Here's how you know
 **Official websites use .mil** .mil
 **Secure .mil websites use HTTPS** lock () https://


Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 Toggle navigation
            
            
            
            
            National Guard
                        Always Ready Always There
                    National Guard
            
            Search National Guard:
                        Search
                    Search
                        Search National Guard:
                            Search
    Home

    News
    
        Guard News

    Overseas Operations

    State Partnership Program

    News Features

    RSS Feeds

    Press Releases

    Transcripts

    Features
    
        Features by Year

    Posture Statement

    State Partnership Program

    Special Features

    About the Guard
    
        How We Began

    Air National Guard

    Army National Guard    
    
        DEERS Soldier Journey

    Leader Development Program

    History and Heritage

    I am the Guard

    NGB Official March

    Leadership
    
        CNGB

    VCNGB

    SEA

    DANG

    DARNG

    Joint Staff    
    
        J-1

    J-2

    J-3

    J-4

    J-5

    J-6

    J-7

    J-8

    Personal Staff    
    
        Inspector General

    General Counsel

    Public Affairs

    Executive Support Services

    Legislative Liaison

    Special Staff    
    
        National Guard Office of Special Victims' Counsel

    Office of the Provost Marshal

    Office of the Joint Surgeon

    Director of Acquisitions

    Small Business Programs

    Chaplain

    Senior Leader Management Office

    Diversity Equity Inclusion

    Comptroller

    Resources    
        National Defense Strategy Implementation Guidance

    Community Engagement

    FOIA

    Fact Sheets

    Helpful Links

    Image Gallery
    
        News Images

    Graphics

    Historical Paintings

    Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

    Legislative Liaison

    Small Business Programs

    Social Media

    State Websites

    Videos    
    
        Featured Videos

    On Every Front

    2019 Videos

    2020 Videos

    2021 Videos

    Suicide Prevention

    Family Programs

    Environmental

    Trial Defense Service

    Holistic Wellness Challenge

    Contact Us  Home
  News
  Article View
 
 Download
 Details
 Share
 Download
 Details
 Share
 NEWS
 Citizen-Soldier helps contain California’s deadliest fire By Senior Airman Crystal Housman
                California National Guard
 MATHER, Calif. – U.S. Army 1st Lt. Vincent Sherrill left his desk job Nov. 10 and headed for the airfield. He swapped his business suit for a flight suit and took one of the Army's newest helicopters from Southern California, Nov. 11, to help drop water on the deadly Camp Fire in Northern California’s Butte County. Sherrill is a traditional Guard member who has a civilian job and also serves as a UH-60M Black Hawk pilot in the California Army National Guard's 1st Assault Helicopter Battalion, 140th Aviation Regiment, at Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos. By day, he's an insurance underwriter. "I enjoy my job and I enjoy the people I work with," said Sherrill, 24, after a Nov. 15 fire mission to help contain the Camp Fire’s northeast edge. “I also enjoy doing this and serving our communities and being able to come out here to fight fires and help people out.” The California native graduated with a degree in political science from University of California, Irvine, in 2015 and earned his commission as an Army officer after three years in the school's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps unit. After graduation, Sherrill started working as a commercial lines underwriter for Liberty Mutual Insurance in Orange County where he still works writing insurance policies for businesses. Just over a year later, he headed to the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama, where he learned to fly and earned qualification as a Black Hawk pilot. Sherrill said his employers didn't blink when he went on orders for flight training. “They’ve been very good to me,” he said. This is Sherrill's first year flying wildfire missions in support of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). In late July he deployed to the Carr Fire in Redding and after about a week, headed straight to help state agencies contain the Mendocino Complex Fire which included a pair of separate fires burning in three Northern California counties. During the fires, he logged about 30 hours on fire missions and dropped more than 70 buckets of water on active fire lines. "It was definitely the most intense mode of flight that I’ve flown," Sherrill said. When you’re in a service mission like this, people’s homes are at risk, people’s lives are at risk, and you’re doing some pretty serious flying in some pretty serious conditions.” He described coming back to the office after battling the blazes. “When people asked me what I did,” Sherrill said, "I was like, ‘well, I was putting out fires’ and they were like ‘oh yeah, we do that here, too,’” he said with a chuckle. Sherrill said he told a colleague, “No, I was literally putting out fires,” and a minute later the puzzled coworker replied, “Wait... really?” All told, he's spent about three weeks out of the office this year for aerial firefighting efforts throughout the state, but says his civilian employer understands when he is called to serve. "My employer sees that this is something that I’m passionate about and that other people I serve with are passionate about, and they’ve been very facilitative of it," he said. “I work a great job with a great company that’s really supportive.” Sherrill says he never expected to be a helicopter pilot, but as wildfires rip through California communities he's thankful for the opportunity to help. "It’s really rewarding,” said Sherrill, whose family lives in a small town near Yosemite and is no stranger to wildfire evacuations himself. “Most of the time you’re a bystander or a victim. To be someone who’s actively doing something about it is really rewarding and fulfilling.”
 SHARE
 PRINT
 
 Pennsylvania Army Guardsmen Complete Combat Lifesaver Course
 By Sgt. 1st Class Shane Smith,
  38th Infantry Division Soldiers Conduct Warfighter Exercise
 By Master Sgt. Jeff Lowry,
  Puerto Rico Air National Guard Trains at Red Flag-Alaska
 By 156th Wing
  More
 Pennsylvania Army Guardsmen Complete Combat Lifesaver Course Guard News • 2 hours ago
 38th Infantry Division Soldiers Conduct Warfighter Exercise Guard News • 9 hours ago
 Puerto Rico Air National Guard Trains at Red Flag-Alaska Guard News • 10 hours ago
 Air National Guard Conducts Sentry Savannah Exercise Guard News • yesterday
 Hawaii Air National Guard Hosts Sentry Aloha Joint Exercise Guard News • yesterday
 2024 (196)  2023 (427)  2022 (526)  2021 (697)  2020 (936)  2019 (387)  2018 (323)  2017 (346)  2016 (245)  2015 (356)  2014 (399)  2013 (469)  2012 (556)  2011 (533)  2010 (1071)  2009 (357)  2008 (638)  2007 (295)  2006 (188)
 Home
 Site Map
 Privacy & Security Policy
 Link Disclaimer
 Web Policy
 DOD Information Quality
 DOD Open GovernmentFOIA
 No FEAR Act
 Accessibility/Section 508
 Contact Us
 Army Guard Careers
 Air Guard Careers
 USA.gov
                    
Staying Connected
    XYouTubeFlickrFacebookInstagram
                 
                
                

Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil