FORT LIBERTY — They are among the men and women of this community who bond us with one of the largest military installations in the world.
When a nation calls, Fort Liberty is there.
When Fort Liberty calls, they are the ambassadors who since 2013 have heeded every call — a commitment not lost on Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, the 18th Airborne Corps on Fort Liberty commander.
“This is extremely important to us and to the community,” Donahue was saying Thursday at the Iron Mike Conference Center before installing nine new members as ambassadors of what once was known as the “Good Neighbor” program. “We honor those that do so much.”
Inductees were Gen. (Ret.) Dan McNeill, who was commander of Coalition Forces, Afghanistan from 2002 to 2003 and commanding general for the U.S. Army Forces Command from 2004 to 2007; Col. (Ret.) Willie Wright; Command Sgt. Maj. (Ret.) Steven England; Sgt. 1st Class (Ret.) Grilley Mitchell; Renee Lane, executive director of the Airborne & Special Operations Museum Foundation since 2019 and former director of the Sandhills Area USO of North Carolina from 2009 to 2019; Krista Anderson, co-founder in 2013 of The Unquiet Professional, an all-volunteer organization that provides healthy and empowering opportunities to Gold Star and surviving families and veterans; John “Mac” Healy, executive board member of the Military Advisory Council and board member of the Airborne & Special Operations Museum Foundation; Steven Moore, 2022-23 chairman of the Military Affairs Council and a board member since 2020 with the Airborne & Special Operations Museum Foundation; and Jodi Burns, executive director of The Special Forces Charitable Trust.
All received maroon blazers and certificates, as did previous inductees Karen Long, inducted in 2013; George Breece and Dan Dederick, inducted in 2014; Col. (Ret.) Marshall Carlson, Navy Capt. (Ret.) Chuck Deleot and David McNeill, inducted in 2015; and Chris Nunez and Col. (Ret.) Andy Anderson, inducted in 2018.
‘Fort Liberty means so much’
The induction was poignant for the inductees.
“Having the 18th Airborne commander recognize me with my peers is one of the best ceremonies I’ve participated in,” Wright, 87, said. “It really touched my heart to think I should be recognized. This is my community, and I appreciated what the Army did for me.”
You could see the pride in Lane’s face as she was helped into her maroon blazer.
“To receive this recognition is humbling, especially standing alongside deeply dedicated individuals who steadfastly commit their time, talent and treasure to support Fort Liberty soldiers and families,” Lane, 65, said. “This collective spirit of service unites us all in supporting our military community.”
Healy, 65, said he came to learn the significance of the neighboring military base from his parents, when his late father, Fritz Healy, moved to Fayetteville more than 40 years ago to take over a local beer distributorship now known as Healy Wholesale.
“I was taught how important the military was from my mom and dad,” he said. “Fort Liberty means so much to the quality of life in this community.”
Jodi Burns has been executive director for the Special Forces Charitable Trust, located in Southern Pines, for 3½ years.
“It was such an honor to be inducted and to have our organization’s impact on the community recognized,” said Burns about the organizations that, Donahue said, has raised more than $4.2 million. “We’ve developed a mental health program called Beyond the Battlefield that provides programs and services for Special Forces warriors who are looking for discreet or anonymous help. Lifting the ‘Warrior’ families up after enduring combat over the past 20 years is our mission. They answer the call of our nation, and we answer theirs. It’s an honor and privilege for this work to be acknowledged. It speaks volumes that Beyond the Battlefield is making an impact.”
A soldier remembered
The induction was all the more poignant for Krista Anderson, who lost her husband, Staff Sgt. Michael Harrison Simpson, on May 1, 2013, when the 30-year-old soldier sustained fatal wounds from an improvised explosive device in eastern Afghanistan while serving with the 1st Special Forces Group as an 18 Bravo.
Anderson says she founded The Unquiet Professional out of grief and gratitude — the grief of becoming a Gold Star widow and single mother; the gratitude she felt from “the outpouring of love and support from her community.”
“Today, the mission of The Unquiet Professional serves military families by way of emergency support and casualty support, providing healthy opportunities to heal from the wounds brought on by war and educating on how to plan for the unexpected in order to secure family and financial readiness,” she said. “Being inducted into the Fort Liberty Ambassador program is a true honor. It’s the first installation in our military journey and where we started our family.
“It’s the home of U.S. Army Special Operations, a community that has become family. To be told our work has made an impact where it all began feels like I’ve carried Mike’s legacy full circle. I am humbled for the opportunity to share the gifts this military life has to offer while serving Fort Liberty’s soldiers and families.
“I heard a woman speak a year after Mike died, and her quote brought together exactly how I felt in my darkest days and how I want others to feel by the work that we do.
“There is nothing more beautiful than a community coming together and choosing you,” Anderson, 46, said. “You all chose me then when I needed you. Maybe not specifically each person in that room today, but the greater whole. It’s Mike, our two amazing boys, Michael and Gabriel, and my now husband Gus (a retired Green Beret) who inspire me every day. You’ll never know the gift you give our family by simply printing Mike’s name.”
Epilogue
The “original Good Neighbor Program started in 2013,” Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue would remind us. “2018 is the last time we did it, and then you got into Covid and all those other years as we went to Fort Liberty … We thought it was very important to reinvigorate this, and so this is extremely important to us and to the community that we do this right and we honor those that do so much.”
He looked out into the room of servicemen and servicewomen of today and yesteryear.
“What you and the rest of these folks do to support them, we cannot thank you enough,” Donahue said. “So, we can never, ever thank you enough.”
Call it a good day on Fort Liberty and for this community, and where a fallen solider was remembered, too.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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