Competitor bio:

Byron G. Ball A.K.A. “Fire Ball”, as his mentor Chief Master Sergeant (Retired) Vanessa Smalls-Bryant calls him, is a Master Sergeant in the Air Force with 19 years of experience. He is the First Sergeant for the 319th Security Forces Squadron at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. Before this job he was an Air Force Firefighter for 16 years. He has deployed to Iraq three times and twice to undisclosed locations. Byron will be running for the Chief Master Sergeant (CMSgt) Richard L. Etchberger Foundation, http://www.chiefetchbergerfoundation.org/. CMSgt Etchberger received the USA’s highest military award for valor, the Medal of Honor, for his actions during a Vietnam War battle atop a remote peak in Laos. The Foundation supports service and leadership awards for Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) and Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) and Hamburg Area High School where CMSgt Richard Etchberger graduated. They also seek to assist those serving in today's United States Air Force.