Photo By Sgt. 1st Class James McGuire | Brig. Gen. Mount reminisces about his Army career and time in South Korea as he...... read more read more
On a mild Sunday afternoon in March, Brig. Gen. Steven Mount, commander of the Wyoming Army National Guard, sat at a picnic table in Yongsan, South Korea. After 42 years in the United States Army, Mount will retire in May. And he’s culminating his four-decade long career with one last assignment around the world, to a culture he has become intimately familiar with during his lifelong tour.
Mount began his career in 1974, enlisting into active duty right at the end of the Vietnam War. The military was a family business, as he followed in his father’s footsteps, and his grandfather’s before him.
He was assigned to Company H, 1st Battalion, 3rd US Infantry Regiment (the Old Guard), but eventually left active duty, taking a short separation. He said he learned very valuable lessons during those early days as an enlisted soldier.
“You can’t worry about the next promotion,” he said. “You’ve got to worry about, ‘What do I need to do, am I doing it to the best of my abilities, and am I doing what the organization needs me to do?’ And if you focus on that, the promotions will come. That’s been my philosophy, just do what you need to do, take the hard jobs, take the hard assignments that nobody else wants, and you’ll do fine.”
During his break from the military, Mount found himself missing the camaraderie of the Army. Five years after leaving, he enlisted again, this time into the Wyoming Army National Guard’s B Battery, 3rd Battalion, 49th Field Artillery, in 1982.
After graduating from the Wyoming Military Academy in 1984, Mount was assigned as the communications platoon leader in that unit. His career has included a number of command positions in Wyoming field artillery units, as well as garrison commander of the Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center. He also continued to expand his education, earning his bachelor’s degree from Liberty University, in Virginia, and his master’s in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.
Currently, the general is serving in a dual status assignment as the Wyoming National Guard Assistant Adjutant General – Army, and the wartime deputy chief of staff of operations for Eighth United States Army, in South Korea. It is this last title that brought Mount to the Yongsan picnic table.
“My experience here in Korea has been very rewarding,” he said. “I’ve gotten to know a lot of Korean officers and serve with them in a four-star (general) headquarters. Being able to operate at that level is something not every soldier gets to do.”
Mount’s first assignment in Korea was in 1987. Wyoming already had a rich history in the region, dating back to the Wyoming National Guard’s 300th Armored Field Artillery’s long list of combat honors earned during the Korean War. Mount said the soldiers of the 300th helped build a lasting relationship with Korea and he was honored to help advance it.
“It’s just a fascinating area,” he said. “When you think about the Korean War and what it’s meant, with the 300th AFA having done such a stellar job while they were here. I’m proud of our connections with Korea. And I’m very proud of the fact I was able to reconnect Korea with the Wyoming National Guard.”
Despite his impending retirement, Mount is still invested in a future relationship between Wyoming and Korea. He said he looks forward to seeing his work continued after his exit.
“My hopes are we will continue to maintain that connection,” he said, “because this is one of the most important areas of the world right now, as far as the Pacific Rim goes.”
Sitting at that picnic table, the mild early March weather was more typical of what Wyoming’s temperature will be when, in May, Mount will hang up his Army boots. He said it began to dawn on him as he goes through some of the daily motions that soldiers tend to take for granted. Like many things, this assignment will be his last.
“It’s probably a good way to end my career. It’s a good way to go out,” he sighed heavily. “It’s like everything else, when I took my last PT test, it was hard to register. When I did my last weigh-in, when I did my last (periodic health assessment). Everything right now, I’m doing is my last.”
But Mount said he knows that he is making the right call.
“My mentors, when they retired, I always asked them, ‘How do you know when it’s time?’ And they always told me, ‘You’ll know.’ And they were right,” he chuckled. “This is a young person’s game. I’ll be 60 this year. And I’m very pleased with where I’m at.
“This is the natural evolution of a soldier’s career. I know I’ll be even more sentimental in two months. Right now, I’m more excited, because it’s a new phase of my life I’m getting ready to step in to.”
| Date Taken: | 04.06.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 04.06.2016 16:18 |
| Story ID: | 194591 |
| Location: | YONGSAN GARRISON, KR |
| Web Views: | 130 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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