Tennessee Honor Vote
Givens, Mr Stephen P
Branch: Army
Rank: Sergeant Major
Years of Service:
June 1, 1989 - July 13, 2015
My husband spent his entire army career wanting nothing more than to mentor his fellow soldiers and guide them to become the best soldier they could be.
fHe had many duties throughout his 25 years, which includes the formation and training of the Army's first Downed Aircraft Recovery Team. He hand picked soldiers, also making a point to bring some of the "misfits" from various platoons. Each one of them brought along a skill and willingness to learn. The Platoon leaders were eager to hand them off onto someone else. My husband ktold every one of them.. "You;ll see! You will want them back when you see the amazing team they will be". Sure enough, after a long deployment in Iraq and several DART recoveries the other Platoon leaders made mention of when will they get their guys back. NOPE! Wasn't going to happen!!
He was also an amazing husband and father. During his last deployment in 2012, he deployed together, with our son. We were lucky to have them in the same Brigade, although at different FOBs. It was always funny when I would get a picture of the two of them together because our son was able to visit often for supplies, and my husband was able to hitch a flight there. So they would pop in on each other whenever they could. I knew he was safe with his dad, also, the guys with my husband have known our son for many many years. Some, dating all the way back to 2nd grade when all of the kids met at school/ I helped me to know that they would keep track of him if a situation would arise.
Our sons are a living embodiment of their father, and I am grateful and privileged to get to watch the rest of their lives play out.
oh yeah, our son who deployed with him left the army and went on to build and launch a sounding rocket at NASA (Wallops), and earned a degree in Physics with minors for Mathematics and Astronomy .
Honored by
Kelly Jjean Givens
Clarksville, TN