Journey of Perseverance and Accomplishments

Book excerpt: John Medleys life took on new meaning on the day twenty-one trainee soldiers died. As a teenager, he embarked on the journey of his lifetime to become a fighting finance noncommissioned officer in the US Army. After infantry and paratrooper training, he showed early allegiance to the US Army Finance Corps. The loss of those twenty-one soldiers instilled in him a lifelong commitment to ensuring timely and accurate pay to soldiers and their dependents. Over his career, he learned to rely on his military training and education to help him face and resolve problematic conditions and situations. He also relied on the acquired, mission-related knowledge that he gleaned from one assignment to the next. His life and career were affected further by the urgency to respond to the families of 248 soldiers who had been killed in an air crash when returning from the Sinai. An encounter with a widow and her two toddlers would change his life again. After the death of her soldier husband, she came to Johns office in search of condolence and relief from her unbearable strife. There, the two spoke of her emotional and financial concerns for her familys future without her husband. Fortunately, John and his team were prepared to help these families through their darkest days. Join Dr. Medley as he brings you inside the workings of military finance operations and life in the civilian worlds of business, civil service, and academia.