Pvt. Kristlyn M. Wing
Army National Guard Pvt. Kristlyn M. Wing has graduated from the Automated Logistical Specialist Advanced Individual Training (AIT) course at the U.S. Army Quartermaster Center and School, located at Fort Lee in Petersburg, Virginia. Wing is the daughter of Timothy and Lisa M. Wing of Pittsfield. She is a 2007 graduate of Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield.
Chief Warrant Officer Five Thomas P. Kus
Chief Warrant Officer Five Thomas P. Kus of Newport received the Legion of Merit from Joint Forces Headquarters, Maine Army National Guard for serving in positions of increasing responsibility throughout his distinguished thirty-seven year career. Mr. Kus has honorably served the State and Nation with tireless commitment to soldiers and mission. He set the standard as the finest example of a traditional Guard Soldier and rose to become Maine’s top Personnel Warrant Officer, entrusted to provide key personnel guidance and advice to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel and the Adjutant General during the most challenging times in the Nation’s history.
Kus is a graduate of Winthrop High School and University of Maine at Farmington. He and his wife Alice reside in Newport.

John "Jay" Brainard
John “Jay” Brainard of Newport and Atkinson received his commission as a Second Lieutenant of Aviation in the United States Army during a ceremony at the University of Maine’s Minsky Hall on May 9th, 2008. Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Harris, Professor of Military Science, administered the Federal Oath while Jay’s aunt and uncle, Nancy and Donald White of Atkinson, proudly pinned the gold bars of a Second Lieutenant on John’s uniform.
Second Lieutenant Brainard graduated from Foxcroft Academy in 2004 and went on to distinguish himself as a student at the University of Maine. At the University, Jay studied Political Science and served as vice president of the prestigious Owl’s Honor Society. As a Cadet, Second Lieutenant Brainard distinguished himself by being a member of the Ranger Challenge Team, the 20th Maine Honor Society, and served as president of the detachment’s Scabbard and Blade Honor Society. In 2006, Jay was the recipient of the prestigious Joshua Chamberlain Award for Excellence. During his junior and senior years he received the ROTC Superior Cadet Decoration Award. On Monday, May 10th, 2008, he received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Maine at Orono, graduating Magna Cum Laude.
Second Lieutenant Brainard will now receive additional training at Fort Benning, Georgia and will then attend the Aviation Basic Officer Course at Fort Rucker, Alabama.