[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 165 (Tuesday, December 14, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10228-S10229]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES


                  Sergeant First Class James E. Thode

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize and pay tribute 
to SFC James E. Thode, who gave the ultimate sacrifice for his country. 
On December 2, 2010, he died of wounds suffered after an improvised 
explosive device detonated on a roadside in Sabari District, Khowst 
Province, Afghanistan. He was 45 years old.
  Sergeant First Class Thode served with the Utah National Guard, 118th 
Engineer (Sapper) Company, 1457th Engineer Battalion, 204th Maneuver 
Enhancement Brigade, in Salt Lake City. His unit's mission was vitally 
important, as it provided route-clearance support to coalition forces. 
Identifying and clearing IEDs was part of their dangerous job.
  Sergeant First Class Thode called Farmington, NM, his home and grew 
up in Tucson, AZ. However, boundaries are blurred in the Four Corners 
area and soldiers are drawn from the neighboring states. I am proud, 
and, indeed, Utah is proud to call Sergeant Thode one of our own. He 
was one of our finest.
  This was to be Sergeant First Class Thode's third deployment 
overseas. In 1991, he served during the first gulf war, although he did 
not see combat. He never shied away from duty.
  Like so many of the fine men and women serving in the Armed Forces 
today, Thode felt it was his duty to serve. He exemplified this 
attitude by not only serving his country abroad, but by serving on the 
Farmington Police Department for the last 14 years. In that time he 
worked as a training officer, a member of the SWAT team. He was well-
respected. He was a great friend. He was a great leader. He had the 
qualities we would want in a police officer and protector of a 
community.
  His decision to serve our country came at an early age. He was 
inspired by his uncle who served in the military. As a young boy, he 
learned how to shoot a BB gun and later his father took him to the 
shooting range and taught him how to handle a rifle. He joined the 
military in 1984 and had served long enough to retire from military 
service by the time he went on his third deployment, this time to 
Afghanistan. His father told him he could have retired, but he insisted 
that the young men and women he served with needed someone to take them 
to war and help keep things together.
  He was a father figure to many of his fellow soldiers. He was the 
glue that held people together. A warrior that led by example.
  My thoughts and prayers go to his loving family. He leaves behind his 
devoted wife Carlotta; their 18-year-old daughter Ashley; their 8-year-
old son Tommy; his mother Evelyn; father Ernest; and other family and 
friends. With his ultimate sacrifice, they are sacrificing, too. God 
bless them.
  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. President, in the more than 9 years that 
our military has been fighting in Afghanistan, thousands of brave men 
and women have volunteered their service to our country. They have 
sacrificed time with their families, travelled to foreign lands, and 
put their

[[Page S10229]]

lives in jeopardy, all in the defense of the ideals we hold dear.
  This month, New Mexico lost one of those brave soldiers. His name was 
James Thode. He was a 45-year-old married father of two who had served 
for 14 years as a police sergeant for the city of Farmington. He was in 
Afghanistan as a member of the Utah National Guard as a sergeant first 
class in the 118th Sapper Company.
  Sergeant Thode was killed by a roadside bomb on December 2 when 
insurgents attacked his unit in Afghanistan's Khost province.
  Too often, when we are faced with the loss of one of our brave men or 
women in uniform, the first thing that is talked about is how they 
died. A roadside bomb. A firefight with the enemy. Protecting a fellow 
soldier from harm.
  That is important. But it is equally important that we remember how 
they lived.
  That is what I would like to do today. I want to remember how 
Sergeant James Thode lived.
  Those who served with Sergeant Thode saw him as a father figure to 
the younger soldiers. ``The glue that held people together,'' said one.
  He was ``a humble person, soft spoken and had a way of connecting 
with everybody he met,'' said another.
  A third soldier recalled that Thode had an opportunity for a command 
position with a different unit--but he, quote, ``chose to stay with his 
men, knowing the risk.''
  When he deployed to Afghanistan in July, Sergeant Thode left behind 
his wife Carlotta and their two children, 18-year-old daughter Ashley 
and 8-year-old son Tommy. It was his second deployment. His first was 
to Iraq in 2003.
  Back at home, Thode had served as a member of the Farmington Police 
Department since 1996 as a field training officer, member of the SWAT 
Team, and eventually a member of the detective unit.
  Sergeant Thode was well-known and well-respected within the close-
knit Farmington community. As Farmington Police Chief Kyle Westall said 
upon learning of Thode's death, ``The community lost a truly great man 
who will be missed by many.''
  Sergeant Thode lived a life to which we all should aspire--a life of 
service to family, community and country.
  To Sergeant Thode's wife, children, parents, sister, and extended 
family and friends, my wife Jill and I offer our deepest sympathies for 
your loss, and our deepest thanks for your loved one's service to our 
country. You are forever in our hearts, and we are forever in your 
debt.

                          ____________________