81st RSC spouse receives Army Reserve Volunteer of the Year Award - U.S. Army Reserve Volunteer of the Year Award 2001: Cindy Sykes - Brief Article

Army Reserve Magazine, Summer, 2001 by Derrick Witherspoon

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--Throughout the U.S. Armed Forces there are military personnel working everyday to help defend and keep America and its allies safe from harm. For all these soldiers and their families there are also civilian volunteers who support them just as well, and for the Army Reserve one volunteer is Cindy Sykes.

Mrs. Sykes, spouse of Lt. Col. Timothy Sykes of the 75th Combat Support Hospital (CSH) located in Tuscaloosa, Ala., recently received the U.S. Army Reserve Volunteer of the Year Award for her dedication and loyalty to the soldiers of the Army and Army Reserve over the years. She received the award from Maj. Gen. Michael R. Mayo, commanding general of the 81st Regional Support Command (RSC), during a ceremony held in her honor at the RSC Headquarters here.

"I was really surprised to find out I won this award. I thought I was just one of the top 'five' volunteers in the United States Army Reserve. Not 'the' one," Mrs. Sykes said. "I am very honored to have won this award and I am appreciative to all those who have invited me to teach and speak. No award happens without the support of others."

Mrs. Sykes has volunteered more than 700 hours of her time to various events within the 81st. She has also traveled to most of the eight states within the RSC's Southeastern region speaking and teaching Army Family Team Building. Sykes said his wife has been volunteering for over 25 years.

"Cindy has been volunteering for as long as I have been in the military. Usually she gets started on one volunteer effort and then runs into something else that she wants to help out with also. She is a person that you don't have to ask twice for help," Sykes said.

Mrs. Sykes received the prestigious award for a number of reasons. In 1991 she and her husband moved to Jackson, Miss., where she became a family support group volunteer in Mississippi for the 121st Army Reserve Command. In 1994 the 81st RSC recruited her to become a member of the Army Family Team Building program as an instructor and a Volunteer Area Coordinator for the 81st RSC in Mississippi. She has hosted picnics for the 75th CSH where over 500 soldiers and family members attended. Mrs. Sykes also continues to help with the Veterans Affairs Stand Downs, which provides homeless veterans with medical aid, food and clothing, and she is still looking for more volunteer work to do.

"I volunteer so much because I do love the United States and all she stands for in the world. There is no other nation where freedom has been paid for by so many lives lost on battlefields at home and abroad. Men and women have been volunteering since our nation began and they continue to volunteer to defend their families and country," Mrs. Sykes said, as her passion for what she does pored out in every word she uttered.

Colonel Marietta P. Stanton, commander of the 75th, said Mrs. Sykes has been a fountain of energy and enthusiasm since her arrival in the unit. "She immediately joined the unit's Family Support Group and offered to help in any way possible. Ever since then she has continued to be a willing servant and assistant to all who have asked," Stanton said. "Mrs. Sykes has volunteered over 1,000 hours this past year and has managed to maintain her civilian job, her family responsibilities to her husband, children, and grandchildren, and still finds time to volunteer and assist in numerous ways in several different states within the 81st. She is a shining example of a true and dedicated family volunteer," Stanton exclaimed.

"My grandfather and dad volunteered and served in the Army. My husband Tim volunteered to serve in the Army in July 1974. So for the past 25 years I have been volunteering wherever we have lived and plan to continue volunteering until there is nothing to volunteer for anymore. I'm just doing my part," Mrs. Sykes said, with an air of joy in her voice.

(Sgt. Witherspoon is with the 81st Regional Support Command, Public Affairs Office, Birmingham, Ala.)