“It’s fitting,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Matthew Strasser, the Command Senior Enlisted Leader of the Iowa National Guard. “We all knew he would do this just because of who he is.”
The Strasser brothers, Matthew and Jeremy grew up in the church. Their father, Gary, gave them a standard that must have been met. Work hard, pray, and be good to others. Gary ended up serving 38 years in the Iowa National Guard, mainly in the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division. He spent 6 years as Troop B’s first sergeant.
Between God and Country, Matthew and Jeremy had a lot to look up to in their father. At 17, Matthew brought home recruiting paperwork. He wanted to join as soon as he could, but needed parental permission. To Matthew’s surprise, his father wouldn’t sign.
“I told them they had to wait to make their decisions,” said Gary. “I had Soldiers
that came back from training who decided they didn’t want to be in the military anymore. I told
them they couldn’t get in until they were 18 and then, they could make their decisions.”
Matthew joined the Iowa National Guard as a Cavalry Scout in 1993, and he was placed in the same unit as his father, Troop B. Jeremy joined just two years later in 1995 with the same job and unit.
The theme of Christianity and family held true throughout the Strasser family’s combined 103 years of service. In Gary’s 2003-2004 deployment to Kosovo, he developed a deep relationship with the unit’s chaplain.
“I wanted to keep him in my back pocket,” Gary said.
Jeremy felt the call to military ministry while he and Matthew were serving in Afghanistan in 2010-2011. He knew that he could use his experiences from tours in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan to minister to other Soldiers and their families. His journey to answering the call included earning a baccalaureate degree in psychology and a Master of Divinity degree from Liberty University.
There has always been some sibling rivalry between Matthew and Jeremy, being in the same unit and job position, comparison followed them. Matthew was selected to serve as the Command Sergeant Major of the “Ryder Brigade” in 2017.
He never imagined that just four years later, he would pass responsibility for 2/34 IBCT to his younger brother, Jeremy, in 2021. The Red Bull Division means a lot to the Strasser family. It was an emotional ceremony, with family, friends, peers and leaders. Matthew then assumed the highest ranking enlisted position in the Iowa National Guard, advising The Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard and overseeing all enlisted Soldiers within the organization.
“When we knew this was going to happen, the first thought that went through my head was, ‘Dad’s going to really love this ceremony,’” Jeremy said.
The success of the Ryder Brigade has had some dependance on the Strasser family for over 40 years.
“You have to remember that each one of those 4,100 Soldiers are a person, not just a number,” Jeremy said. “That’s a person who has people that rely on them and love them.”
“Jeremy has had, just that different calling to him,” said Matthew. “And we’ve seen it for years: this was the path he’d take eventually.”
On March 8, 2024, fourteen years after feeling called to military ministry, Jeremy Strasser took a leap of faith, changing career paths from Brigade Sgt. Maj. to Chaplain (1LT) in the Virginia National Guard. His family had moved there two years earlier, and this was the right choice for his family and for his faith.
“He’s going to be able to do even more Soldier care by spreading God’s word,” said Gary.
“There isn’t a command team at the Battalion, Brigade, or Division level that won’t look at me and say, ‘hey, you’re not a young lieutenant,’” said Jeremy. “But when they look at my packet, they’ll say, ‘oh, wait a minute, he’s got five deployments, he’s been to Iraq, he’s been to Afghanistan, he’s done the things, we can trust him.’”
Jeremy is now assigned to the 229th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 29th Infantry Division in Virginia.
“Right away I’ll be able to jump in and start using the experiences I’ve had - deploying,”
Jeremy said. “I’m going to stay at the Battalion level as long as possible because that’s where a lot of good ministry happens, in the foxholes and vehicles with Soldiers.”
(U.S. Army National Guard story by Staff Sgt. Rachel I. White)
| Date Taken: | 04.06.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.08.2024 16:38 |
| Story ID: | 484995 |
| Location: | JOHNSTON, IOWA, US |
| Web Views: | 27 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Sergeant Major to Lieutenant: A Leap of Faith, by SSG Rachel White, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
