Irving, Texas (ASBP, July 12, 2011) " Sgt. 1st Class James Williams is a recruiter assigned to the Ranger Recruiting Battalion in Dallas, Texas. After hearing about a civilian agency collecting blood in one of the larger recruiting stations in the area, he decided to coordinate an Armed Services Blood Program blood drive for his battalion headquarters.
“After getting an email about the other blood drive in our battalion I immediately went back to when we used to buy blood to make our mission and support contingency efforts around the world,” said Williams. “I knew I could contact the Robertson Blood Center at Fort Hood and have them come here to collect soldiers’ blood for soldiers. After a few phone calls it was a done deal.”
Before Williams was a successful recruiter he was a blood banker with the Military Occupational Specialty 68K"Medical Technologist. He served in a number of Army blood donor centers and as the non-commissioned officer-in-charge of the Robertson Blood Center. Williams deployed to war as a blood banker and understands how important blood donations are on the modern battlefield.
“After being involved in the Armed Services Blood Program for several years at Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Knox, Ky., the importance of accomplishing the Armed Services Blood Program mission became personal to me. I was not physically ‘in the fight’ so I wanted to contribute to the fight as much as I could,” said Williams.
A well-respected non-commissioned officer, Williams compared his mission now to that of recruiting blood donors saying that, “Both tasks have a mission (goal of required numbers). Both tasks are difficult at times to find qualified persons to achieve that mission.”
The Ranger Recruiting Battalion is not a large organization but identified and motivated more than 70 people to try to donate blood.
“We collected about 50 good units after all the travel deferrals,” said Sgt. James Bell, non-commissioned officer-in-charge of the blood drive. “This was one of the best initial blood drives I’ve seen at a place like this. The local site coordinator, Master Sgt. [Calvin] Lamont, was excellent and really hustled to get people in here. He was super cooperative.”
The Fort Hood soldiers were recognized with military challenge coins presented by the Ranger Battalion commander Lt. Col. Frances Hardison.
With the Fort Hood team eager to return to set up the next blood drive, Williams summed up the mission and his role. “At the end of the day, it never ends. We will always need soldiers and due to the nature of what we do, we will always need blood!”
Williams will retire in a few months, and couldn’t think of a better way to finish his career. “What a [great] way to go out"helping soldiers take care of soldiers!”
To find out more about the Armed Services Blood Program or to make an appointment, please visit us online: www.militaryblood.dod.mil. To interact directly with some of our staff or to get the latest news, visit us here: www.facebook.com/militaryblood
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