Migration News
Europe briefs: Naples picks top sailor
January 26, 2005
Petty Officer 1st Class Marilyn Gellegani, serving as Leading Petty Officer of the Chief Master-at-Arms at Naval Support Activity, Naples, Italy. (Sandra Jontz / S&S)
NAPLES, Italy — Petty Officer 1st Class Marilyn Gellegani has been named the 2004 Naples area sailor of the year.
“I didn’t expect it to go this far. All I wanted was sailor of the quarter,” said Gellegani, who is the leading petty officer for the chief master-at-arms at Naval Support Activity, Naples.
She entered the Navy in 1987 as a cook. In 1995, she went on a temporary-duty assignment to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, for training in law enforcement.
Since transferring to Naples in 1999, she has served as watch commander, security operations LPO and galley captain. Last year, she earned both NSA Naples sailor of quarter and NSA area sailor of the quarter honors.
“Her position … puts her in charge of troubled sailors. She recognizes her responsibility to those in desperate need for strong leadership, and imparts guiding principles that these sailors can take back to their parent commands and succeed,” said nominator Chief Petty Officer John Dillon, assistant administration officer. “She is involved in the command beyond her primary duty.”
In early February, she’ll compete against sailors from Sicily, Spain, Iceland, England and Crete for the Command-Navy Region Europe top sailor honor.
Aviano memorial set
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy — A memorial service will be held at 9 a.m. Thursday at the base chapel for 2nd Lt. Donyal V. Brooks.
She was assigned to the 31st Contracting Squadron and died Friday in a single-car accident near the town of Budoia. The accident is under investigation.
Service set for 1-4 GI
SCHWEINFURT, Germany — A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday for Sgt. Kyle Childress, a 1st Infantry Division soldier killed in Iraq last week.
The service will be held in the chapel at Ledward Barracks in Schweinfurt. Childress, 29, of Terre Haute, Ind., died Friday when insurgents attacked his patrol with small-arms fire in Ad Duluiyah, about 40 miles north of Baghdad.
Childress served with the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, which is based at Forward Operating Base MacKenzie near Ad Duluiyah. He is the ninth 1-4 Cavalry soldier killed since the unit deployed to Iraq last March.