By way of @meredithdake, great story of the solider responsible for training the horses of the 3d IR, the Old Guard.
ARLINGTON, Va. – Sgt. Ruben Troyer, senior horse trainer, Caisson platoon, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), uses his Amish upbringing to help train horses in the Caisson platoon.
Within the area of Holmes County, Ohio, rests the world’s largest Amish community, a community which taught Sgt. Ruben Troyer, from an early age, the true value of horses.
“There were 20 to 30 horses specific to my family,” said Troyer. “Horses were our transportation and our means to farm. They were our livelihood.”
Thanksgiving 2006 changed one family’s life forever. The knock at the door that every military spouse dreads came a month before Christmas. Major Troy Gilbert was lost when his F-16 crashed during combat operations in Iraq.
29 November 2006: The whereabouts of a Texas Tech graduate remain unknown after the F-16 he was piloting crashed in Iraq. Military officials say Major Troy Gilbert was firing on targets at a low altitude when his jet went down near Falluja in Iraq Monday. The jet was based out of Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, New Mexico, which is about 100 miles from Lubbock. DNA samples taken from the scene are being tested.
The 34-year-old has been stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona since March 2004. That’s where family and friends made statements today. NewsChannel 11′s Jennifer Vogel shares the story.
Major Troy Gilbert is a well decorated soldier who was selected to become a Presidential Advance Agent. He would often travel to classified locations to meet Air Force One. But the one thing friends, family and colleagues tell NewsChannel 11 he is most proud of is his time as a father and a husband.
“Troy was first and foremost a wonderful husband and father.” That was the first message family members wanted the public to know about their own personal hero, Major Troy L. Gilbert.
This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for the sacrifices of Major Gilbert and his family, Captain Giglio, and the 30 soldiers lost one day not so long ago. We are the home of the brave and the land of the free because of people like these.
While our soldiers come home too often unseen, you are the ones waiting at the airport for your husband, the kids for dad, that no one notices. You’ve gone to bed so many lonely nights you wish you could lose count, praying and crying alone to God the phone doesn’t ring, that there will be no knock at the door tonight.
For a months, often a year or more, life at home has kept moving. There are still carpools for school, soccer games, ballet lessons, birthdays, bedtimes, bike rides, bandaids, broken bones, and more.
You manage to keep the house running as a single parent. You hear the little ones say, “I miss dad, when’s he coming home?” and your heart breaks just a little each time. You miss him too but have to be strong and brave for him, for them.
Like your solider man, you volunteered for this assignment. You knew what you were getting into, but no one ever remembers you. No one ever says “thank you.” You’d be grateful if they just remembered him every now and again. For your family, the yellow ribbon isn’t just a magnet – it is your husband, the father of your children, your best friend.
You have the hardest job in the world. You are a military wife and mom.
ARLINGTON, Va. – Sgt. Ruben Troyer, senior horse trainer, Caisson platoon, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), uses his Amish upbringing to help train horses in the Caisson platoon.
