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Officer credits hometown values for success
FORT GORDON, Georgia -- He didn't know it at the time, but an Army major was cultivating qualities that would serve him for a lifetime when he was growing up in McCook.
"The small town values of McCook are very similar to the Army values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage," Major Jim Rye said from Fort Gordon, Georgia, where he is preparing to graduate from the Army's Intermediate Level Education school.
"At the time, I might have called it 'ways not to get grounded,' but looking back now, I see it as the values of honor and integrity I was learning," he said.
Jim grew up working for his parents, David and Valerie Rye at Rye Printing, became starting point guard for the Bison basketball team, and after graduating from McCook High School in 1992, joined the Army ROTC program at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. In 1996, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and started his military career.
"I honestly felt that when I wore the Bison uniform, I represented the students in the school, the basketball team and the community as a whole."
"To me, being a member of the Army is about being a part of the best team in the world. As a soldier, I feel it is my responsibility and moral obligation to represent the Army in such a way as to bring pride to the uniform," Rye said.
He's had a chance to do that in many different parts of the United States as well as twice in Iraq (2005-06 and 2010), Afghanistan once, in 2008, and Bosnia once, 1997.
He has earned two Bronze Stars, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, two Army Commendation Medal, the Joint Service Achievement medal, two Army Achievement Medals, the Army Superior Unit Award, the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Bosnia-Herzegovina), the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Armed Forces Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with M Device, the NATO Medal (Afghanistan), the NATO Medal (Bosnia.)
Rye's current effort at ILE school is to complete the common-core curriculum and the required career field, branch and functional area training and education. The ILE's mission statement is to "prepare field grade officers with a warrior ethos and warfighting focus for leadership in Army, joint, multinational and interagency organizations executing full-spectrum operations.
Rye said he feels society needs to be able to look at the military as beyond reproach and hold the military to higher standards.
"Today, as members of the 1 percent of the United States population that is currently serving, it is our responsibility that we ensure the legacy of our military remains as esteemed as our past military brothers and sisters."
"The Army is not a 9-5 job; it is a calling; a culture and a profession that many of our brothers and sisters have given their lives to support ... our great nation," he said.
The McCook community was responsible for laying the strong foundation needed for me to succeed in the military," Maj. Rye said. "I was able to look around the community at many responsible, hard-working men and women who may have not known they were positively impacting my life.
Their strong work ethic, community pride and willingness to stand up for what they believed in are qualities I learned from living in the community. As a member of the military, I feel I cannot be driven by financial gains, but by intangible qualities I learned in McCook such as sense of community, camaraderie and the honor of service. To me, there is no greater honor than representing McCook and being an important member in the greatest army in the world."