Photo By Maj. Charles Emmons | Col. Anthony Dill, Georgia National Guard Inspector General, displays his ROTC Hall of...... read more read more
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FORT KNOX, Ky., June 10, 2016 – Colonel Anthony Dill, the State Inspector General for the Georgia Department of Defense achieved another career milestone recently.
During the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps’ 100th anniversary celebration, the U.S. Army Cadet Command inducted Dill and 325 other awardees into the ROTC Hall of Fame.
More than 100 former cadets and other recipients’ family members attended the inaugural event and were presented with the honor during the organization’s centennial celebration on Brooks Field
The selected recipients were chosen by their respective alma mater’s ROTC program because they’ve made significant contributions in and out of service, as government and private sector leaders.
Maj. Gen. Christopher Hughes, the commanding general of cadet command remarked upon the wide range of accomplishments of those selected during the prestigious ceremony.
“When I look across at our Hall of Fame inductees on the field, I am reminded that they represent more than 2,500 years of collective Army service to our nation,” said Hughes. “All of our inductees are highly decorated veterans, from the Medal of Honor to the Nobel Peace Prize.”
The list of inductees was narrowed down from a pool of 650 thousand eligible names from the last century, and included a number of familiar leaders from recent American history. The roll call included historic retired generals like Gen. George C. Marshall and Gen. Colin Powell as well as National Football League Hall of Famer, Jim Brown. The current Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. Mark Milley was selected for the honor as well, representing Princeton University.
Dill, a University of West Florida graduate, modestly acknowledges his place amongst the other names, and remembers working for some of his fellow awardees. He also reflects on his three decades of experience with other Soldiers that helped to shape his career.
“It’s definitely humbling and you’re not even sure that you’re in the right place,” said Dill. “This [award] is probably more of a recognition of the great Soldiers that I got to work with over the years that helped me do well in the Army.”
Dill has been associated with military service long before he entered the ROTC program. His father, an aviator and transportation officer who started as an engineer in the Illinois National Guard, supported numerous of missions in Vietnam.
“I knew what the Army was, I thought it was really cool to go see the helicopters on the flight line, and I always thought in the back of my head I’d really like to do that,” said Dill. “On Halloween I’d wanna dress up in some Army stuff, which usually drove my dad crazy because he was really a strict stickler for uniformity.”
The influencing decision to join the Army came after Dill’s family moved to Tehran, Iran in the late 1970s, after his father retired from the military and began working there. He witnessed a number of strange and intense situations over the few months they stayed in the volatile country. It was not uncommon to see deadly battles in the streets directly outside their apartment building. Dill and his three younger siblings were often in danger during their time in Iran. He used the experience as motivation.
“Watching my family get threatened, watching my sisters and little brother get threatened…it just really imparted upon me that I never want to be a victim,” said Dill. “That really just drove me even more to want to serve in the military.”
Dill earned his commissioned in 1988 while simultaneously drilling with the Florida National Guard. He completed his undergraduate degree at UWF in Pensacola and left his mark on a distinguished career, serving in leadership positions with a number of organizations to include special operations units. His deployments to the Middle East spanned the years from Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm through Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn.
“You start seeing the same places over and over again,” Dill said. “Coming back into Bagram Airfield or something, you see the buildup, you see the changes. Some things are the same, some things are different.”
Colonel Dill also served as the commander of the Golden Knights aerial demonstration team, a three-year job he considers the most challenging and rewarding of his career.
“You get to take the Army across the United States to places where there aren’t bases or there aren’t Soldiers and represent the Army, connecting America with its Army,” said Dill.
During his tenure with the Golden Knights, Dill was able to bring a National Guard Soldier onto the team, and oversaw the event when former President George H.W. Bush jumped with the team in 2009.
“Having the Secret Service hand off their most prized possession twice…it was a huge responsibility to not only demonstrate Army capability but to have the Secret Service put that trust in the Army to do that was pretty neat,” said Dill.
Recently, Dill completed his tenure as the Chief of Staff for the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center in Fort Bragg, NC. After accepted a broadening assignment with the Georgia National Guard, he now works as the State Inspector General. The IG is responsible for conducting inspections, investigations, providing assistance, and teaching and training within the Georgia DoD.
“I’m very honored to be here. I’ve got a fantastic team of top notch NCOs and officers that are doing great things for the state and are able to identify trends and other issues within the organization or courses of action where we can make things better for our Soldiers,” said Dill.
This will likely be Col. Dill’s last job in uniform, and as advice to new Soldiers, he recommends they identify their unique motivations to drive them toward successful careers, in the same way he did.
“To have a good career in the Army you’ve gotta find the right place, the right assignment, or the right boss,” said Dill. “You’ve gotta find that thing that makes you come to work every day. As an officer, I just love working with Soldiers.”
| Date Taken: | 06.10.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 06.30.2016 11:36 |
| Story ID: | 202864 |
| Location: | GA, US |
| Web Views: | 408 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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