As Mallary took the stage, she thanked for mother Cristella for always being there since day one, taking her in to swear into the Guard, and for always taking care of the kids. She also thanked her daughters and her siblings for their support. “Melissa and Crystal understand, especially with two parents in the military, what needs to get done,” Mallary said. “They have stepped up to do what they need to do when one of us has been gone.” Mallary also thanked retired 1st Sgt. Benny Aragon for hiring her in her first job as a state employee and recognized him for teaching her lots about being the administrative services supervisor. “He taught me about caring for people and that was the big thing he instilled in me,” Mallary said of her mentor. She thanked State Programs for always being there to help her. She thanked senior staff for the opportunity to work with them and Nava for the opportunity to become a Title 5 civilian employee and continue to work for the organization. “615th staff, I am glad I had seven years with you total,” Mallary said. “I deployed with you and you were awesome. We successfully completed major missions and I thank you for your hard work, and for being there all the time.” “There is the one person I need to thank, that I go to when I need answers and I need support,” Mallary said. “He is the man I have known for almost 32 years and he means the world to me. No matter how my day is going, I know he is there, and I have been able to progress because he is the one that really pushes me to do my best. At one point I think we were competing against each other to see who would get their schools completed first. I love you, Douglas, and I want to thank you for everything you have done for me.” As 1st Sgt. Doug Mallary embraced her, he asked to take the floor for a minute and said, “We have actually known each other for 34 years after meeting at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana.” “I have been married to Brenda for over 31 years and I could spend hours telling you how great she is, but there is one little story that characterizes who she is,” Doug said. “Years ago, one of our Soldiers was serving in Iraq and needed to bridge a call home at midnight our time for a job interview so he could have employment when he came home. Brenda sets her arm for 11:30, wakes up, drives over here, bridges the call, comes back home and goes back to bed, and is up at 0500 to be back at work at 0700. The reason I am telling you this is I am pretty sure Brenda never told anybody about this but me. She didn’t ask a whole bunch of questions and she never complained. She did it because it was the right thing to do. “When I look at all the role models I have,” Doug said, “I look at her and say I will never be as good as an NCO as she is.”]]>
