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Battalion pre- Bunting Kansas Guard pares Burun- retires as supports dian soldiers adjutant inaugural PlainsPlainsfor mission ..2 GuardianGuardiangeneral . .7 events . .8 Volume 54 No. 1 Serving the Kansas National Guard, Kansas Emergency Management, Kansas Homeland Security and Civil Air Patrol January 2011 Tafanelli selected as 34th adjutant general of Kansas Brig. Gen. Lee Tafanelli was selected as Kansas National Guard for over 30 years. adjutant general by Governor-elect Sam He assumed the position of assistant adju- Brownback on Dec. 10, 2010. tant general of the Kansas Army National “I am humbled and honored that he Guard July 19, 2010 and was the com- chose me,” said Tafanelli, adding that the mander of the Kansas Army National Guard. honor was “bittersweet.” Tafanelli previously served as commander “I have really enjoyed representing the of 69th Troop Command and the director of people of my district in the House and to operations for the Kansas Guard. give that up is not easy.” He joined the Kansas Army National Tafanelli received recognition as major Guard in 1980 and was commissioned as a general by the Kansas Senate Jan. 27, second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers 2011. He was sworn in as adjutant general through Pittsburg State University’s Re- Jan. 28 in the Kansas Senate chambers. serve Officer Training Corps program in As adjutant general, Tafanelli will be 1982. Tafanelli has served in a wide variety charged with guiding the preparation and of command and staff positions as a tradi- training of over 7,700 Kansas Army and tional Guardsman, Active Guard and Re- Air National Guard citizen-Soldiers and serve and Active Duty Soldier at the Airmen. As the director of Kansas Emer- company, battalion, brigade, state head- gency Management, he is also responsible quarters and Department of the Army level. for directing and coordinating state and In 2005 he was deployed with the 891st local government agencies when emergen- Engineer Battalion (Combat) in support of cies and natural disasters strike in the state. Operation Iraqi Freedom. Brig. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, adjutant general-select, takes his oath of office Jan. 28, 2011, In addition to the part-time Soldiers and In 1999, Tafanelli received a master’s de- in a brief ceremony in the Kansas Senate Chambers. the oath was adminstered by the Airmen, The Adjutant General’s Depart- gree in Environmental Planning and Man- Honorable Lawton Nuss, chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court. (Photo by Steve ment includes about 2,300 full-time State agement from Kansas State University and Larson, Public Affairs Office) and Federal employees. Tafanelli will also is a 2008 graduate of the U.S. Army War Badge and Air Assault Badge. program coordinator for the National Agri- serve as the director of Homeland Security College. His awards and decorations in- Prior to becoming the adjutant general, cultural Biosecurity Center. for Kansas, where he will work to ensure clude the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Tafanelli was a state representative for the Tafanelli and his wife, Tammy, live in security in the state is a top priority. For Service Medal, Army Commendation 47th District in the Kansas Legislature. He rural Ozawkie with their two children, budgetary and administrative purposes, he Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Global also worked at Kansas State University as a Nicholas and Francesca. is responsible for the Civil Air Patrol. War on Terrorism Medal, Iraq Campaign Tafanelli has been a member of the Medal, Combat Action Badge, Parachutist “Home for the holidays” a dream Kansas sends off third Agribusiness come true for Kansas Soldiers Development Team to Afghanistan By Steve Larson By Steve Larson in Salina. Public Affairs Office “This is the best Christmas Public Affairs Office “This will be the third team we’ve sent It was a holiday story with a Hollywood present we could ever give Members of the Kansas Agribusiness to Afghanistan with this mission,” said ending: Soldiers return home just in time to the families of these fine Development Team #3 Afghanistan re- Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the adjutant gen- for Christmas. ceived a rousing send-off during a deploy- eral. “Our first two teams have made great Approximately 170 Soldiers of the Soldiers.” ment ceremony Nov. 23, 2010, at the strides in building relationships with the Kansas National Guard’s 226th Engineer Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting Kanss State University Recreation Center people of the area, showing them how they Company returned home from Afghanistan Dec. 23, 2010. A brief ceremony was con- can improve their agricultural production of military schedules and the availability of ducted for the Soldiers in Hangar #600 at and, consequently, the quality of their transportation, it was not always certain the Salina Municipal Airport, where lives. I have every confidence that this whether the Soldiers would make it back to throngs of families and friends gave them a team will continue to build on those rela- Kansas in time for the holidays. rousing and heartfelt welcome. tionships and be true mentors to the “This is the best Christmas present we PAID Afghan people.” Given the sometimes changeable nature (Continued on Page 5) PRSRT STD PRSRT SALEM, OR U.S. POSTAGE “There is no one tyrant in Afghanistan, PERMIT NO. 178 PERMIT but there is a tyrannical group there that seeks to not let the Afghan people choose their own way forward,” Bunting told the crowd of family and friends. “So what America has always done is and what Kansas has always done is we find brave men and women that put on the uniform of their country and they go where we send them to do the great work.” “That’s what this third Agribusiness De- velopment Team will do and were im- mensely proud of them,” said Bunting. “A year ago, it seemed like this day was going to be forever coming,” said Lt. Col. Howard Wheeler, commander of the team. “And now… we realize that time has really flown by quickly and we hope that the next year flies by just as quickly.” Wheeler explained the mission of the team is to assist the Afghan people in de- veloping new farming techniques and sus- tainable crops to help improve the Afghan economy. 2800 Topeka Blvd. 2800 Topeka OFFICIAL BUSINESS OFFICIAL “It’s a challenging mission and it needs a Adjutant General of Kansas Topeka, Kansas 66611-1287 Topeka, Penalty For Private Use, $300 Soldiers of the 226th Engineer Company and 891st Engineer Battalion are greeted DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY THE OF DEPARTMENT special team of warriors,” said Wheeler. NATIONAL GUARD OF KANSAS GUARD OF NATIONAL “That special team of warriors stands right by senior leadership of the Kansas National Guard as they step off a jet at the Salina next to you. They’re a team that only the Na- airport Dec. 23, 2010. The Soldiers had been on a one-year mission to Afghanistan. DEPARTMENT AND AIR OF THE ARMY FORCE DEPARTMENT (Continued on Page 13) (Photo by Sharon Watson, Public Affairs Office) Page 2 Plains Guardian • January 2011 Guardsman headed for fourth deployment, second mountaintop Editor’s note: In the September 2010 issue with the only Kansas unit that was immedi- of the Plains Guardian was an article about ately sending troops to the Middle East at Capt. Aaron “Ike” Isaacson and his involve- that time. “He made it clear to them that if ment in an expedition to climb Mount they were going to put him behind a desk, he Lobuche in Nepal with the “Soldiers to the wasn’t going to join.” Summit” program in October 2010. In 2004, Isaacson deployed to Iraq as a Isaacson will be in training throughout member of a U.S. Army Reserve unit from this year for a second climb, this one up Kansas City, Kan. It was there, in the Al Mount Vinson, the highest mountain in Anbar province, that he suffered the first of Antarctica. That climb is scheduled for several serious injuries he would sustain in January 2012, shortly after he returns from the coming years. Those wounds earned him a fourth deployment to Afghanistan. his first Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. Below is an edited version of an article He deployed for a second tour to Iraq, about Isaacson and the Wounded Warrior’s serving with the 2nd Battalion, 137th In- “Soldiers to the Summit” program that ap- fantry in Baghdad as an infantry platoon peared in Foundation’s magazine prior to leader. In 2007, Isaacson deployed for a the 2010 climb. Reprinted by permission. third tour, this time to Afghanistan as a *** *** *** member of Embedded Training Team #4. By Rachel Gladstone, Staff Writer It was there that Isaacson sustained his Foundations magazine third injury and was awarded his second What is it that makes an ordinary man Bronze Star. extraordinary? Is it the way he handles Fortunately, none of Isaacson’s injuries major life events? Or is it something he’s were life threatening. But, their aftermath simply born with? will affect him for the rest of his life. According to those who know him best, “The main thing is that I just can’t hear Capt. Aaron Isaacson proudly displays the United States flag on top of Mount for Capt. Aaron Isaacson of the Kansas people any more. Sometimes that’s good,” Lobuche, Nepal. Isaacson, a member of the Kansas National Guard, climbed the Army National Guard it’s a combination of he laughed, “but most of the time, it’s peak in October 2010 with a group of Wounded Warriors as part of the “Soldiers to these things that make him an exemplary not—especially when I’m spending time the Summit” program.

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