Military news

Bronze Star Medal

VALPARAISO, Fla. – Air Force Maj. Brian Roy, a graduate of the University of Maine, has been decorated with the Bronze Star Medal for participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom while serving at an overseas forward-deployed location.

The medal is awarded to an individual who, while serving in the U.S. armed forces, has performed a heroic act, meritorious achievement or distinguished service during armed conflict or ground combat while engaged against an armed enemy of the United States.

While engaged in ground operations against the enemy near Baghdad, Iraq, Roy exposed himself to extreme danger from more than 100 hostile rocket, mortar and small arms attacks. When one of those rockets landed unexploded just four meters from his duty section building, he calmly initiated an emergency response to clear out 30 Air Force members inside and reported the unexploded ordnance to the defense operations center.

While deployed, he focused primarily on working with the 1st Cavalry Division to counter the enemy’s unpredictable man-portable air defense systems – shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft missiles – air attacks.

He established working relationships with national intelligence experts, combined models of engagement footprints of the most prevalent threat systems with Russian lessons learned in Afghanistan and was handpicked to brief the deputy director of Mobility Forces. This led to the reassessment of the ingress and egress tactics of transport aircraft transiting Baghdad International Airport, and increasing the safe rotation of 60,000 military members.

Roy is the director of operations for the 16th Electronic Warfare Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Valparaiso, Fla. He has 14 years of military service and is the son of Mark and Jane Roy of Lutz, Fla. His wife, Barbara, is the daughter of James and Thecla Quine of Bangor.

Roy is a 1986 graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Dover, N.H. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1990 from the University of Maine, and earned a master’s degree in 1998 from Troy State University-Europe through the military extension program campus in Ramstein, Germany.

Deployment completed

BREWER – Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Paul Zani, son of Carolyn and Robert Zani of Brewer, and his fellow shipmates completed Maritime Security Operations while on a scheduled deployment in support of the war on terrorism while assigned to the dock landing ship USS Ashland. The operation was conducted in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean.

Zani is a 2000 graduate of Brewer High School.

Officer training

RAPID CITY, S.D. – Casey Wyman has completed a U.S. Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps field training encampment at Ellsworth Air Force Base, Rapid City, S.D. He is currently attending Auburn University, Ala.

Wyman is the son of Gary Wyman of Hermon and Peggy Stoler of China.