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Mentors shape career and philosophy for USTRANSCOM’s new J9

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (USTCNS) --- When Brig. Gen. Harold L. “Mitch” Mitchell was assigned in January as the director of U.S. Transportation Command’s Reserve Component Directorate (J9) and commander of USTRANSCOM’s Joint Transportation Reserve Unit (JTRU), it was the Air Force officer’s first joint assignment. But having also served in the Army and the Marine Corps, he was well prepared for the experience.

“It was part of the natural flow of things that I would go into the service,” said Mitchell, who comes from a military family, “I always wanted to be in the Air Force, because I always wanted to fly.”

However, his college, South Carolina State College (later, University), only offered Army ROTC. Mitchell’s brother was already in ROTC there, so he followed his lead and joined the cadet corps.

Mitchell excelled, becoming the cadet brigade commander and the senior cadet. Yet his dream of flying never died, and in his senior year, as he neared graduation and commissioning, Mitchell saw a way to make his dream come true.

“There was no process for an Army cadet, at the time [1972], to be commissioned directly into the Air Force,” Mitchell explained, “but there was a process for that to happen in the Marine Corps.”

As a Marine Corps aviator, he could fly jets, “So if the Army would release me, the Marine Corps would accept me,” said Mitchell, “The challenge was to get the Army to release me.”

However, this meant a potentially uncomfortable conversation with the head of the ROTC program at South Carolina State, Lt. Col. William "Will" Johnson. Johnson, an infantry officer and Vietnam veteran, was Mitchell’s mentor and role model and he was afraid to disappoint him.

As it turned out, Mitchell said, he needn’t have worried. “Lt. Col Johnson told me, ‘I know you struggled with this and I know it was tough for you, but it doesn’t matter; we all serve the same country regardless of the uniform we wear.’”

“On graduation day,” said Mitchell, “after recruiting lower classmen into the senior cadet corps, there I was, their leader, standing in a Marine Corps uniform. And it was an uncomfortable feeling.”

But Mitchell said Johnson stood by him that day, both physically and emotionally.

“He didn’t have to do that,” Mitchell said, “That has always been in the back of my mind in everything I did from that point on; I said, ‘I cannot fail this man’”

And the bond between them remained strong throughout Mitchell’s career. “He always knew where I was,” said Mitchell, “we always talked.”

“I didn’t realize how closely he had followed my career,” admitted Mitchell, “When he learned I had been promoted [to brigadier] I think he was probably as happy as my dad would have been, had he been alive.”

Johnson was even part of Mitchell’s pinning ceremony when he was promoted to brigadier general.

While Johnson, now deceased, helped Mitchell become a military aviator, he might have ended his military career as a Marine Corps captain, rather than an Air Force general, had it not been for another mentor, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. James “Jim” Sehorn; Vietnam veteran, prisoner of war and Georgia’s first Inspector General.

Mitchell said he had been out of the Marine Corps for a few years, and although his career as a pilot with a major airline was taking off, he missed the camaraderie of the military. He decided to join the Air Force Reserve and after some persistent networking, Mitchell found himself being interviewed by then-Maj. Sehorn for a position as a C-141 pilot in Sehorn’s unit.

Mitchell knew he was at a disadvantage compared with other candidates, never having flown a C-141 or served in the Air Force.

Yet, at the end of the interview, Mitchell said Sehorn told him “I’m going to hire you. A lot of people are going to give me a lot of heat about this. But I’ll tell you what; when I was in Hanoi, I just admired the Marines.”

Mitchell said Sehorn told him he admired how the Marines he had known had stuck to their creed; how they were dependable and never cracked.

“And he told me ‘I’m sure you’re going to be every bit as good.’” said Mitchell, “So there was another one of those challenges; ‘Oh Lord, let me live up to it.’”

“That’s how I ended up in the Air Force,” Mitchell said, “because some people took some chances on me that they didn’t have to.”

Mitchell said his experience with Johnson and Sehorn shaped more than his career, it shaped his command philosophy.

When it comes to people, Mitchell said, “I think we solve a lot of problems just by saying, ‘If I were in that person’s shoes, how would I want to be treated?’”

“It goes back to Lt. Col. Johnson,” Mitchell continued, “I see myself as a facilitator. I think it’s all about helping everybody – to borrow an Army slogan – to ‘be all they can be.’”

USTRANSCOM provides air, land and sea transportation for the Department of Defense, both in time of peace and time of war. In its role as the Department of Defense's Distribution Process Owner, USTRANSCOM is the single entity to coordinate the execution of the strategic distribution system from “factory to foxhole”.

As Director, Reserve Component Directorate (J9), Mitchell will advise the USTRANSCOM Commander and staff on all matters related to Reserve Component (RC) personnel assigned to USTRANSCOM and its component commands. The J9 also coordinates requests for RC members to support USTRANSCOM.

As commander of the JTRU, he will oversee the more than 180 RC Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Coast Guardsmen that are assigned to the USTRANSCOM staff and directorates.

Mitchell’s previous assignments include command of the 728th Airlift Squadron, McChord Air Force Base, Wash., vice commander, 446th Airlift Wing, also at McChord, and vice commander of Fourth Air Force, March Air Reserve Base, Calif.

Prior to his current assignment, Mitchell was mobilization assistant to the commander, 18th Air Force, Scott Air Force Base, Ill. The 18th Air Force is part of Air Mobility Command, also located at Scott, which is one of USTRANSCOM’s three component commands.

Mitchell’s awards include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Achievement Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with three oak leaf clusters, Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, Combat Readiness Medal with three oak leaf clusters, National Defense Service Medal with two bronze service stars, Southwest Asia Service Medal with two bronze service stars, and the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with bronze hourglass and “M” device.

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