Maryland National Guard

Carole Briscoe was 34 when, at the suggestion of friend, she enlisted in the Maryland National Guard. But the late start hasn't hurt her military career. After compiling a record that has won the admiration of her superiors and fellow officers, the Eastern Shore native and former shock-trauma nurse was promoted yesterday to brigadier general in a State House ceremony. She becomes the first woman to achieve that rank in a military force that traces its origins to 1774. Briscoe called her promotion "a milestone for her organization" and praised the Guard for its commitment to diversity.

The Maryland Association of Coaches of Soccer selected Broadneck's Kevin McMullen and Severna Park's Joyce Stefancik for its Coach of the Year awards and named Clint Peay of Oakland Mills, A.J. Wood of Georgetown Prep and Mia Dammen of Oakland Mills to the All-America squad.The honors came during last night's annual MACS banquet, sponsored by USF&G, at Martin's West. It doubled in size this year to nearly 400 with the addition of awards for the top female players. The All-South and All-State first-team selections are listed in Scoreboard on Page B6.* A proposal requiring high school physical education instructors to coach at least two sports in addition to their teaching duties is short-sighted and -- let's be polite here -- absurd.

Bishop Darneal Johnson III of the Beacon Light Baptist Church in New Orleans stood in the rotunda of Maryland's State House yesterday before about 100 people and told his story. The 40-year-old minister fled New Orleans the day before Hurricane Katrina hit his city. He said he arrived in Maryland, his original home, with just the clothes he was wearing. "Everything you see has been given to me," said Johnson, dressed in a pinstripe suit. Johnson, who called himself a survivor rather than a victim, put a face on the thousands whose lives have been changed by the disaster.

FEW WRITERS GET past the second printing of their book, but author and local resident Daniel Carroll Toomey is on his 10th for "The Civil War in Maryland." First released in 1983, the book is looked to as an authority on Maryland's involvement in the Civil War. The 183-page hardback book is a well-documented chronology of the period from January 1861 through June 1865. The almost day-by-day account is designed to help people understand how Maryland fit into the Civil War. The reader can open to any page, read about a location and easily understand what went on there.

WASHINGTON -- A young Baltimore man with flashing eyes and an infectious grin - a nonstop charmer - Dolton Goolcharan might hold part of the answer to the nation's military recruiting problem. Goolcharan, from Penhurst Avenue in Northwest Baltimore, is a 21-year-old immigrant from Trinidad and a private first class in the Maryland National Guard. He is also a conspicuous success in an initiative that pays soldiers to scour the streets for recruits and persuade them to sign up. It has always been difficult to find people willing to serve, doubly so during wartime.

'TCProving ground complaints dropResidents of the area near Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County seem to be a little less sensitive to the constant firing of weapons there, now that the country is at war.Records kept by the proving ground show a drop in complaints about the weapons during four of the six months since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.So far this month, there have been only eight complaints, including just two since Jan. 16, when the war broke out, said John Yaquiant, a proving ground spokesman.

At the end of World War II in Europe, a young American soldier was reassigned from the infantry to the military police. He was issued a new uniform, told to practice saluting and ordered to guard the former German SS headquarters in Bavaria, where the U.S. Army had set up a base of operations. As he stood at his post, proudly sporting the black-and-gray patch of the 94th Division on his sleeve, Pfc. Roland "Ron" Sluder spotted a tall, broad-shouldered man in a trench coat making his way down the corridor.

The Maryland National Guard has received its second consecutive first-place award in the Army Communities of Excellence competition, winning over Guard commands from the U.S. states and territories.Gen. Dennis J. Reimer, Army chief of staff, praised the Maryland Guard for its community commitment and for "creating an environment in which soldiers, civilians and their families can attain their highest aspirations for personal and professional growth."Among the Maryland Guard's efforts are the Freestate Challenge, a five-month military-style residential program for at-risk youth; and the Distance Learning Network, an interactive video education network based in state armories.

For months, the men and women of the 135th Airlift Group have been training on their new C27J Spartan turboprops for their deployment this spring to Afghanistan. Their job: carrying soldiers, equipment and supplies around the war zone as the fighting season resumes. It's a mission for which the Maryland Air National Guard unit has deep experience. In the last decade alone, members have deployed several times to Iraq and Afghanistan, while also responding to the Haiti earthquake, California wildfires and Hurricane Katrina.

Chief Warrant Officer Joshua Chason held his 3-week-old daughter, Kuiper, as long as he could as she slept peacefully. The next time he picks her up, she will be a year older. Chason is part of a 60-member Maryland Army National Guard unit that deployed Friday from Aberdeen Proving Ground for a yearlong mission in Afghanistan. He and his wife, Andrea, had planned the birth of their second child after Chason's planned deployment to Iraq was canceled, but his unit was quickly rescheduled for a stint in Afghanistan.