Guardsmen honor retiring sergeant

Retiring National Guard Sgt. Bill Thole of Clinton receives congratulations from Company A Commander Erica Brown Saturday at the Armory, where 70 troops assembled for the ceremony and dismissal from training at Camp Dodge, Iowa. With Thole is his wife Marge.

With Sgt. Bill Thole's retirement, Saturday was a time of reflection for the leaders and members of Nevada-based Missouri Army National Guard Company A, which has played an active role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a transportation unit under constant change, the 104-member company was deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2003 to '06 and has 17 truck drivers "delivering supplies to bases and outposts in the remote regions of Afghanistan," according to a company history compiled last week.

First Lt. Erica Brown of Kansas City, a native Nevadan who graduated from Nevada High School in 2001, said Thole "took a lot of young soldiers and grew them up."

Thole first got involved with the National Guard in 1969 at Bemidji in north Minnesota, where his dad Harold was a platoon sergeant. "We were in the infantry when the infantry walked," he said.

"It's lonely now," said the Experience Works regional employment and training coordinator from Clinton. "I will miss the people."

"The family serves, too," Company A is reminded at Saturday's Missouri Army National Guard retirement ceremony for Sgt. Bill Thole as Thole's wife Marge is recognized by Company Commander Erica Brown.

Handed a series of awards and a metal sculpture of an eagle by Brown and 1st Sgt. James Forst of Lamar, Thole told the 70 soldiers attending the 1 p.m. Saturday ceremony at the Armory on West Cherry Street, "I'll miss all of you!"

Hefting the eagle, Thole's wife Marge said quietly, "That's got weight."

"Yes," he said.

Forst, state ammunition supply supervisor here at Camp Clark, said the Afghanistan soldiers are scheduled to return next spring.

With members from numerous towns and cities from Kansas City to Lamar and Springfield, the history said, Company A went to Iraq as part of the 735th Main Support Battalion and returned with the 311th Brigade Support Battalion. "Then-First Sgt. David Parks, now retired, had said we were losing our designation and he was unsure what a transformation would do," it said.

"We were told we could come home to be military police, then possibly field artillery. But a couple of months before redeployment, we found out we would be redesignated as part of a new battalion."

Written by Forst and Brown, the history said the soldiers in Afghanistan "initially were sent to augment the 548th Transportation Company based out of Trenton and 1138th out of St. Louis.

"They were sent to fill empty slots in the ranks but have since grown to supplement the units with their own experiences and skills."

The leaders said Company A has fortunately not sustained any casualties since the wars began with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

They said the company lost its platoon of mechanics upon joining the 311th but gained a platoon of transportation assets, "which meant several soldiers had to go back to school to learn how to drive the heavy equipment we were now allowed to have."

The history said the company's strength was cut from 147 to 104 and will be further reduced to 84 while receiving a group of ammunition specialists.

Along with uniform changes from battle dress to desert camouflage and the current ACU, or "Army Combat Uniform," the company has transitioned from Korean War era trucks and pickup trucks to Hummers, upgraded tankers and Tactical Water Purification Systems.

"One of the biggest changes was the acquisition of the Load Handling System," the history said. "These trucks are capable of rapidly loading and unloading cargo with the use of the hook system and flat racks.

Nevada-based Company A National Guard soldiers, hungry upon their return from training at Camp Dodge, Iowa, share food and anecdotes at the Armory prior to a retirement ceremony for Sgt. Bill Thole.

"The past couple of years have seen instances where our soldiers have been called away from their homes and families to help stranded Missouri motorists and assist EMS and local police departments due to ice and snowstorms. They were also called to help with flooding along the Mississippi River and Hurricane Gustav in 2008."