Army

FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii – Col. Todd Hanks, the deputy commanding officer for the 8th Theater Sustainment Command, was inducted into the Smithville School District Distinguished Alumni Wall of Fame in front of friends and family in Smithville, Missouri Sept. 20, 2024.

Hanks, a 1995 Smithville High School graduate, was a standout 3-sport athlete lettering in football, track and field, and his primary sport, basketball. Despite his on-field accolades, the barrier for entry into the distinguished alumni wall of fame considers post-graduation contributions rather than high school excellence.

“The Smithville School District Distinguished Wall of Fame is a way for us to recognize our deserving alumni that have done great things for this community and country,” said Wayne Krueger, Hanks’ former coach, teacher and principal. “Not only does it show our collective gratitude, but it also demonstrates to our current student body that Smithville alumni are doing great things and it’s something to aspire to.”

According to the online nomination form, the wall of fame was established in 2013 with the aim to recognize and honor Smithville graduates who have contributed to society in an exemplary fashion across eight primary categories, ranging from business to education or in Hanks’ case, military service.

Ironically, the accomplishments that punched Hanks’ ticket to the Wall was a footnote during his adolescence.

“I didn’t know the Army was in my path,” said Hanks. “Really, I was just looking for some help to pay for college.”

Hanks’ on court dominance earned him all-state honors in basketball during his junior and senior year, respectively, and a partial scholarship to Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. But that was the rub.

After two years of coming up short on tuition, Hanks wasn’t comfortable with the idea of graduating college only to be saddled with thousands of dollars in student debt.

“My basketball scholarship paid for a portion of school, but I knew that I was going to still have some significant student loans,” said Hanks. “Late in my sophomore year I started looking at ROTC and I was able to get a two-year scholarship, which was great because it also guaranteed me a job after graduating.”

Like many cadets, his plan was to fulfill his four-year obligation and return to civilian life, similar to the path Hanks’ dad and his dad took with their military service.

“My grandpa served in World War II. He was in the Army Air Corps as an airplane gunner in the European theater. And then my dad served during Vietnam in the Army reserves for six years.”

What ensued was far from Hanks’ initial plan.

As a career logistician for more than 26 years, Hanks has either deployed to, been stationed, or supported training operations on nearly 30 countries on five different continents. From Saudi Arabia to Iraq to South Korea, each assignment offered opportunities to grow personally and professionally, proving each duty station is often what you make of it.

“I think part of the reason why the Army is so successful is because there’s a lot of resilient people and resilient families,” said Hanks. “Coming out of my advanced course as a captain, the only place I didn’t want to go was Korea. And of course, I got told I’m going to Korea. So that was a surprise, but it turns out I ended up really liking it, and it was the best thing for me.”

In South Korea, Hanks was assigned to the United Nations Command – Joint Security Area and routinely guided senior leaders on tours of the Demilitarized Zone, the heavily guarded border between North and South Korea. Despite his reservations of being stationed on the Korean Peninsula, his work ethic coupled with his leadership qualities impressed the right people and it laid the groundwork for merit-based opportunities.

The Army recognized Hanks’ potential and awarded him a fully funded graduate degree at the university of his choice. Unlike his initial college experience, not only was the Army paying for tuition, but he was also earning a paycheck while attending school. A steep contrast from his two first years of undergrad.

Krueger, who was at the induction ceremony isn’t surprised at all by Hanks’ success in the Army.

“Todd was a tremendous athlete in school and overall great student,” said Krueger. “Even as an underclassman, other students and athletes were always looking up to him, he had a presence about him that made him a great leader. He’s the youngest inductee we’ve had, which speaks volumes about who Todd is as a person and leader.”

As a lieutenant colonel, Hanks was selected to command the 528th Special Troops Battalion, 528th Sustainment Brigade, (Special Operations) (Airborne), marking a first for the seasoned officer. Hanks had previously never served in the special operations community, but found he highly enjoyed the complex problem solving and dedication from the service members there. Moreover, the friendships and mentors he served with in the Army Special Operations community continue to influence him today.

“I will say that I think that the Army tends to get it right when it comes to talent management and where they send people to broaden their careers,” said Hanks. “It might not always be your first choice, but I’ve never been somewhere where I didn’t learn something or improve as a leader.”

Hanks would later attend the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra, Australia as a U.S. Army War College fellow, followed by commanding the 599th Transportation Brigade on Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii.

Both assignments reinforce Smithville School District’s decision to elect Hanks to its distinguished alumni wall of fame. A small portion officers ever attend senior service college, with even less serving as brigade commanders.

The opportunity to attend senior service college in Australia was a homecoming of sorts for Hanks and his wife, Yvette Smith, who grew up Adelaide, South Australia. The two had met years earlier in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia when Hanks was serving as a battalion logistics advisor and Smith working as a nurse. Once again, underscoring Hanks position that the Army has a knack of sending Soldiers to places where they can flourish.

While Smithville School Distinguished Alumni inductees are evaluated on their post high school contributions, it should be noted that service has always been a big part of Hanks’ life. From the time he was little, he’s been active supporting his community, a trait that runs in his family.

“He’s been a part of the Kiwanis Club for 25 years,” said Rita Hanks, Hanks’ mom. “When he was little, he would volunteer when they would do pancake breakfasts and things like that. Hank’s grandfather was also inducted into the Smithville Distinguished Alumni. It’s just something we do around here. We’re a small community, but service to our community has always been a big deal.”

As Hanks reflects on his Army career juxtaposed against his younger self playing for the Smithville Warriors, there’s been one certainty that remains true. From his high school coaches to the leaders in uniform, he’s consistently been inspired by the people closest to him.

For Hanks, that’s his message to the students at Smithville High.

“I think what you get in the Army is the exposure to amazing leaders,” said Hanks. “The Army is a leadership factory. You constantly get to refine your toolkit with things you like and things you don’t. So, I’m constantly taking things from leaders and refining my own leadership style. If you want to be a leader today, there’s no better place to get started than the Army.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District and City of Port Clinton celebrated the completion of construction on a five-year coastal restoration project with a final planting of native species on the beach.

The $1.9 million Great Lakes Fishery and Ecosystem Restoration Program Port Clinton Coastal Restoration Project has expanded costal wetland – a rarity along Ohio’s Lake Erie Shoreline – by 1.4 acres, removed invasive plant species, and created a more diverse habitat for wildlife to thrive in and people to enjoy.

“Preservation of wetlands along the shores of Lake Erie is vital to a healthy ecosystem,” said Lt. Col. Robert Burnham, USACE Buffalo District commander. “With our expertise as the nation’s environmental engineers and the tremendous support of our partners at the local, state, and federal level, we’ve re-designed a critical piece of the Great Lakes landscape, rid it of an invasive plant, and installed a diverse plant community that will have a lasting impact.”

“Ensuring this space is maintained and open to all in its natural state has been a priority for this community,” said City of Port Clinton Mayor Michael Snider. “Collectively, we all recognize and appreciate the role this wetland provides not only to the ecology in immediate area, but to the resources we rely on from Lake Erie. Keeping this waterway healthy means our local economy and way of life remains viable.”

“Wetlands are essential to the health of our Great Lakes. With 95 percent of our original coastal wetlands in the Western Basin lost, a whole-of-government approach is required to restore the wetlands we have left. Partnerships and collaboration between federal, state, and local government are key to tackling this daunting task,” said Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. “With this collaborative restoration project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the citizens of Port Clinton with their elected leadership, have established a best-in-class effort that will provide benefits not just to our local community but to our freshwater life source, Lake Erie, and our entire region of Northwest Ohio.”

“Projects like the one we are celebrating in Port Clinton are why the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is so important for Ohio. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is a bipartisan success story and that’s why we fought to secure additional investment for it in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” said U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown. “The best ideas come from Ohio – not Washington. I will always fight for projects like this that create jobs that can’t be shipped overseas, improve our water infrastructure, and support all the Ohio communities whose economies depend on Lake Erie.”

“The collaborative approach undertaken by Port Clinton showcases the strength of local commitment in addressing the environmental challenges facing our Great Lakes. You should be very proud of this accomplishment, which will bring both local and regional ecological benefits,” U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance wrote in a proclamation presented to the City of Port Clinton.

Over the course of five years, the project set out to establish a functioning coastal wetland.

Within a footprint of 12.2-acre coastal wetland and beach complex, USACE and its contractor, Tidewater, Inc., took the space’s struggling 4.6 acres of wetland and grew it to six acres of diverse, revitalized habitat.

Construction included removal of the invasive plant species phragmites across the 12.2 acres; varying of the wetland terrain through microtopography, enabling diverse plant species to take hold; and installation of nearly 40,000 plugs of native plant species.

With construction complete, the project now begins a monitoring period to evaluate success based on diversity of vegetation and the overall quality of the expanded wetland. Early results have already shown a transition from the phragmites monoculture to a diverse plant community and the return of more native wildlife species to the habitat.

Close to half of all bird species in the United States use coastal wetlands in this part of Ohio for some portion of the year. The wetland in Port Clinton sits along two major bird migration flyways – the Atlantic and Mississippi. The space provides connectivity with the few other coastal wetlands along the Lake Erie shoreline, making each more accessible to migratory birds and other wildlife and enabling them to thrive.

For residents and visitors to Port Clinton from across the Great Lakes, the site offers an opportunity to enjoy the rare wetland and improves on the opportunity for birders in Ohio and nearby states.

The project’s design and execution drew on previous successes by the USACE Buffalo District in coastal restoration projects in Rochester and Buffalo, New York. Lessons learned from the Port Clinton project will be applied to the creation of new Great Lakes wetlands currently under construction by the district in Buffalo and Ashtabula, Ohio.

More than $1.9 million was invested in the site throughout construction (65% federal from USACE, 35% non-federal from the City of Port Clinton, with support from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency).

The project brought together additional partners from the Ohio EPA, Ohio Division of Natural Resources, Ohio Lake Erie Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

The project was authorized under Section 506 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000, the authority for the Great Lakes Fishery and Ecosystem Restoration program.

Photo and video of the project site and the completion event are available at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/buffalousace/albums/72157715789263423

About the Great Lakes Fishery and Ecosystem Restoration Program (GLFER):

Section 506 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 authorized the Great Lakes Fishery and Ecosystem Restoration Program, which authorizes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to cooperate with other federal, state, and local agencies to plan, implement, and evaluate projects supporting the restoration of the fishery, ecosystem, and beneficial uses of the Great Lakes.

Projects that restore fish and wildlife habitat, remove dams and other barriers to fish migration, prevent and control non-native invasive species, and contribute to the removal of beneficial use impairments in Areas of Concern are eligible for funding through the program.

More information on GLFER is available at: https://www.lrd.usace.army.mil/Mission/Programs/Article/3646104/great-lakes-fishery-and-ecosystem-restoration-program-glfer/

The Buffalo District delivers world class engineering solutions to the Great Lakes Region, the Army and the Nation in order to ensure national security, environmental sustainability, water resource management, and emergency assistance during peace and war.

SAGAMI GENERAL DEPOT, Japan – Despite the chilly rain, more than 4,000 runners and spectators visited Sagami General Depot to enjoy the 8th East Japan Half Marathon, 8-kilometer run and “Ekiden” relay races.

U.S. Army Garrison Japan Command Sgt. Maj. David Rio provided opening remarks for the races, co-hosted by the Garrison’s Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation and the Kanagawa Running Association.

Rio said the event was a great opportunity for USAG Japan to welcome off-post friends and neighbors, and to showcase the Army’s desire to be “part of the overall community.”

“Everybody was involved and excited (about the event),” Rio said. “It seems like everybody’s having fun.”

Yuko Osawa, first-time event attendee, said she joined the race with four of her friends because she heard the U.S. Army-hosted races offered a great atmosphere and good food to enjoy after running.

Osawa said she enjoyed racing on a base where she normally can’t run and was happy and surprised to finish first place in the over-40 women’s category.

“I wish there were more open-base running events like this,” Osawa said. “I definitely want to participate in the race again.”