{"id":24802,"date":"2018-06-27T20:13:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T20:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/06\/27\/in-ways-big-and-small-army-times-2018-soldier-of-the-year-saves-lives\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:11:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:11:44","slug":"in-ways-big-and-small-army-times-2018-soldier-of-the-year-saves-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/military-honor\/2018\/06\/27\/in-ways-big-and-small-army-times-2018-soldier-of-the-year-saves-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"In ways big and small, Army Times\u2019 2018 Soldier of the Year saves lives"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sgt. 1st Class Wolfgang McLachlan went above and beyond his duties to volunteer time for suicide prevention and work as a sexual assault response coordinator.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Six years into his career as an airborne infantryman, Sgt. 1st Class Wolfgang McLachlan<\/a> was faced with a choice: Thanks to a jump injury, he either had to pack it in or start over in a job that wasn\u2019t so hard on his body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a no-brainer, he told Army Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had a conversation with a family member and he asked, \u2018Why don\u2019t you get out and come back home?\u2019\u201d McLachlan said. \u201cAnd I simply responded, \u2018I am home. This is my family.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McLachlan, 42, decided to roll the dice and see where he ended up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou could have me being a lawn jockey, holding a lantern outside of a general\u2019s house,\u201d he added. \u201cAs long as I get to wear the uniform and be around the military, I\u2019m happy as hell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his service and actions on and off duty since that fateful decision, McLachlan is Army Times\u2019 2018 Soldier of the Year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating from college, McLachlan spent most of his 20s working with children at a psychiatric facility and bouncing at Knoxville, Tennessee, nightclubs. But as his 30th birthday loomed, he was looking for a change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was single, I didn\u2019t have any children, and the war was kicking off. I\u2019d always wondered who I truly would be when the bullets were flying, you know, in the middle of an actual war, combat zone \u2014 an actual fight,\u201d he said. \u201cWould I be a coward, or would I stand and fight? You can war-game that all day long, but until you\u2019re actually in that situation, you\u2019re never going to know. And I wanted to know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He enlisted in 2004 and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan with 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division<\/a> out of Fort Richardson, Alaska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a permanent injury sidelined his paratrooper career. He was serving as a senior drill sergeant at Fort Benning, Georgia, when he learned he\u2019d be getting a new job: 25S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Army\u2019s got satellites?\u201d he recalls wondering aloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McLachlan found himself reinvented, as a satellite communication systems<\/a> operator-maintainer with 1st Space Brigade at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. There, he made a big impression on his unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sgt. 1st Class Wolfgang McLachlan decided to stay in the Army even after he was hurt in an airborne operation. (Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe sacrifices an inordinate amount of his personal time in grooming soldiers one on one for promotion, boards, and preparation for competitive opportunities such as Best Warrior, Sergeant Audie Murphy, and the Norwegian Foot March,\u201d 1st Sgt. Carolyne Wilding wrote in his Soldier of the Year nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McLachlan translated his background as a youth counselor into his approach as a noncommissioned officer, volunteering to take care of his soldiers in unconventional ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat are we doing in the lives of our soldiers?\u201d he said. \u201cEvery Friday we do a safety brief. Don\u2019t drink and drive, don\u2019t do stupid shit. If you feel depressed, call these numbers, talk to these people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meet the other Military Times Service Members of the Year honorees and find out more about the program.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he wanted to provide even more basic support, especially for soldiers who are new to the unit or adjusting to the Army without spouses or children. So he started inviting them over for a monthly potluck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of us just sit down, talk. Rank is not an issue when you\u2019re at the house,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for people to feel like they belong not just to an organization, but a family. Some of these folks, it\u2019s the only family they got.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sgt. 1st Class Wolfgang McLachlan, left, is shown here while on deployment to Afghanistan in 2009. (Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

McLachlan also stepped up as a command sexual harassment\/assault response coordinator and victim advocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour best [Alcoholics Anonymous} counselors are people who have been through it themselves,\u201d he said. \u201cSame thing for sexual and physical abuse, and I\u2019ll leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His volunteer work also includes answering the hotline for the Kill2 Vet Suicide Prevention program, the Downhome Colorado Homeless Shelter and the National Junior Honor Society, according to his former first sergeant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis behaviors and actions are admirable and represent the best of what the Army has to offer,\u201d Wilding wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018If not me, who?\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though McLachlan has searched out opportunities to help before and throughout his career, two life-or-death situations dropped right into his path last year \u2015 within a week of each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was late August, and McLachlan\u2019s unit was preparing for an annual climb of Pike\u2019s Peak. Driving down Highway 130, he happened upon a three-car crash, and one of the vehicles had a severely injured driver with his son sitting in the back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McLachlan grabbed the medic\u2019s bag he always kept in his truck, out of habit since serving an adviser to an Afghan army kandak, or battalion, years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t really have that trained of medics, and I\u2019m their mentor, so guess who\u2019s going to be working on them?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t