[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6962]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO GENERAL SCOTT THOELE

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I rise to congratulate Scott Thoele 
(``Taylee'') of the Illinois Army National Guard on his promotion to 
brigadier general.
  General Thoele, as a colonel, led the Illinois Army National Guard 
during its deployment last year to Afghanistan.
  He commanded the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, whose soldiers 
served in that country from August 2008 to September 2009. The 
mobilization of his soldiers was the Illinois Guard's largest since 
World War Two.
  Most of these men and women are civilian-soldiers from cities and 
towns across Illinois. They have their own lives separate from service 
in our Armed Forces.
  Most do not serve full time in the Guard. In the midst of living 
their lives--working at their jobs, spending time with their families, 
and participating in their communities--they have made a patriotic 
commitment to their country.
  They have said, if my Nation needs me to serve and to fight abroad, I 
will answer the call.
  And last year, 3,000 soldiers from Illinois left their jobs, their 
families, and their communities to serve at the call of their Nation.
  General Thoele is one of those soldiers. He lives in Quincy, IL, with 
his wife and four children. In his civilian life, he works at First 
Bankers Trust Company in the bank's audit department.
  This was a difficult deployment for the Illinois Army National Guard. 
They spent the year in Afghanistan in austere conditions. Their main 
task was to train and mentor the Afghan National Security Forces, in an 
effort to help the Afghans take responsibility for their own safety and 
security. They also provided security to the provincial reconstruction 
teams across Afghanistan. Eighteen Illinois soldiers lost their lives 
in service to their country. Dozens more were badly injured.
  A long time ago, before he became President, there was a young 
captain from Illinois who answered the call when his State needed men 
to fight in the Black-Hawk war of 1832. He gathered 400 volunteers from 
the Sangamon County State militia and traveled north to Prophetstown, 
IL, marching through miles of what author Carl Sandburg described as 
``swamp muck and wilderness brush . . . pushing and pulling when horses 
and wagons bogged.''
  It was also a difficult war--as all wars are. Sandburg wrote that to 
the men under the young captain, ``it didn't seem the kind of war they 
had expected and they wrote home about it.'' But ultimately they did 
come home, while young Abraham Lincoln went on to reenlist--and to 
serve his Nation in many ways.
  I offer my thanks to General Thoele, who also continues to serve his 
Nation, now as the Deputy Commanding General for the Army National 
Guard at the Army's Combined Arms Center in Kansas. Thank you for your 
work in Afghanistan and for bringing our soldiers home safely. And 
congratulations again on your promotion to brigadier general.

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