in the ugly McDuffie riots.

Calhoun has served as the Florida Army National Guard's assistant adjutant general since July 2011. He has earned the Legion of Merit Medal, the Bronze Star, Humanitarian Service Medal, Florida Distinguished Service Medal, Alabama Commendation Medal and the Mississippi State Emergency Medal.

Maj. Gen. Calhoun, who served a year in Kuwait and earned his Master’s degree from the Army War College, told the Miami Herald that he was “very humbled” and would have never dreamed of becoming a General back when he was a private. “That’s the neat thing about it … To have been around back then and now walk next to a private or a sergeant today and tell them that once you were a private and sergeant, too.  You can see that light bulb go off.”

* * *

The Detroit News reported last week that 30 Ford workers are asking how to get out of the United Auto Workers union now that Michigan is a right-to-work state. One worker, Brian Pannebecker, said of the UAW leadership, “Whether they want to admit it or not, there is a significant number in the union membership who are not happy with what’s going on.”

Most of the dissension comes as the UAW raises dues and takes a liberal political stand that is unpopular with many of the rank-and-file.

The UAW will enter into contract negotiations with General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler within weeks.

* * *

Stefan Stoykov, the kid at North Central High in Indianapolis who got accepted into all eight Ivy League colleges after scoring a perfect 2,400 on the SAT, dropped a fun bombshell the other day when he said in an interview, “When I came to the United States as an immigrant when I was 10 years old, I could not speak or understand a word of English. I got so confused my first day in the second grade I started crying.”

He also said, “My experience as an immigrant forced me to apply independent effort into learning English before I could understand the coursework that my peers worked on. Over time I’ve come to see my experience in learning English as a benefit, as I have found that learning other languages has become easier for me.”

Stoykov said he applied to all eight Ivy schools hoping to get accepted by one. And now he’s been accepted by 10 more – like Duke and Stanford. “I don’t know where I’ll end up, probably the place that is the best fit and has a good financial aid package.”

* * *

GREAT MATH TRICK: 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987, 654,321

royexum@aol.com

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