It’s been almost four decades since Chief Warrant Officer 5 Ray Noble first joined the Army.
But the 58-year-old soldier said he felt like a new recruit Thursday morning after he — the oldest soldier in the 3rd Infantry Division — helped the division’s command team and its youngest soldier cut a U.S. Army birthday cake in true military style — with a swift strike of a sabre.
Noble and 18-year-old Pvt. John Gilbert joined 3rd ID commander Maj. Gen. Robert Abrams and Command Sgt. Maj. Edd Watson at Fort Stewart’s Cottrell Field Thursday morning to mark the 237th anniversary of the U.S. Army’s founding.
“It’s really an honor to be a part of something so dynamic as this celebration,” said Noble, a Savannah native. “To be a part of an organization for 38 years that, I think, has done everything the country — the American people have asked of it, that’s probably the greatest thing that I, as a soldier, can appreciate — the great support that the American people has given to we, the Army.”
During his public comments, Abrams urged soldiers to consider the Army’s past, its present and its future.
“Our Army has always remained true to our enduring professional values as the world’s highest quality, all-volunteer force who uphold moral, ethical and physical standards,” the general said. “We honor the sacred trust that our nation places on us, and we remain our nation’s loyal servants defending the principles upon which our Declaration of Independence and Constitution were founded.
“For 237 years America’s Army has always answered the nation’s call, and we always will.”
That, Abrams said, includes the about 180,000 soldiers — nearly 2,000 from the 3rd ID — currently living and operating outside of the United States. A group he and about 700 others from the division’s Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion will join in August when it deploys to Afghanistan.
“Our Army and this division stand as our nation’s force for decisive action,” he said. “All you have to do is look at the different missions that are being performed by Dog-face Soldiers all across the planet today, and what you are being asked to perform on a daily basis and you’ll know that.”
Noble, who will retire after returning from Afghanistan next year, said he’s given so much of his life to the Army because of what it’s given him in return.
“I tell people the Army’s been my calling,” he said. “I’m living out my dream; that’s what I’m doing. I’m here for no other reason than that this is what I’ve always wanted to do, and the country’s allowing me to do that.”
Hunter’s 3rd MP Group gets new commander
During a ceremony Thursday morning at Hunter Army Airfield, the 3rd Military Police Group said goodbye to outgoing commander Col. Jan Apo.
Apo relinquished command of the group — part of the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command — to incoming commander Col. Thomas H. Byrd.
During her time as the unit’s commander, Apo helped move it from the now-closed Fort Gillem in Atlanta to Hunter last June.
The 3rd MP Group is responsible for investigating all felony crimes related to the Army throughout the eastern half of the U.S., Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, parts of Texas, the Caribbean, Central America — except Mexico — and South America.