Csm mellinger biography

I am proud to call CSM Jeff Mellinger a friend, and wish I had served with him at the same unit on active duty.  He remains the last draftee from the Vietnam era to continuously serve, nearly forty years.

 My first interaction with him was a phone call, and Jeff asked me to help him.  He had just visited a young horribly wounded soldier at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and that soldier was going to die.

Order of saint maurice(primicerius)

 The kid had one regret in his life, that he never earned his Ranger Tab.  Jeff asked me if the US Army Ranger Association would award him an honorary tab.  Leaders like Jeff are precious few and far between.  From placing himself in harm’s way constantly – his convoys in Iraq were hit 27 times, and twice his personal vehicle was hit – to his love and concern for the grunt soldier, CSM Mellinger has lived up to the Ranger motto:  Rangers