Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Mathes, Brandon enlisted into the Regular Army from Panama City, FL on 30 August 2011 at the age of 18. He attended Basic Combat Training at Fort Benning, Georgia and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Gordon, Georgia, where he was awarded the military occupational specialty of 25Q, Multi-Channel Transmission Systems Operator-Maintainer from Echo Company 551st SIG BN. He holds an Associates of Applied Science in Information Technology Networking from Purdue University Global.
SFC Mathes has served in every leadership position from Team Leader to Platoon Sergeant/Detachment Sergeant and AIT Drill Sergeant. SFC Mathes’ has been stationed at both Schweinfurt and Grafenwöhr, Germany and Fort Eisenhower, Georgia. He has deployed to Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom 12-13 and Operation Freedom’s Sentinel ‘17) and the Horn of Africa (Operation Freedom’s Sentinel 19-20).
SFC Mathes’ military education includes the Basic Leaders Course, Advance Leaders Course, Senior Leaders Course, Individual Readiness Training, Security+, Combat Lifesaver, Network+, Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Transportation of Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) course, Air load Planners Course, Master Resilience Trainer (MRT) course, Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Mission Planner course, Drill Sergeant School, Unit Prevention Leader (UPL) course, Equal Opportunity Leaders (EOL) course, Common Faculty Development – Instructor Course (CFD-IC), and the Army Retention NCO course.
SFC Mathes’ awards and decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal (1OLC) Army Commendation Medal (2OLC), Army Achievement Medal (2OLC), Army Good Conduct Medal (4 knots), National Defense Service Medal , Afghan Campaign Medal (2CS), Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, NCO Professional Development Ribbon (Numeral 3), Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon (Numeral 5), NATO Medal, Certificate of Achievement (5), Drill Sergeant Identification Badge, Basic Army Instructor Badge, Driver Mechanic Badge with Wheeled Vehicle, Marksmanship Qualification Badge Expert (Carbine), and the Meritorious Unit Citation.