2. This limited selection of my works will be focused on the
three month internship I completed with the 1st Infantry
Division Public Affairs Office. While employed with the
“Big Red One” PAO, I was responsible for creating high
quality products, consisting of text and image based
content that was shared via print, social media, Fort
Riley’s website and the United States Army’s website.
3. ‘Big Red One’ Soldier earns award for
exemplary leadership
One “Big Red One” Soldier said values espoused
by Gen. Douglas MacArthur - duty, honor and
country - were values by which every Soldier
should endeavor to live. It’s that belief, in part,
that earned Capt. James A. Cerrone an award
named for the famed general.
“Accomplish the misison no matter what, take
care of your Soldiers, honor those that have
come before us and support the country that
keeps us free,” said Cerrone, commander of
Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd
Battalion, 34th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored
Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.
Cerrone will join the other 27 recipients of this
year’s General Douglas MacArthur Leadership
Award - including Capt. Joseph Paolilli, the com-
mander of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 16th In-
fantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat
Team, 1st Infantry Division, - at a ceremony May
29 in Washington D.C.
The award “recognizes company grade officers
who demonstrate the ideals for which General
MacArthur stood” and “promotes and sustains
effective junior leadership in the Army,” accord-
ing to information from the Army.
Cerrone “approaches every task with a cheerful
demeanor and gives it his very best, whether
it’s a simple task or the most disagreeable and
unpleasant ... once he’s been given a mission, I
know I can count on him to get results,” said Lt.
Col. Scott Allen, commander, 2nd Bn., 34th Ar-
mor Regt. “He shares good ideas with his peers,
helps others until it hurts and always considers
the effects his action will have on the whole bat-
talion.”
The 28-year-old, grandson of both a World War II
veteran and a Korean War veteran, is the son of
James A. Cerrone, a retired brigadier general.
In 2007 he married his wife, Jamie, and the two
have five young children.
Cerrone began attending Cameron University in
Lawton, Oklahoma, in 2004 and was two years
into the ROTC program when his older brother,
Michael, was killed in action in Iraq. Cerrone said
the death of his brother inspired him to finish
ROTC so he could commission and “get into the
fight being the best leader possible.”
He graduated in 2008 and commissioned, sub-
sequently deploying to Afghanistan with 3rd
Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. Since arriving
at Fort Riley, Cerrone has deployed to Iraq and
Kuwait.
Cerrone said he was surprised when he first
heard he was chosen to receive the award and
he humbly gave credit to those around him.
“Without a supportive wife and family at home
and good Soldiers to work with, I wouldn’t be
able to do my job,” Cerrone said. “The Army is a
team sport and the biggest family in the world.”
The captain further praised the men and women
of his company, saying he has “been blessed to
have great Soldirs and noncommissioned officers
to work with.”
Cerrone said he felt he should not be recongized
individually for the efforts of his company, but is
still greatly appreciative of the award and happy
to accept it “to draw recognition to my battal-
ion, brigade and the 1st Infantry Division.”
4. Soldiers from 1st Sqdn., 4th Cav. Regt., 4th IBCT, 1st. Inf.
Div., fire a Javelin missile Jan. 30 at Fort Riley. The field
mission marks the first time the FGM-148 Javelin missile was
used by the squadron.
5. Modern Army Combatives program is
designed to train every Soldier
Soldiers from across Fort Riley completed the
final stage of a basic Modern Army Combatives
Program course Feb 6.
The program is designed to train every Soldier,
regardless of their military occupational specialty,
how to close on, engage and incapacitate an
enemy in close quarters combat, said Sean
Roberts, lead instructor for the Fort Riley Modern
Army Combatives Program. Most Soldiers only
participate in the basic one-week combatives
program, but even this minimal amount of
training gives Soldiers an edge on the generally
untrained enemies the United States Army is
currently facing, Roberts said.
Soldiers are taught the concepts of the program
in what Roberts calls a “crawl, walk, run” type
of training. They are first shown the techniques,
which they then commit to muscle memory.
Once familiar with all techniques, the Soldiers
apply them physically against an opponent also
enrolled in the program. The final stage of the
basic program is a drill called “React to Combat,”
in which the Soldiers dress in full combat gear
complete with dummy weapons and enter a
simulated home occupied by potential enemy
combatants.
Highly trained instructors role play as the
generally untrained enemy combatants and
attack the trainees at varying degrees of
intensity. The objective of the drill is to surprise
attack the trainee, forcing them to react and
apply the newly learned hand-to-hand combat
techniques in real time.
“Knowledge is one thing, but being able to
execute under stress is what combatives is
about,” Roberts said.
There are three phases of basic fight strategy:
closing the distance, gaining dominant position,
and finishing the fight. The Soldier aims to first
dominate the fight by controlling the range
between them and the combatant, avoiding
enemy strikes and preparing to assume the
dominant position. Establishing dominance
then creates leverage that allows the soldier to
implement lethal or nonlethal techniques in order
to incapacitate the enemy, according to the Fight
Tactics/ Training Strategy guide from the Modern
Army Combatives Program based in Fort Benning,
Georgia.
The goal of the program is to better educate
Soldiers throughout the Army on how to distance
themselves from a potential enemy threat, as
well as defend themselves and maintain control
of their weapons in a hand-to-hand conflict. Even
Soldiers that only complete the basic weeklong
program are encouraged to share their knowledge
with the other Soldiers in their unit.
6. Col. Peter G. Minalga, commander of the 4th IBCT, 1st Inf.
Div., stands at attention following a speech to his Soldiers
during the brigade’s final casing ceremony April 2 at Fort
Riley, Kansas. The five battalions and one squadron that make
up the brigade will case their individual colors in separate
ceremonies.
7. Two ‘Big Red One’ NCOs stop house
fire’s spread
On a Sunday afternoon, the sun was out and so
were the people of Fort Riley. Soldiers and their
families were taking advantage of the warmest
weather in weeks when Staff Sgt. Rudy Rosalez
caught a glimpse of smoke rising from his neigh-
bor’s porch.
He thought nothing of it; it was probably just
another family grilling out in the spring-like
weather, he said. Seconds later, he glanced
back and saw the flames. This was no barbecue.
Staff Sgt. Rudy Rosalez and Staff Sgt. Sidronio
Rodriguez, both of 5th Squadron, 4th Cavalry
Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team,
1st Infantry Division, were walking out of Ro-
salez’s on-post house March 8 when Rosalez
spotted the fire. He turned to reassess the sit-
uation and realized the rising flames had grown
to almost two-and-a-half feet.
The father of two boys said he “did what any
parent, father or man would do” and rushed to
warn his neighbors, sending Rodriguez back to
get an extinguisher.
“I banged on the door and screamed at the top
of my lungs, ‘Get out,’” Rosalez said.
Rosalez’s frantic banging on the door alerted
three young children who were playing video
games in the living room only a few feet from
the flames. He warned them of the growing fire
and they rushed to get their parents.
Rosalez then fell back on his “Big Red One”
training and started directing Rodriguez and
the owners of the house to grab a garden hose
and fire extinguishers, Capt. Jason Demars, Fort
Riley Fire and Emergency Services, said.
Rosalez said when he went to the other unit of
the duplex to extend the warning, “I banged on
the door. Nothing. So, I opened it myself.”
Inside the home, he found the occupant and
repeated the warning he gave the others.
“I evacuated everyone,” Rosalez said. “I was
basically calling the shots because nobody else
would.”
Rosalez successfully got all of the occupants
out of the two homes and, while under his di-
rection, Rodriguez and the others extinguished
the fire. By being in the right place at the right
time, reacting quickly to an emergency and tak-
ing control of the situation, Rosalez potentially
saved the lives of four adults and seven young
children.
If Rosalez did not notice the fire or passed it
off as a barbecue, the plastic siding would have
fully ignited in two to three minutes, resulting in
a “potentially very bad outcome,” Demars said.
“Do I think Rosalez is a hero?” Demars asked.
“You betcha.”
8. Spc. Samantha Jordan and Staff Sgt. Tory Peoples of the
Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard perform a cavalry
charge following the 4th IBCT casing ceremony April 2 at Fort
Riley, Kansas. The brigade cased it’s colors in preparation for
it’s deactivation this summer.
13. During my time at Fort Riley, I was privileged to have
been involved in many high profile events. The work was
challenging and demanding, but due to my compentency
with a camera combined with skills in interviewing and
story telling, I was able to perform at a professional level.
Senior Mission Commander, Brig.
Gen. Eric Wesley thanked me for
my work and presented me with
a 1st Inf. Div. coin in a surprise
speech on my final day of work.
Major General Paul Funk,
commander of the 1st Inf. Div.,
sent me a personal letter from
Baghdad, Iraq, thanking me for
my contributions.
