At CGS, it’s our great honor to work shoulder to shoulder with over 420 veteran employees throughout our organization. This week we’ve been featuring a small handful of our veteran employees on LinkedIn. We are also proud to feature our 2023 Veterans Day highlights here.
One of our recent Skillbridge employees, Chief Master Sergeant (retired) Andrew R. Ming. Chief Ming joined the Air Force in February of 1997. Throughout his tenure, his roles included: Military Working Dog Handler, multiple IT/communications positions, First Sergeant and Senior Enlisted Leader.
In December 2020, Chief Ming crossed over into the Space Force as part of the first cadre of Chiefs selected to stand up the newly minted DoD service. He was the Senior Enlisted Advisor for defensive cyber operations of missile warning, West Coast Space Launch operations and the service’s new Training Delta responsible for overseeing basic military & technical training. Ming retired on October 1, 2023. After 26+ years of service and travel to multiple locations throughout the continental United States, Europe, Southwest Asia, Korea and Alaska, Chief Ming and his family now call Huntsville, AL home, where he works out of the CGS Huntsville Regional Office as a Digital Solutions Project Manager.
Kenneth Grimes, one of our longtime Technical Services Division Program Managers served for 10 years in the U.S. Navy.
Ken joined the U.S. Navy in 1977. After bootcamp he went to Electronic Warfare School Corry Station located in Pensacola, FL. During his 10 years of service, he spent a large part of his military career teaching an array of critical training functions from Operations Specialist Training and Tactical Action Officer Training and was called upon for many projects requiring his specialized education and experience in Electronic Warfare.
VP of BI&I, Karl Bruening, served on active duty with the 4-25 ABCT based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Alaska. As a Field Artillery Officer, he held the positions of Fire Directions Office, Platoon Leader and Battery Executive Officer and completed a 15-month overseas tour in Iraq from 2006-2007. In 2008 he transitioned to the Alaska Army National Guard. Some of the positions he has held in the National Guard include, Troop Commander, Detachment Commander for the Joint Forces Headquarters, Joint Staff Operations Officer, and Division Chief – G3. He has served for 19 years and will be retiring toward the end for 2024. During his service, Karl completed the US Army Ranger School, Australian Jungle Warfare School and he’s a Parachute Jump Master.
Director of Operations, Legal Services, Susan Thompson joined CGS through the DOD Skillbridge program in 2020 after an impressive 25-year career in the U.S. Air Force. When asked for her favorite memory from her years of service she shared, “My fondest memories are the ones that evoke that sense of my community and family. There is a special bond that you can’t replicate by being a part of another club, school, or group. I can look at my retirement shadow box and each piece of it reminds me of the amazing people I shared my time with and milestones that happened for my family during those tours.”
David Melvin is a Program Manager in our Technical Services Division. David Melvin served in the U.S. Navy from 1979-1985, followed by another 12 years of service in the U.S. Navy Reserves. During his career he served on the USS Independence CVN62 for 4 years, 5 months and 12 days as an (EW) Electronic Warfare Technician 1st Class making four major ship deployments to various hotspots around the globe in six of the worlds’ seven seas. He also served at the Fleet Information Warfare Center; in 1996 he was recalled to active duty via Presidential Selected Recall as Officer In Charge (OIC) Fleet Information Warfare Center Detachment Sarajevo, Bosnia during Operation Joint Endeavor. Later in 1996 he served as Section Chief under NATO’s Combined Joint IFOR Information Campaign Task Force Sarajevo under US Army leadership executing various Psychological Operation (PSYOP) missions in Bosnia. Before retiring in 1998, he served at U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joint Battle Center (JBC) as Warfighter Technologist.
Our most recent Skillbridge Intern working with our Recruitment Team, Shantel Bell is currently active duty, getting ready to separate after nine years of service.
We asked Shantel her favorite memory serving the U.S. Navy. She shared, “My favorite moments from the military have been the deployments and going to different countries all over the world. Through the military, I was able to live in Japan for three years and toured over 20 different countries during my nine years of service.”
