Team Partner commander passes on a ‘wealth’ of knowledge to Soldiers

by Spc. Michael J. MacLeod
1st BCT, 82nd Abn. Div., MNF-W PAO

photo by Spc. Michael J. MacLeod/1st BCT, 82nd Abn. Div., MNF-W PAO Capt. Kyle Brown, commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 307th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division (Advise and Assist Brigade), right, talks to an Iraqi army tow-truck operator about the contaminated fuel from old Saddam-era bunkers at Camp Mejid, Iraq, Oct. 29, 2009. A former investment advisor, Brown often coaches the 90 paratroopers under his command on how to become fiscally responsible.

AL ASAD AIRBASE, Iraq — The enlightened 18th century Frenchman, Voltaire, might heartily approve of one company commander of “advise and assist” logistics paratroopers deployed to Iraq in August 2009 in support of Iraqi security forces.

“We must tend our garden,” said Voltaire, meaning, don’t just let things go to chance.

Capt. Kyle Brown is the leader of Team Partner, a matching of American mechanics, medics and logisticians with Iraqi army counterparts, but he is first a company commander of 90 paratroopers in the 307th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division (Advise and Assist Brigade).
Others may leave their finances to chance, but not the paratroopers of Headquarters and Headquarters Company. A former investment advisor and member of the Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management trading desk, Brown coaches his paratroopers on fiscal responsibility.

“The average rate of return of the stock market since 1926 to the present is 10.7 percent,” he tells them. “The Army’s savings deposit plan gives you a 10 percent return with zero risk of losing their money. What do you think you should do?”

He explains that Soldiers need to use their bonus money on assets, something that increases in value. A car is not an asset, but rather a liability, he said.

Brown mentors his Soldiers to be specific about their financial goals so they can take concrete steps to achieve them.

He covers debt, asset allocation, fees, taxes, and dollar-cost averaging, a strategy of investing equal dollar amounts regularly and periodically over specific time periods in a particular investment.

“It’s amazing how much help they need, but I love doing it,” said Brown.

Brown’s ancestors immigrated to America on the Mayflower.  Originally from the Los Angeles area, he earned a bachelors from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an M.B.A. with emphasis on finance from Baylor University.

He joined the Army after some friends in the financial world were killed in the Twin Tower bombings and said he would like to manage his own mutual fund one day.