Current Instructors

Lieutenant Colonel Blaine wales

Lieutenant Colonel Wales is a native of Utah. He entered the military service in October 1990 as he arrived at Basic Training as a Private when the first Gulf War mobilization. He completed one station unit training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO as a 12B (Combat Engineer) during the Persian Gulf War and returned to his reserve unit, C Co 321st Combat Engineers from Ogden, Utah. LTC Wales graduated from Weber State University in 1995 with a Criminal Justice degree and commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in Armor.

His military assignments include overseas assignments in Korea, Germany, Kosovo, and Iraq. LTC Wales has served in: 321st Combat Engineer Battalion; 4-7th Cavalry in South Korea from 1996-7; 1-16th Cavalry at Ft Knox, Kentucky from 1997-2000; 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division in Schweinfurt, Germany from 2000-03 with a deployment to Kosovo in 2002; 3-116th Cavalry in La Grande, Oregon from 2003-2007; Iraqi Assistance Group in Baghdad, Iraq from 2006-7; 1-36th Infantry 1/1 Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas from 2008-2011 with a deployment to Mosul, Iraq from 2009-2010; Boise State University from 2011-2015.

LTC Wales’ combat tours include two deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Once as an advisor to an Iraqi National Police Battalion in Baghdad, Iraq in 2006-2007 and the second as a Battalion Operations Officer and Executive Officer of 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment “Spartans” in Mosul, Iraq in 2009-2010.

Lieutenant Colonel Wales has served in leadership and staff positions at every level from Platoon to Brigade. Some of his duty positions include; Tank Platoon Leader, Support Platoon Leader, Company Executive Officer, Brigade Logistics Officer, Assistant Battalion Operations Officer, Tank Company Commander, Combat Advisor, Brigade Plans Officer, Battalion Operations Officer, and Battalion Executive Officer, and Professor of Military Science.

Some of Lieutenant Colonel Wales’ accomplishments are; Eagle Scout, the Sinclair Melner award for military proficiency, Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Weber State University, Masters of International Relations from Webster University, and coauthored an article published in China and Eurasia Studies Forum Quarterly.

His awards and decorations include the Combat Action Badge, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, Purple Heart, Bronze Star w/OLC, Meritorious Service Medal w/OLC, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal w/2OLC, the German Troop Proficiency Badge, and Czech Army Parachutist Badge.

Lieutenant Colonel Wales has been married to former Sharon Angela Greenfield from Slough, England since 1995. They have five children; two boys and three girls and currently reside in Reno, Nevada.

Since August of 2015, Lieutenant Colonel Wales has served as the Senior Army Advisor for Spanish Springs High School.

Sergeant first class wade Mendenhall

Sergeant First Class (Retired) Mendenhall, grew up in Camp Verde Arizona and joined the United States Marine Corps in 1984. SFC Mendenhall has been stationed with units in Okinawa Japan, Camp Pendleton Ca, Kaneohe bay Hawaii and finishing up my time in the Marine Corps at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Center in Bridgeport Ca While in the Corps I got to go to a lot of fun places Such as Philippines, Thailand ,Burma, panama, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait. . I got out of the Marine Corps in 2006 and enlisted in the Nevada Air National Guard until 2004 with numerous deployments overseas to such fun places like Germany, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. In 2004 I got the opportunity to Change to the Nevada Army National Guard to go full time as a recruiter. While in the Army the only really fun place I got to go to was Haiti after the 2010 Earth quake.

SFC Mendenhall served in the active duty Marine Corps for 12 years, Air National Guard for 7 years and the Army National Guard for 8 years, for a total of 27 years in the Military and he retired in the summer of 2012. I started teaching High School JROTC in February of 2012 here with the Amazing students of Spanish Springs High School. Since then SFC Mendenhall has trained and motivated the SSHS Rifle team to 3 years of being state champions along with being number 7 out of all rifle teams nationwide and the number 2 rifle team out of all of the Army Jrotc rifle teams in the nation. We have traveled to Provo Utah, Las Vegas Nevada Anniston Alabama, and Camp Perry Ohio to shoot in national Champion ship matches. One of the Big thrills for the rifle team in Ohio is Going to Cedar Point Amusement park in Sandusky Ohio.

Master Sergeant Kurt Baumgarten

Master Sergeant(Retired) Baumgarten, a.k.a. "MSG B" grew up in the Florida Keys and joined the United States Army in 1981. MSG Baumgarten has been stationed

with the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry at Fort Campbell, KY; 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry in Erlangen, Germany; Fort Bragg, NC with the 3rd Battalion 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment — "where I learned how jump out of perfectly good airplanes"; Fort Jackson, SC for duty as a United States Army Drill Sergeant; Fort Lewis, WA with HHC I Corps; Seattle University as a Military Science Instructor; and two, count em, TWO tours of duty in Hawaii...Aloha!

MSG "B" served in the active duty Army for 24 years and he retired in the summer of 2005. I started teaching High School JROTC in September 2005 in Charlotte, NC, and, after 9 years there, moved to Sparks, NV in July, 2014 to teach the amazing JROTC cadets at Spanish Springs High School! MSG "B" has trained and motivated the JROTC Cougar cadets to first place finishes in numerous events, such as: SSHS

COUGAR DRILL MEET— 2014, 2015, 2016; WCSD District Drill Competition — 2014, and 2015; SSHS JROTC Raider Challenge — 2015, 2016, and 2017, Douglas HS JROTC Raider Challenge — 2015. In addition, the SSHS JROTC Cougar Battalion Drill Team has performed at such a high standard that MSG "B" rewarded the cadets with a trip to compete in Southern California, see the Pacific Ocean, and enjoy a day of fun riding roller coasters at Knott's Berry Farm. MSG "B" says that only time will tell if the 2017/2018 Cougar Battalion Drill team is good enough to earn

another chance to compete in Anaheim this year.