Up & Coming Weekly

December 28, 2021

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM DECEMBER 29, 2021 - JANUARY 4, 2022 UCW 11 FEATURE e Fort Bragg Family of the Year is a unique title given to just one family every year who exemplifies the spirit of military families. is year, the Fort Bragg Army Community Service chose the Vona family to represent Fort Bragg families. Capt. Sam Vona, his wife Kris- ten, and their two daughters, Presley and Kathryn, have been through a lot in 2021. Vona, part of the 2nd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, was alerted that he would deploy to Iraq on New Year's Eve. Vona had two hours to get his things ready to go, say goodbye to his family and then head out. en in August, Vona was called again to deploy last- minute to Afghanistan to help with the withdrawal of troops. Despite it being stressful for his family, Capt. Vona said that he was glad to have gone. "I'm glad I was a part of it," Capt. Vona said. "With the unit that I have, and the unit that I'm with, I'm happy to be part of history." e Vonas have been mar- ried for seven years and met while both were serving in the Army. Since they married, they have been stationed together in Germany and Capt. Vona has deployed several times. When their daughter, Kathryn, was born last year, Kristen Vona be- came a stay-at-home mom. "Overall, it's been a wonderful experience. ings are difficult sometimes for sure, especially on the family," Kristen Vona said. "But I really enjoy being home now with the girls to kind of give them some stability. So, we are enjoying the dynamic that we have now." For the past two years, Vona herself has been part of her husband's battalion through her role as the Family Readiness Group (FRG) leader. e battalion commander typically selects a family for nomination for Family of the Year; then, the family needs the brigade commander's endorse- ment. e family nominated then must fill out a packet and interview with senior leaders at Fort Bragg. One of the questions the Vona Family was asked was to pick a word that describes their family. eir word was "teamwork." "One thing I think that we do really well in our marriage is work together for like every- thing. So, Sam is very involved with our family, and I'm very involved in his unit and what he has going on. I would like to say that we're very interchangeable at home, and I'm really thankful for that," Kristen Vona said. "I just think we work really, really well together. And people have commented on that like friends and like within the military community, people have com- mented on how much we're on the same page and really work together well." Fort Bragg announced the Family of the Year at the annual Tree Lighting on the installa- tion, Dec. 3. Capt. Vona said that he expected to be in the top five families, but not the family of the year. "ey announced the top five guys going from five, four, three, two. And I was kind of surprised that we weren't in the top five. I figured that's where we would be," Capt. Vona said. "So, I was a little surprised when they an- nounced number two, and I was like, OK, well, I guess we didn't make the top five tough compe- tition out here. And then they announced us, and we were totally shocked." ey said their five-year-old daughter, Presley, loved the ap- plause they received. "ey handed her the trophy, and she held it up in the air for a picture," Kristen Vona laughed as she told the story. For the family, the entire experience has been humbling. "It was a really big honor. It's been a long time of putting in a lot of hard work towards the unit, not even just the one we're in now, but previous units we've been in, and so it's just really awesome to be recognized for the work we have put in," Kris- ten Vona said. "We're just super honored to be selected. So, it was very humbling." Teamwork makes the dream work for Fort Bragg Family of the Year by HANNAH LEE Above: Capt. Sam Vona, his wife Kristen Vona, and their two daughters Presley and Kathryn were recognized as the Fort Bragg Army Community Service Family of the Year at the Fort Bragg annual Tree Lighting Ceremony Dec. 3. Here they pose with Garrison Commander Col. Scott Pence and Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffery A. Loehr. Below: Lt. Gen. Michael Kurilla speaks at the Fort Bragg annual Tree Lighting Ceremony Dec. 3. (Photos courtesy of Fort Bragg Army Community Service.) HANNAH LEE, Assistant Editor. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200.

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