Written by Sgt. Kimberly Menzies
4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division
Fort Campbell, KY – Staff Sgt. Jonathan R. Welch, the Combat Service Support Automations Management Office non-commissioned officer-in-charge with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 801st Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division and native of Henderson, TN, was awarded the Honorable Order of Saint Martin by Col. Michael P. Peterman, the commander of 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101 Airborne Division during a ceremony, January 6th, 2012, at Fort Campbell, KY.
“I am extremely flattered to receive this award,” said Welch. “For a logistician, this is great privilege. It is also an honor to have had Col. Peterman present this award to me.”
Prior to presenting the Order of Saint Martin Medal to Welch, Peterman addressed the attending soldiers, explaining the significance of this award for logisticians.
The 101st Sustainment Brigade and the 801st Brigade Support Battalion have a long history of working together to support the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division, said Peterman. Today, we honor the hard work of a determined and accomplished non-commissioned officer from within our Quartermaster ranks, who has set an exemplary standard for all logisticians.
“My job is maintenance and administration of all logistic information systems in the brigade,” said Welch. “I have to make sure everything is working even if there are technological changes, other-wise soldiers wouldn’t be able to get needed up-to-date logistical support, whether deployed or in garrison.”
During his last two deployments to Afghanistan, both with 4th Brigade, Welch maintained 99 percent connectivity within those systems with manpower at 20 percent strength.
Welch credits his success as a logistician with his constant underlying curiosity.
“I have always had, what I like to call, a need-to-know,” said Welch. “Through the years I have become a jack–of-all-trades because I had this self described passion to understand how things work and how to fix or work with them. Which of course meant I had an eagerness to thoroughly understand every thing I could about the systems that I work with like the [Very Smart Aperture Terminals]. ”
“Receiving this honor is beyond a doubt a reflection of a successful outcome from that ingrained curiosity,” said Welch.
