Today, I salute Army National Guard Veteran Kirk Gibson. Kirk first enlisted when he was 17 and needed his mom to sign the waiver, but he knew it was something he wanted to do. Drawing inspiration from his first sergeant at Fort Riley, Kirk knew he wanted to lead. Gibson was deployed twice. He went to Germany in 2002, where he protected the homes of military families during Operation Enduring Freedom. In 2005, Gibson deployed to Iraq and was focused on his teammates. Gibson spent a year in Baghdad providing security for VIPs, including Donald Rumsfeld. When he returned to Kansas, his mission was to prepare soldiers for similar deployments, creating a pre-mobilization training team in Salina, so the Kansas soldiers wouldn’t have to travel to California or Oklahoma. He is now retired and ready to hand the task of getting future soldiers ready off to someone else. Thank you for preparing our active duty members, Kirk, and THANK YOU for your service.
