12-22-10 —     Command Chief Warrant Officer (CCWO) Delynn Gibson is a soldier who acquired his sense of patriotism at an early age. While growing up in Monticello, Ky., Gibson was surrounded by veterans and military members.

    One of them was Gibson's father who served in the Air Force for 21 years. Gibson remembers listening as a child to his father's stories of daring missions and the military's tight camaraderie.

    "He traveled quite a bit, which got him out of his hometown," Gibson said. "He was able to do a lot of different jobs in the military."

    So when he turned 17, Gibson was determined to enlist in the Active Duty Army.

    After Gibson finished serving on Active Duty in 1983, he joined the National Guard as a medic. Then in 1987, Gibson entered a flight school and graduated as a medevac pilot. He flew in missions to Guantanamo Bay, transporting interpreters between there and the District of Columbia.

    In addition to federal missions, he performed state Active Duty missions like locating marijuana for counter drug operations.

    "If it hadn't been for the National Guard sending me to flight school and helping my career, I really don't know where I would be today," Gibson confessed.

    The Guard gave Gibson the excitement he had desired as a child. But it also allowed him to meet fellow soldiers who had the same patriotic pride.

    One friend in particular, Command Chief Warrant Officer Frank Vaughn, is a dear companion to Gibson. The two met at an annual command chief warrant officers' meeting. They bonded over a similar upbringing and an interesting coincidence.

    "I had heard Vaughn's name through acquaintances in my hometown," 

Gibson said. "When I met him up there, we got to talking and realized we were from the same hometown."

    Vaughn, born just outside of Monticello, largely credits his hometown and childhood experiences as among the reasons he joined the military.

    "A big influence was that I came from humble beginnings and had a strong sense of values instilled early on," Vaughn said. His family consisted of simple, hard working people who taught him the importance of believing in his country.

    Gibson and Vaughn became close friends after their first meeting. 

When Gibson took over as the command chief warrant officer for Kentucky in March 2009, he often asked Vaughn for military advice.  

Vaughn, who became the Indiana Army National Guard command chief warrant officer in April 2004, had a few more years of experience than Gibson.

    "Vaughn is somewhat of a mentor to me," Gibson said. "He has been doing this a lot longer than me, so I still go to him today when I have some questions about this position. I know that he has probably come across a similar situation in his career."

    The two soldiers figures it was pretty rare that two command chief warrant officers happened to be from the same small town in Kentucky. 

"We just thought it was a one-time even that two guys from the same hometown are command chief warrant officers at the same time."

    These two men have banded together, spurred on by a common goal—to expand the warrant officer candidate school (WOCS) in Kentucky.

    "We didn't have a WOCS here, but when I became command chief, that was one thing I looked into. I've worked with Vaughn closely on that,"Gibson said. "I am trying to get a WOCS Phase 2 here."

    Currently, the Phase 2 and 3 candidates are sent up to Indiana to Vaughn to finish out their schooling there. But Gibson is hoping to change that, with Vaughn's help.