POWERGRAMS

6 P aul Cole served in the Army Reserve Engineers more than half his life: 40 years, seven months and 25 days. Cole enjoyed his military career and reveled in traveling to places he'd never dreamed of seeing: the Bahamas, El Salvador, Germany, Honduras and Nicaragua. Cole became a command sergeant major (CSM) – the highest rank an enlisted person can achieve. Only a fraction of 1 percent of Army reservists make it to that position. Cole recalls the moment he decided to serve his country, at the tender age of 12. Growing up in Carville, a small town near Tallassee, Cole was struck by the sight of a National Guard Honor Unit marching in the Christmas parade as "The Star-Spangled Banner" played. "One guy at the front was holding the American flag, and I was so impressed," he said, with a laugh. "I wanted to march in the parade and be the one to hold the flag. I never forgot it." That spurred Cole, at 19, to join the Army Reserve. Years later, it turned out that earning his high rank prevented Cole from carrying the flag. "I was in charge," he said. "I always commanded the parades, so I never got to hold the flag." During his tenure in the 926th Engineer Group, Cole was responsible for 3,000 soldiers and worked on projects ranging from cuing a road through mountains to constructing schools in the jungles of Honduras and El Salvador. In 1994, Cole was assigned as the base camp CSM to construct schools in a triple canopy jungle in El Salvador. A year later, he became CSM to Task Force Command for Carib 95 in Nassau, Bahamas, heading construction of a disaster relief warehouse for the Bahamian navy and rebuilding the Blue Hill Medical Clinic to withstand hurricanes. He represented the command by assisting the U.S. ambassador and the Bahamian minister of labor and minister of health. "To get our equipment to Nassau, we had to truck all the heavy equipment to Mobile and load it on barges to Nassau," Cole said. "The Seabees from Alaska were assigned to us for underwater construction on pilings to secure ships to offload disaster relief cargo. We rotated baalions to Nassau. Soldiers with construction and engineering skills would rotate for 30 days at a time. I'd stay for 30 days, then come back to work at the power company." In 1996, Cole was back in Honduras to construct schools and drill water wells for Hondurans in the jungle. "Our base camp was near an active volcano," he said. "From camp, we could see continual smoke and felt small tremors." In 1997, Cole supervised construction of a 70-mile road from the Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to Fort Bliss, Texas. The project took two years to complete in an area fraught with danger. "Some of the missiles still contained fuel and explosives," said Cole. "But we worried about more than missiles. We wouldn't let the men stay out aer dark. You'd hear gunfire and see lights in the desert at night from people crossing the Mexico border in the U.S." Cole flew to the site several times using his company vacation and military time. "I was lucky enough to work for Alabama Power, and when I needed to take off, they understood," he said. Cole worked hard on his shooting skills, placing first as a new shooter for the entire command, and was selected to the U.S. Rifle Team and the Advanced Marksmanship Team. At his retirement from the Reserve, Cole was commended for exceptional service spanning more than four decades. He was chief supply sergeant, intelligence sergeant and first sergeant before becoming command sergeant major. Cole was awarded the Legion of Merit by Maj. Gen. Michel Mayo and Lt. Gen. Thomas Plewes. Cole had some memorable times at Alabama Power, including as Operations supervisor for Power Delivery - Distribution. Years ago, Cole was anticipating the arrival of a Marketing representative assigned to his office. "To help the new employee, I shook his hand and told him to have a seat, and I would tell him what I expected of him to help our customers," Col. Richard Coleman, left, of the 926th Engineer Group, with Cole.

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