Army general with ties to Grissom visits leadership students

STERLING HEIGHTS — Grissom Middle School students in Mary Bullis’ eighth grade leadership class will remember U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe for a long time.

In 2005, the platoon sergeant was stationed in the Middle East with the 3rd Infantry Division in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom when he and his unit were attacked inside their vehicle with explosives. Even though Cashe’s uniform caught fire in the ambush and he suffered second- and third-degree burns on 70% of his body, he made sure to bring all those in his platoon to safety.

A month later, Cashe died from his injuries. In 2021, the military veteran was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the conflict.

It was U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Michelle Link who shared Cashe’s story when she visited Grissom March 26. The school is part of the Warren Consolidated Schools district. Grissom Principal Justin Hauser and Link are cousins. When they saw each other last Thanksgiving, Hauser invited her to come speak to the leadership students.

Link is currently serving as the commanding general of the 75th United States Army Reserve Innovation Command at Joint Base Ellington Field in Houston, Texas. She also lives and works in town full time at the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) in Warren.

Link, who has a degree in chemical engineering from Michigan State University, has been in the military 36 years. During her visit, the Army major general opened up dialogue with the leadership students by asking their thoughts about what it means to be a leader.

“Leadership is the ability to guide and inspire others to achieve a common goal. It’s less about you than it is about your ability to encourage and motivate others to achieve a common goal,” Link said. “I’m here because of grit and what I have learned along the way. Be true to yourself. Build a table and let others sit at your table.

“A good leader tends to focus on what’s important. They have clear vision and direction. Good leaders delegate ownership and responsibility. It allows you to develop the people on the team. It allows them opportunity. It allows them credibility,” Link said. “If you’re the only one doing it, you’re an organization of one. You’re not giving others a chance to grow and develop. If your team is successful, you as a leader are successful.”

Leaders inspire and look at what they can do. She cited President Abraham Lincoln as an example of a good leader because he had qualities of empathy, good communication, outstanding social skills, and showed vulnerability by taking responsibility for his mistakes.

Link also brought up the fact that sometimes leaders don’t know what to do. That happened to her during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was awful. Nobody had an answer,” she said. “As a leader, I can recall thinking about what I can do. I had never been part of a global pandemic. What do we tell people? I had to figure it out.”

So she used her own skills to create a path to move forward. She also gave examples of bad leaders.

“They don’t see how things can be better. They just wait to be told to do something. They get stuck,” Link said. “They take credit for the work you do.”

Sometimes bad leaders are just “in it for themselves.”

At the end of the presentation, Link suggested the following ways the students can show leadership: help a classmate who is struggling, be a good sport on sports teams, stand up for what they think is right, and make a positive impact. The students appreciated Link’s visit and her knowledge about leadership.

“It was good. I learned a ton of different things about leadership and dealing with people who can be a problem,” Noah Kosso said. “It was very interesting getting to meet someone important.”

“Being a leader can be challenging but also fun and it takes a lot of time to develop that,” Ibrahim Miah said. He really enjoys the leadership class at Grissom. On a recent project, he created a diversity poster that focused on respect “to teach other kids that each is different.”

According to a district press release, Link began as a platoon leader in the 983rd Engineer Battalion, United States Army Reserve. She subsequently transferred to the Ohio Army National Guard where some of her positions included assistant S3 and HHC commander, 612th Engineer Battalion; and executive officer, 512th Engineer Battalion.

She transferred back to the Army Reserve and served with the 412th Theater Engineer Command (Forward) in Heidelberg, Germany as an engineer construction quality assurance officer and deployed to Afghanistan as the engineering plans officer, 416th Engineer Group. She has earned many awards while serving.