Washington Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Bradford Mingle, in the blue cap, was serving in the Joint Visitors Bureau's Protective Services Detail in Afghanistan on Father's Day while his daughter, Washington Army Guard Spc. Jessica Mingle was serving in Iraq. Mingle's wife Karen and son Leonard are also Army Guard Soldiers in, respectively, Washington and Pennsylvania. U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Bob Haskell
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Bradford Mingle
Guard Family Fights War on Terror
By U.S. Army Master Sgt. Bob Haskell National Guard Bureau
KABUL, Afghanistan, June 24, 2005 — He was in Afghanistan. His daughter was in Iraq. His son was in Pennsylvania. His wife was holding down the family home in the state of Washington. It was not your typical Father's Day for Washington Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Bradford Mingle.
There was, however, an important tie that binds this Mingle family of four from Puyallup, Wash. They are all soldiers in the Army National Guard, and they are all committed to the global war on terrorism.
So Bradford Mingle had many reasons to be proud of his far-flung family and the organization they were serving at home and in two combat zones on the third Sunday in June.
“We all believe in what we're doing,” said Mingle a few days before fathers throughout America observed their day with special breakfasts or barbecues.
“I like the Guard. We all do,” Mingle explained. “The Guard's an important piece of the puzzle. Without us, the Army couldn't do its job.”
The Mingles are doing a variety of jobs. Bradford has been part of the Joint Visitors Bureau's Protective Services Detail during the two months he has served in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital city. That detail provides security for important visitors such as Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau. The job includes escorting the VIPs in convoys of unmarked vehicles through the teeming city's streets in uniform or accompanying them on flights across the country in civilian clothes.
Mingle's daughter, Spc. Jessica Mingle, 20, is a Washington Army Guard Soldier attached to the Army's 3rd Infantry Division in Baghdad. She has been in Iraq for about as long as her father has been in Afghanistan.
His son, Sgt. Leonard Mingle, 22, is a member of the Pennsylvania Army Guard's 28th Infantry Division.
