Saying that lessons he learned at home and in the community of Pea Ridge is what helped him succeed in a 31-year military career, Chief Warrant Officer Mark A. Howell (retired), former aide to Gen. David Petraeus, said he’s looking forward to speaking at the Veterans’ Day assembly at Pea Ridge High School Monday.
“This is a ‘thank you’ to the community for helping to raise me. What I brought to the Army from living and growing up in Pea Ridge ... duty, respect, value ... that’s what I got from Pea Ridge and that’s what I took with me,” Howell said. “Everything you learn at home is affirmed by the people you live around. Those are the things the military wantsto instill in you. Those things were not unfamiliar to me.”
During his last 67 months, he was either in Iraq or Afghanistan, the 1981 PRHS graduate said.
He is the son of Jim Howell of Decatur and Jeanne Howell of Rogers.
Now retired and living in Broken Arrow, Okla., with his wife, Michelle, and daughter, Hannah, Howell fondly remembers his basketball coach Jim Roe who was, as he said, “a great mentor,” and Jim Cheek.
Howell enlisted in the U.S.
Army Reserve in 1981 and attended Artillery One Station Unit Training at Fort Sill, Okla. He also served in the Arkansas Air National Guard from 1985-1990.
In 1984, he joined the RogersPolice Department, Rogers. Howell graduated from the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy in 1985.
He served as a patrol officer, traffic investigator, tactical team member, and was assigned as a Detective Corporal in the Criminal Investigation Division upon his transition to active duty in the Army in 1990.
He has served as the personal security officer to several military leaders and served throughout the Middle East.
In October 2008, he transitioned with General David Petraeus from Iraq, to serve as his Personal Security Officer while Commander of U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla. In July 2010, he transitioned with Gen. Petraeus to his new command in Kabul, Afghanistan. Upon the transition of General Petraeus back to the United States in July 2011, CW4 Howell remained in Afghanistan to serve in the same capacity upon the request of the current ISAF commander, Gen. John Allen.
Howell’s awards include the Bronze Star Medal (3rd Award), Defense Meritorious Service Medal (2nd Award), the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal (2nd Award), the Joint ServicesAchievement Medal, the Army Achievement Medal (4th Award), the Air Force Reserve Meritorious Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Armed Forces Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) Medal, the GWOT Expeditionary Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and the NATO Medal (2nd Award). He has also earned the Combat Action Badge, Parachutist Badge and the Air Force Security Police Senior Qualification Badge.
News, Pages 1 on 11/07/2012