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Category: Idaho Army National Guard
Idaho’s first female command sergeant major encourages soldiers to manage their own careers
BOISE, ID, UNITED STATES
03.31.2019
Story by Crystal Farris
Idaho Army National Guard
Command Sgt. Maj. Linda Burkhart was born in Eureka, California, and as a 10-year-old, visited her aunt and uncle who were working for the U.S. Forest Service in Idaho. During the trip she fell in love with Idaho and decided to move there one day.
Burkhart finally moved to Idaho when she was 32 and looking for a new direction in life. She worked for the United States Postal Service, where she met two Idaho National Guardsmen. Having always wanted to wear the uniform, Burkhart enlisted into the Idaho Army National Guard one year later on Nov. 18, 1994, as a signal specialist.
“I wanted to be part of something bigger,” said Burkhart. “I was looking for that one thing that would put my life in a good direction and the Guard did that for me.”
Burkhart has served in the Idaho Army National Guard for the past 25 years and earned the Army’s highest enlisted rank in 2014, when she became the state’s first female command sergeant major.
From spending her first drill getting dirty in the field as a private, to leading troops as a company first sergeant, Burkhart said her career has been memorable and full of opportunity.
“I’d come home filthy and tired from the field but excited because I felt I achieved something,” said Burkhart. “I love what I do and want to show Soldiers they can have fun in their jobs and get good things from their careers if they take the initiative.”
Taking initiative to manage her own career has been key to Burkhart’s success, she said, and was something her parents raised her to do. Whether that meant completing professional developmental courses or volunteering for positions of higher authority, she was willing to do what was necessary to move up through the ranks.
“We have to push ourselves to take initiative and create opportunities,” said Burkhart. “My parents taught my siblings and me to take charge of our lives and that has always been key.”
One of her most impactful career decisions came at the end of Burkhart’s second deployment. Upon returning home from Iraq in 2010, she was a sergeant first class with no platoon sergeant time. Knowing that leadership experience was important, she requested to be considered for a platoon sergeant position within the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team.
“I wanted and needed that opportunity if I was going to move up,” said Burkhart. “I went through the appropriate chain of command and requested to be considered. I told them I could do the job and they gave me the opportunity.”
Burkhart remained in that position for more than six years before becoming Joint Force Headquarters and Headquarters Company’s first sergeant.
She now serves as the Joint Force Headquarters’ first female land component command sergeant major, responsible for advising the state land component commander on all matters impacting the unit’s enlisted force, including assessing their morale, welfare and training.
“I continually see any position that I’ve been in as the opportunity to do more for the organization and the people in it,” said Burkhart. “I can’t say enough how much this organization and its people have given to me and the opportunities I’ve had and continue to have.”
Although Burkhart plans to retire in two years, she said she still has a lot to contribute to the organization and her fellow Soldiers before hanging up her uniform.
“We have a great organization but are not exempt from having occasional challenges,” said Burkhart. “I genuinely want to know how Soldiers are doing and attempt to make things better for everyone if it’s not going so well for them. I know this organization cares about me. I am trying to show others that the organization cares about them also.”
Idaho Army National Guard, 116th CBCT Soldiers conduct signal gunnery
BOISE, ID, UNITED STATES
02.19.2019
Courtesy Story
Idaho Army National Guard
The 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team signal Soldiers conducted signal gunnery Feb. 5-10 on Gowen Field and in the Orchard Combat Training Center to train signal Soldiers on their communication platforms in a challenging environment.
“Information is a weapon we wield,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jerred Edgar, the brigade’s network defense chief. “Our communication platforms bring the messages that put rounds on target.”
Approximately 100 signal Soldiers from each of the 116th CBCT’s seven battalions and the Idaho Army National Guard’s 1-183rd Aviation Battalion who hold six signal military occupational specialties participated in the exercise. The training audience focused on junior leader and crew proficiencies.
The training was planned and executed by Idaho Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to the brigade’s communications section to accommodate the brigade’s training schedule prior to its upcoming rotation at the National Training Center.
The exercise was an expansion of last year’s signal gunnery, the first in the brigade’s history. Edgar developed the concept of “signal gunnery” over two years ago after not being able to find any doctrine regarding crew-level training in the Army to mirror the kind of training line units are familiar with.
This year saw the addition of the 1-183rd Aviation Battalion and incorporated battalion signal officers. Four officers were assigned crews in a manner comparable to their organic unit’s structure. They had to plan, track, maneuver and synchronize their crews through their communication platforms.
“We typically are consolidated at one location,” said Capt. Kenneth McNamara, battalion signal officer. “It is different having them far away. It creates a greater challenge for command and control.”
This year’s training was conducted during extreme cold weather, which Edgar said provided an excellent training environment for developing basic Soldier skills. Crew leaders learned how to operate in cold weather, which included rotating Soldiers on tasks to ensure their Soldiers stay healthy and their mission objectives are achieved.
“It’s very difficult, especially with the wind gusts and cold temperatures,” said Spc. Christopher Payne, a joint network node operator. “Things just take more time because of cold weather gear. Sometimes we just sucked it up and removed our gloves to get the job done.”
The five-day training event gave Soldiers the chance to train on their assigned equipment and practice setting it up quickly. During the two-day field exercise, crews jumped four times, including twice at night.
“It’s good to see the growth and development from last year, I definitely feel more confident with my equipment,” Payne said.
The brigade will participate in a National Training Center rotation in May and June to prepare for a possible follow on a real-world mission in 2020. NTC, located at Fort Irwin, California, is one of the Army’s largest training centers and allows the brigade to conduct combat operations against a simulated enemy force.
Female armor officers prepare to lead Idaho Soldiers into combat
BOISE, ID, UNITED STATES
02.19.2019
Story by Capt. Robert Taylor
Idaho Army National Guard
The 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team’s B Company, 2-116th Cavalry Regiment conducted gunnery Feb. 8-15 at the Orchard Combat Training Center, marking the first time female armor officers qualified in the M1A2 Abrams main battle tank in the Idaho Army National Guard’s history.
2nd Lt. Brooke Berard and 2nd Lt. Lauren Bolt graduated from the U.S. Army’s Armor Basic Officer Leaders Course Feb. 1 before returning to Idaho and accompanying their company to the field to conduct gunnery.
“After seeing the Abrams tank, I didn’t feel like I had another option,” Berard said. “Once I saw the tank’s power, that’s all I wanted to do.”
Both lieutenants will serve as platoon leaders for B Company, which is located in Nampa. As platoon leaders, each Soldier will command a platoon of up to 14 Soldiers and four Abrams.
Berard and Bolt are the first qualified combat arms female officers in the Idaho Army National Guard’s history. They follow other Idaho Army National Guard female Soldiers into the combat ranks since females were permitted to serve in all positions in the military in December 2015.
In 2016, 1st Sgt. Erin Smith became the first enlisted Soldier in the U.S. Army to graduate from the service’s M1 Armor Crewman School. In 2017, Staff Sgt. Kylene Huetra became the first female assigned to the 2-116th Cavalry Regiment as a tank crew member. She was recently reassigned as B Company’s supply sergeant.
Sgt. 1st Class Melanie Galletti graduated from the Infantry Transition Course in April 2017, becoming the first female Soldier in the state’s history to earn the Army’s blue infantry cord. She served as a squad leader in C Company, 2-116th Cavalry Regiment until she was reassigned to a position in a different company and subsequently promoted.
“I don’t care if you’re male or female,” said Lt. Col. Jason Gracida, commander, 2-116th CAV REG. “I care if you’re a good leader and Soldier. At the end of the day, you’re going to lead Soldiers into combat. I need to know if you’re a capable officer.”
Both junior officers know and understand their role on the battlefield.
“We close with and destroy the enemy with shock, mobility and firepower,” said Berard. “Not only do you have this firepower, you also have to make choices quickly.”
The M1A2 Abrams main battle tank is the Army’s most advance battle tank.
“When we get together and put rounds down range, and begin to maneuver as an element, there’s nothing more exhilarating,” Bolt said.
Bolt served as an 88M motor transport operator with the Nevada Army National Guard before transferring to the Idaho Army National Guard to become an armor officer. Both her parents also served in the military.
Gunnery tables often mean long days, with mechanical issues and winter weather causing delays, adding to the stress for new lieutenants conducting gunnery for the first time.
“Sometimes it doesn’t feel like work,” Beard said. “You’re tired but it’s so much fun.”
Brig. Gen. John Goodale retires
BOISE, Idaho
Jan. 31, 2018
Story by Capt. Robert Taylor
Idaho Army National Guard
Brig. Gen. John Goodale, Assistant Adjutant General – Army and commander of the Idaho Army National Guard, is retiring after spending four decades serving his state and nation. Goodale has served in the military since 1976 and in the Idaho Army National Guard since 1988, including the past five as the organization’s senior Army officer.
During the past five years, the Idaho Army National Guard has undergone several changes to remain among the most equipped and professional fighting force in the nation. Units in the organization also deployed and completed historical missions under Goodale’s command.
“It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit,” Goodale said, quoting President Harry S. Truman.
The 116th Calvary Brigade Combat Team, the state’s largest unit, returned from its second deployment to Iraq in 2011. Since then, the unit has transitioned to the modern M1 Abrams tank and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The brigade was the first National Guard brigade to be fielded with this equipment. The brigade’s special troops battalion converted to an engineer battalion, and its field artillery battalion restructured to add additional guns and personnel to its ranks.
In 2015, the 116th CBCT became the first National Guard brigade since 9/11 to attend the Army’s largest force-on-force training center, the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. More than 2,500 Soldiers from Idaho and an additional 1,700 Soldiers and Airmen from 17 other states supported the brigade’s training mission. The following summer, the brigade was the lead element in Saber Guardian 2016 in Cincu, Romania. The multinational military training exercise involved 2,800 military personnel from 10 countries. The exercise was the first time a National Guard armored brigade deployed to Europe since the end of the Cold War.
The 1-183rd Aviation Battalion (Attack) transitioned several times since 2012. First, the aviation battalion received the latest attack helicopters, the AH-64D Apache Longbow, and then transitioned to the UH60 A/L Black Hawk helicopter. So far the transition has left the aviation battalion with more aircraft than it previously had and provides a unit that can better assist in the execution of the Idaho Army National Guard’s state mission to respond to state and local emergencies.
In addition, more than 60 Soldiers from A Company, 1-168th General Support Aviation Battalion deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2012-2013.
Goodale’s development of a strategic plan was instrumental in addressing strength, training, and readiness initiatives like the Idaho Army National Guard Public Affairs cell and Comprehensive Fitness Program that were needed to improve the strength and readiness in the Idaho Army National Guard.
Finally, the Orchard Combat Training Center has grown considerably during the past five years. Active Duty and National Guard units from around the country train at the site.
The Idaho Army National Guard has continued to develop the facilities and increase the number of Soldiers who train and work on the training range. The OCTC’s infrastructure and facilities have both improved and expanded vastly during the past five years and are expected to continue to do so over the next several years. The training site will continue to become more valuable to the Army National Guard as it continues to increase its operational tempo.
Goodale’s career path to the organization’s commander began at West Point and is filled with opportunities from some of the Idaho Army National Guard’s most challenging positions.
The United States Military Academy
Goodale’s career in the military started with his education at the United States Military Academy in July 1976, the same year the first class of female cadets attended the academy.
“The Academy teaches you to treat everyone with respect and dignity and they were no different,” Goodale said. “They were all cadets like I was a cadet and had to do the same things I had to do.”
119 female cadets were among the first co-ed class to attend West Point after President Gerald R. Ford signed legislation in 1975 directing the Army, Navy and Air Force academes to admit females. 62 females graduated in Goodale’s class.
Goodale remembers West Point for its hard academics, good friends, and home football games on Saturday. Because the Academy is small and cadets live on campus, cadets get to know each other well over their four years at the school.
Goodale still stays in touch with some of his classmates and follows the careers of others.
Giebelstadt, Germany
After graduating West Point in 1980, Goodale became an armor officer. Aviation wouldn’t become its own branch until 1983, but he was selected to attend flight school before graduation. He attended Armor Officer Basic Course at Fort Knox, airborne school at Fort Bragg, and air assault school at Fort Campbell before attending flight school at Fort Rucker. At flight school, he became qualified on both the A and the C models of the OH-58 via the aeroscout track.
Goodale’s first assignment was in 1981 to A Company, 3rd Aviation Battalion (Combat), 3rd Infantry Division in Giebelstadt, Germany, as an aeroscout team leader. While there, he flew along the air defense identification zone, which required him to fly an exact pattern along the German border.
He was also assigned to the general support platoon, which was responsible for flying 3rd Infantry Division general officers around the country.
“That was a tough mission because you never wanted to screw that up,” he said.
He eventually became the operations officer for the company. At the time, each company resembled a battalion. His company had 45 helicopters, compared to the six to eight aircraft in today’s aviation companies.
While there, Goodale met his wife, Elisabeth. The two have four children and one granddaughter.
In 1985, Goodale left Germany to attend aviation officer advanced course and was then assigned as the operations officer in Air Troop, 116th Armored Cavalry Regiment with the Idaho Army National Guard on Gowen Field. The Army used to assign active duty aviation and engineer officers to National Guard units.
In 1989, Air Troop became the 1-116 Aviation and later, the 1-183 Attack Reconnaissance Battalion.
This transition from an Air Cavalry Troop to a battalion created the need to hire additional staff officers. Goodale was selected to become the unit’s assistant operations officer in December 1988.
Idaho Army National Guard
To accept the Army Guard/Reserves (AGR) position, Goodale had to resign from the active component and be re-commissioned into the Idaho Army National Guard.
Goodale said that his decision to leave the active component wasn’t met well by his current Army leadership, but he did so because he didn’t want to have to move his children around and he liked being in the Pacific Northwest. He has no regrets about doing so.
Goodale played a key role in the unit’s transition to an attack aviation battalion as the assistant operations officer and later the operations officer, but left the unit before the unit completed the Apache Battalion certification at Fort Hood, Texas. His next assignment was as the training officer in the deputy chief of staff of operations directorate, which is comparable to working in today’s G-3 (operations) section.
In 1996, he was assigned to the 116th Calvary Brigade in anticipation of the unit’s rotation through the National Training Center in 1998. He was the brigade’s operations officer and managed the exercise’s budget for the state. The 116th Calvary Brigade was one of the first National Guard units to deploy to the Army’s largest force-on-force training center.
“I basically got a cot,” he said, an indication of the long hours he put into learning the job. “I didn’t grow up in a brigade. I didn’t know things like how many tanks were in the brigade, but I had the ability to maneuver and control because I did a lot of that in aviation.”
During the battles at the National Training Center, Goodale had to monitor several radios and know which ones to respond to when. He credits his time in the cockpit in Germany for the success he had in being able to do so.
Goodale said that his experience as the operations officer for the NTC rotation set him up for success for the rest of his career, but first he would spend a year at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, before continuing his career.
“You have to take the hard jobs if you want to move up.”
At the conclusion of the National Training Center rotation, Goodale flew straight to the Army War College, where his family was already waiting for him.
“It was awesome,” he said. “They tell you it’s one of the best years of your life, and it’s right up there.”
Goodale said he met a lot of good people there and enjoyed the extra time with his family. In addition, he learned a lot from the school that provides graduate-level instruction to senior military officers.
He became the deputy chief of staff, operations (G3/J3), when he returned home and held this position until March 2005. This position put him in charge of operations at the state level for the organization.
He left this position to become the interim Assistant Adjutant General-Army, Idaho National Guard while the 116th Calvary Brigade was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III.
When the unit returned, Brig. Gen. Alan C. Gayhart assumed the Assistant Adjutant General-Army position and Goodale took command of the 116th Calvary Brigade. Gayhart commanded the brigade in Iraq.
In 2008, Goodale was the joint task force commander for the World Special Olympics, held in Boise in 2009.
“It was a big undertaking, but it went well,” he said.
His next assignment was as the United States Property and Fiscal Officer for the state until 2012, when he was promoted to brigadier general into his final position as commander of the Idaho Army National Guard and Assistant Adjutant General-Army.
He said his experience as the commander of the 116th Calvary Brigade, the Idaho National Guard’s largest unit, helped prepare him for the challenges and opportunities he faced as commander of the Idaho Army National Guard.
“The organization did a good job moving me around to prepare me,” he said. “You have to take the hard jobs if you want to gain experience and move up.”
Though Goodale originally planned to retire as a lieutenant colonel and has since surpassed that rank, there are still two things that he didn’t get to do in his career that bother him: he never got to be the 1-183rd battalion commander or deploy to a combat zone.
Goodale plans to spend his retirement catching up on several delayed projects at home, spending time with his family, traveling and coaching his granddaughter’s basketball team.
After some time off, he plans to eventually volunteer in some capacity, but does not anticipate working again, including any civilian military positions.
“The Army keeps rolling along,” he said. “Old Soldiers just fade away.”
His advice to other Soldiers as he ends his career is similar to the lessons he learned at West Point at the start of it.
“Treat everybody fairly and with respect,” he said. “No matter what ranks they are. And you have to maintain a positive attitude no matter what’s going on. It really shows up when you’re around Soldiers when you don’t have a positive attitude. Set the Example in all you do or say.”
Col. Scott Sheridan assumes command
BOISE, Idaho
Jan. 8, 2018
Story by Capt. Robert Taylor
Idaho Army National Guard
The Idaho Army National Guard’s 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team held a change of command ceremony Jan. 7 on Gowen Field to signify the transfer of authority between outgoing commander Col. Farin Schwartz and the incoming commander, Col. Scott Sheridan.
Schwartz assumed command of the state’s largest unit in March 2016. He said that his time as the brigade’s commander flew by.
“I’m thankful for the dedication and hard work of the Soldiers who made the last two years the highlight of my career,” Schwartz said.
Under Schwartz’s command, the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team participated in several operations across the world and underwent a transition that saw the brigade grow by several hundred Soldiers and incorporate a unit from the Nevada Army National Guard.
In the summer of 2016, the brigade participated in Saber Guardian 2016, a multinational military training exercise that involved 2,800 military personnel from 11 countries in Cincu, Romania. More than 1,100 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team Soldiers participated in the exercise, which involved using trains, ships and convoys to move more than 500 pieces of equipment to the training site, more than 9,000 miles away from Boise.
Among other exercises, the unit also participated in Maple Resolve, the Canadian Army’s premier brigade-level validation exercise in Canada; Keris Strike 2017 in Pahang, Malaysia; and Key Resolve in South Korea.
Domestically, the brigade participated in staff exercises at Joint Base Lewis-McChord outside of Tacoma, Wash., and at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa.
In addition, the brigade’s engineer battalion spent last summer at Fort Hood, Texas, providing opposing forces in support of the 278th Armored Brigade Combat Team’s eXportable Combat Training Capability rotation. The task force provided opposing forces that allowed the Tennessee Army National Guard unit to train against a capable near-peer force.
The brigade’s 2016 reorganization brought updated equipment and 200 additional positions for Idaho Soldiers and expanded the unit’s footprint into Nevada.
The 2-116th Cavalry Regiment, headquartered in Caldwell, transitioned from an armored reconnaissance squadron to a combined arms battalion; the Magic Valley’s 116th Brigade Special Troops Battalion reorganized into the 116th Brigade Engineer Battalion and added a forward support company in Jerome and a second engineer company in northern Idaho; and in eastern Idaho, the 1-148 Field Artillery Battalion added an additional firing battery.
The Nevada National Guard’s 1-221st Cavalry Regiment and the 777th Forward Support Company also joined the brigade.
The brigade now consists of more than 4,000 Solders in nearly 20 Idaho communities and four states, as Montana and Oregon each contribute a combined arms battalion to the brigade.
“It’s not what I did,” Schwartz said. “It’s what we did across four states.”
Sheridan previously served in the brigade as the commander of the 2-116th Cavalry Regiment from January 2016 to February 2017. His last assignment was the director of operations, Idaho Army National Guard,
before he assumed command of the brigade.
Sheridan has served in the Idaho Army National Guard since 1997. He enlisted into the Oregon Army National Guard in 1987 and commissioned as an armor officer in 1990 after graduating from Eastern Oregon State University’s ROTC Program.
“It’s an enormous responsibility to ensure every member of the organization is always preparing for the future,” Sheridan said. “It’s also critical to ensure every member of the brigade understands that they are just as important as the Solider to their left or right and that we watch out for each other.”
Schwartz will now serve as commander, Idaho Army National Guard/Assistant Adjutant General – Army as Brig. Gen. John Goodale prepares for retirement.
Get to know: Capt. Adam Rios
From the streets to the military ranks: How his service changed his life
IDAHO ARMY NATIONAL GUARD, UNITED STATES
01.08.2019
Story by 2Lt. Crystal Farris
As a homeless kid, Idaho Army National Guard Capt. Adam Rios broke into an abandoned building in Utica, New York, where he found an old cigar box. Inside the box were various small bars with different colored stripes on one side and pin clasps on the other. One particular pin caught his eye. It had two adjacent bars like railroad tracks. Thinking it was cool, Rios affixed the pin to his hat, which he wore for a while after.
“Years later, I was already in the military, walking down a hall and came across that same looking pin on an Army poster,” said Rios. “The pin was a captain’s rank. In that box I had found someone’s old military awards and rank and thought ‘wow, that’s what I was wearing 10 years ago and now it’s come back to me full circle.’”
Rios grew up on the streets where he was in trouble with the law, ate what he could steal and slept where he could find shelter. At that time he could not imagine making it to his 20th birthday, let alone one day serving in the military.
Today, Rios is a 39-year-old captain in the Idaho Army National Guard where he serves as the commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team. He works fulltime as a security officer for the Idaho National Laboratory’s Naval Reactors Facility and lives in Shelley, Idaho, with his wife and four children.
The path to get there was not always easy, however, Rios credits each of his experiences to the man he has become.
“The military was the smartest thing I could have done,” said Rios. “It changed me from a little hoodlum, to someone who could take charge of my life, pay my own bills and go to school.”
In the beginning
Before he was homeless and joined the military, Rios was a troubled kid from a poor family. His addict father was abusive and his mother was depressed. When his parents divorced, Rios stayed in Utica with his father while his two sisters went to live with their mom in Pocatello, Idaho.
When his father abandoned him, Rios tried to survive as a nine-year-old alone on the dangerous streets of New York. From a large Puerto Rican family, he sometimes had a warm couch of a distant family member to sleep on.
Eventually, one of his older cousins called the state’s protective services and Rios was put into foster care. His foster parents taught him about life and being honest, he said. It was the first time he had a positive parental influence.
“They loved me, took care of me and provided me with the information I needed to become a good person,” said Rios. “It didn’t set in right away and I wasn’t a perfect kid overnight, but everything they taught me had some impact on my life later down the road.”
Within a few years he moved back with his father who had cleaned up, yet Rios could not escape his own familiar past. Continuing to get into trouble, he finally decided to leave New York and all its negative influences.
At 19 years old, Rios went to visit his mother and sisters who were still living in Idaho. He never left. The next year he enlisted into the Idaho Army National Guard as a 13T field artillery surveyor.
However, he did not join for the service to his country or even the money, he said, but instead because his step-father told him only strong people could handle such a challenge. The challenge was more difficult than Rios predicted and he barely made it through his first year in the military.
“I thought I was the man,” said Rios. “I had a huge attitude and felt entitled. Nobody could tell me nothing. I thought I knew everything and they knew nothing. Basic training was a horrible experience, along with my first years in the military.”
It was not until he deployed to Iraq with the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team in 2004 that his life and perspective changed. There Rios found himself surrounded by fellow Soldiers who were scared to death, he said, because they had never been deployed before.
A defining moment
“I grew up in hell,” said Rios. “In a place where my life was already threatened so I was not at all intimidated by the deployment like others were.”
There to train the Kurdish Army, he felt comfort working alongside the people who he identified with because of their similar misfortune and poverty he suffered while growing up.
One day while disposing of food waste at a local dump site consisting of holes dug out of the sand, his team saw a mother and two young children emerge from one of the holes. As they began scavenging the garbage for food scraps, he thought how fortunate he was in comparison.
“I thought then that I hadn’t gone through anything,” said Rios. “As horrible as my upbringing was, I am not living in a hole in a dump. That deployment shaped my life and that’s when I knew I wanted to help people and be in the military forever.”
Rios reevaluated his life upon returning home from deployment and considered how fortunate he was to have the benefits and opportunities the military provides him.
Rios decided he could help people by becoming a counselor. He enrolled at the Idaho State University where he earned a bachelor’s in sociology and later worked as the program director for Tueller Counseling agency until taking his job at the Idaho National Laboratory.
“Although I didn’t join originally for the right reasons, I came to appreciate my choice later in life,” said Rios. “The military paid for my schooling, provided my with the VA loan I used for the house I live in and is preparing me for my future retirement.”
With college complete, Rios turned in his staff sergeant rank and commissioned as second lieutenant through the Idaho Army National Guard’s accelerated Officer Candidate School program in 2009. A year later he completed Basic Officer Leaders Course as a 13A field artillery officer.
A changed man
“I wanted to lead and do the best good I could,” said Rios.
In 2010, he deployed again with the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team, however, this time as a first lieutenant responsible for the safety of his Soldiers.
“I had to take care of myself since the age of nine,” said Rios. “But, that was nothing compared to the pressure I felt as a brand new lieutenant responsible to bring everyone home alive.”
During the deployment he gained leadership experience as a new officer and commander of a security detail responsible for escorting VIPs throughout Iraq. It was a steep learning curve, he said, sometimes learning lessons the hard way but in the end his unit returned home without a single fatality.
“The lessons I experienced early in my officer career shaped what kind of leader I wanted to be,” said Rios. “My command today and desire to see Soldiers succeed is a direct result of that deployment.”
Rios took command of HHC, 1-116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team in November 2018 and has since worked diligently to improve unit readiness and the morale of its Soldiers. He has done so by implementing programs such as “Return to Readiness” that focuses on Soldier fitness and health through counseling and training.
“My background helps me understand we all have lots of experiences that make us who we are,” said Rios. “Sometimes people need a chance to make the right choices. My foster parents took the time on me when I really wasn’t deserving and it turned out positive. I try to emulate that and lead from an honest place, hopefully imparting something on my Soldiers that will help them succeed.”
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