South Dakota Army National Guard Sgt. Tashie Moore, 24, of Lenox, S.D., an administative specialist with the 88th Troop Support Command based in Brookings, SD, with Army National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. A. Frank Lever III. Moore had just received a coin for excellence which Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Lever presented to her when he learned she had postponed her studies one course shy of graduation at the University of South Dakota to help support troops during the War on Terrorism.

Challenging those who erroneously claim today’s young troops serving in the U.S. military only joined the armed forces for college-education benefits, South Dakota Army National Guard Sgt. Tashie Moore, 24, of Lenox, S.D., rejects the speculations of those so-called pundits.

As the War on Terrorism continues here at home and overseas, the South Dakota Army National Guard mobilized or deployed 55 percent of the state’s total Army National Guard force. As a result, many critical job skills have been left vacant in the state National Guard because of the more than 1,660 citizen-soldiers who answered their nation’s call to arms.

Although Moore had only one more class to complete her double history and political science bachelor’s degree at the University of South Dakota at Vermillion, she temporarily stalled her ambitions to earn her diploma and instead volunteered her services as a temporary-personnel technician to help “backfill” or replace departed troops in the South Dakota Army National Guard’s 88th Troop Command headquartered in Brookings.

“I wouldn’t have felt right with myself if I didn’t delay my studies and step in and do the job for the National Guard,” Moore said. “I’m on the best and biggest team in the Army and it feels good to be a part of that. The place where I am now, I wouldn’t trade it for the world,”

Not only did Moore make a selfless decision, she said her husband Chris Moore is just as much a part of the National Guard as she is, even though he does not serve the in the military.

“He’s very proud of me,” Moore said of her supportive spouse. “It’s a commitment on his part. When I enlisted, he enlisted too.”

Hailing from the same home state as Tom Brokaw, a renowned network television news anchor and author of the best-selling book: “The Greatest Generation”, Moore scoffs at the notion that today’s military troops are somehow “too educated” to carry out the hard chores involved in engaging and pressing into deadly combat with the enemy.

Instead, she counters that today’s high-tech weaponry and communications equipment make it necessary for troops to be smarter than ever, while sophisticated and ever-evolving military tactics also make it important for troops to constantly train and educate themselves.

“The military is the most highly educated it has ever been. And I don’t see it going backward anytime soon because we’re so high tech and we’re constantly moving forward,” Moore said, adding today’s all-volunteer force is again proving their mettle here on Homeland Defense and on the battlefields overseas.

“Whether you’re a private or a colonel, everybody plays a part and that fosters a sense that we’re a big family. My civilian friends think what we’re doing is awesome,” Moore added. “The people that are in now are willing to lay it all on the line for the country and the least the government can do is offer them some educational benefits.”

Army National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. A. Frank Lever III, visiting South Dakota from the Army Guard’s Readiness Center headquartered in Arlington, Va., agreed with Moore’s assertions.

Representing some 350,000 Army Guard enlisted troops nationwide (of which more than one-third are presently mobilized or deployed), Lever recently attended a South Dakota National Guard Annual Enlisted Conference in Rapid City to serve as keynote speaker. Lever said take-offs on Brokaw’s book “The Greatest Generation” concerning the World War II-era generation will likely see future works appearing about today’s National Guard troops entitled: “The Latest, Greatest Generation”.

Pointing toward swift military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, Lever said he believes “The Greatest Generation” has officially passed the torch to people like Moore. Recognizing Moore’s selfless service to the country by foregoing completing her college degree to immediately serve her country, Lever presented Moore with the much-coveted Command Sergeant Major coin, a military symbol recognizing National Guard-service excellence.

Despite having to miss out on completing her final college class, Moore fervently maintains that well-educated and well-trained troops equal more-efficient warfighting soldiers.

“Educational benefits attract quality people who care about each other and the jobs they’re doing,” she added. “You’re getting people who are motivated and want to better themselves.”

United States Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., recently speaking to South Dakota Guard troops and retirees at the Rapid City conference, said that apart from continuing to offer educational benefits for National Guard citizen-soldiers and airmen, many congressional initiatives in Washington, D.C., propose increasing other benefits of membership, such as tax breaks and increased health care for deployed Guard troops and their families.

“It goes without saying we are extremely proud of our South Dakota Army National Guard and the more than 4,500 serving as volunteers,” Johnson added. There’s not shortage of applause or salutes for the entire National Guard.”

Some may worry that many returning troops from overseas and Homeland Defense missions will be exiting en masse from the Guard because of the seemingly endless sacrifices they have been asked to make on behalf of the country. In spite of the tens of thousands of National Guard men and women who left behind their families, careers, educations and communities, Moore, a more than six-year-veteran who recently re-enlisted in the National Guard, said unfaltering loyalty to the Army National Guard should win the day.

“They’re not staying in the Guard because the money is great. They’re not in it for the money. It’s because they feel they need to do it for their community, state and country, and because they enjoy doing it,” Moore said. “Serving in the National Guard means for me what I feel inside – the people are all-volunteer and the people want to be here.”

“The Guard does everything the active-duty military does, but I think we do even more. I’m serving my community, state and country, and they’ve been very good to me,” she added.