Photo By Joseph Siemandel | Command Sgt. Major Brian Rikstad addresses the audience during his retirement ceremony...... read more read more
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Command Sgt. Maj. (Ret) Brian Rikstad says he feels most at home on the water.
“I totally love the ocean,” Rikstad said. “I did some commercial fishing with my uncle in the summers. I worked for the department of fish and wildlife, worked for fish hatcheries in Oregon. When the military gave me my money for college, I went to Grays Harbor College for Marina Biology. The Guard was a great avenue to pursue that.”
Rikstad joined the Washington Army National Guard in 1982 and served the state for more than 40 years before retiring on Oct. 14, 2022 in a ceremony at the Army Aviation Sustainment Facility on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
“I walked out of my 10th grade English class and that is where I met my recruiter,” said Rikstad.
While young Brian was interested in helicopters following the Mount St. Helens response, his first unit was the 803rd Armor out of Port Orchard. There he got to work on the M60 tank as tank crew member while going to school at Grays Harbor College.
“Those were rough years,” Rikstad remembered. “We trained hard, show up to drill on Friday nights, rack out at the armory or on the tank for a couple hours and then train for a couple days and then back to work Monday morning. I was in Port Orchard for 17 years as a part-time National Guard reservist.”
Those years traveling to drill from school and work, as a part-time National Guard member, is where Rikstad credits really learning and growing as a leader in the Washington Army National Guard.
“I had the transmission on my car go out, so I called the unit and let them know I was having car trouble. The readiness said he didn’t care, you need to get to drill, so I rucked up and started walking,” said Rikstad.
From his house in Aberdeen to Port Orchard would be a hefty walk, so Rikstad began hitchhiking. He was picked up right away by a Marine reservist who was going to Bremerton for his drill, however was still late to first formation.
“I started talking to Sgt. 1st Class John Witt, he was my platoon sergeant, he was counseling me for being late and as we were talking he realized where I was in life. He stopped and said you hitch hiked here, told him it was all I got,” said Rikstad. “He drove me home that Sunday, so I didn’t have to hitchhike. The next drill he called me and asked me if I was good to go to drill, which I wasn’t, so he picked me up that next Saturday and then offered to help get my car fixed.”
Rikstad says leaders like that helped him develop his own leadership style.
“That was probably one of my greatest memories of what real leadership looked like,” said Rikstad.
As the 81st Armor Brigade Combat Team ramped up for deployment in 2003, Rikstad was offered the first opportunity that would define the second half of his career.
“I was the working staff in the 81st headquarters, operations section, and as we got to Fort Lewis they asked me to be the first sergeant for the 281st Military Intelligence Company,” said Rikstad. “I was like whoa, I am a tanker. Command Sgt. Maj. Ohler was like I don’t care, just make sure they point the weapons in the right direction.”
That opportunity led Rikstad to take more leadership opportunities in the 1st Squadron, 303rd Cavalry Regiment, 96th Aviation Troop Command and the Joint Operations Center working domestic operations.
“It was crazy because I remember it was 1981 when I talked with the recruiter. Then in April 1982 I joined the Guard. But [40 years later] it all went back to those helicopters, hearing about them flying down in the Toutle River Valley saving those people, that was the reason I joined the Guard, to help people,” Rikstad said.
Rikstad has spent the last 15 years working in the Joint Operations Center both in a part-time and a full-time capacity. Through numerous domestic operations, late night phone calls after an emergency happens or answering hard phone calls following the passing of fellow Guard members, he believes it is one of the most important missions in the organization.
“The JOC is a real mission,” Rikstad said. “The guys, technicians and soldiers, pour their heart into the domestic mission. If those guys weren’t there, answering the call, activating the airmen and soldiers for domestic operations, it all starts there, those soldiers in there are absolutely amazing.”
After a storied 40 years in uniform, Rikstad will continue to give time through his wood working business to benefit numerous non-profit service member’s groups.
“I want to still support our veterans and our service members,” he said.
He is also ready to return to his first love – the water.
“Plan to do some fishing. I bought a boat in 2015, and only has 10 hours on the motors so I’ll make time for that.”
He also knows he needs to return lost time to the people that mean the most to him.
“I owe my children time, I owe my wife Brian,” said Rikstad. “After all these years, I am not going to go back to work, I want to give my time to them.”
| Date Taken: | 10.20.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 10.20.2022 17:02 |
| Story ID: | 431742 |
| Location: | CAMP MURRAY, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 402 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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