Story and photo by Amy Newcomb
GUIDON staff
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The Training Support Center Memorialization Ceremony and ribbon cutting was held at Bldg. 12350 on July 23 to honor the service of Sgt. Amanda Pinson, Missouri’s first female Soldier killed in action due to hostile fire.

The TSC is named after Pinson who was killed in Tikrit, Iraq on March 16, 2006 when a single mortar round exploded near the division headquarters. Pinson’s decorations include the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

Pinson’s aunt, Sandy Campbell, spoke about her niece during the ceremony and how special she was to her Family.

“We knew she was special (when she was born), but we didn’t know just how special she would become,” Campbell said. “Amanda was the outgoing little miss personality of our Family, the one who became known for her famous hugs and smiles. When she enlisted in the Army, we knew she would do well and from what we have learned she excelled in her field and was passionate about doing her job.”

Campbell read a few excerpts from a letter that was sent to Pinson’s mother from an officer Pinson worked with at Fort Campbell, Ky., and in Iraq. Campbell said she reads the letter often.

‘“Amanda worked tirelessly and often put in extra hours at work. She was one of the best signal intelligence analysts I have ever worked with. In my 16 years of service, finding the talent she had is somewhat challenging. She was truly a professional,’” Campbell read.

“I just love that letter,” Campbell said. “We are all here at Fort Leonard Wood when Amanda got out of basic training and we were so proud of her then. We were all sad when she deployed from Fort Campbell, but she assured us she would come back. We were all devastated when she didn’t. We are all here today to celebrate the honor being bestowed on daughter, sister, niece, aunt, granddaughter, cousin and our hero Amanda Nicole Pinson.”

Col. William Pfeffer, garrison commander, conveyed the Army’s continued condolences and prayers to Pinson’s Family and friends during the ceremony and explained to those in attendance how Pinson began her training at Fort Leonard Wood and continued her career in military intelligence as a cryptologist.

“Amanda was a true hero, serving with our Army for three years and having a great impact in a very short period of time,” Pfeffer said. “Amanda was a member of a truly elite group of American’s, not because she was in the intel field, but it was because she was a Soldier, and there are over 300 million Americans in our country and very few, in fact less than one percent of them, ever serve in the Armed Forces.”

Pfeffer said there was no greater Soldier, American or Missourian that the Army could have memorialized to be the namesake of the TSC than Pinson.

“Fort Leonard Wood’s mission has grown over the last several years and so has it’s training load across the components,” Pfeffer said, “and Fort Leonard Wood’s Training Support Center is the single source of training support service for the regular Army, the Army Reserve, the Army National Guard, ROTC and interservice units located on Fort Leonard Wood and for the rest of Missouri and the southern half of Illinois.”

A memorial plaque in Pinson’s name was unveiled, which is located in the entryway TSC and concluded the ceremony.