Photo By Lt. Col. Bradford Leighton | Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jeffery Cobble hugs a friend after his Dec. 7 retirement...... read more read more
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Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jeffery Cobble of Plainfield joined the Army in 1986 as a fresh-faced 18-year-old.
“I loved America and wanted to serve,” he said. “But back then I was also thinking that this was a good way to move out of my parents’ house.”
Now, 36 years after the Army helped launch him into adulthood, Cobble has retired with the top-rank achievable in the Army’s Warrant Officer Corps. On December 7, he retired from the military as the Senior Ordnance Ground Maintenance Officer for the Illinois Army National Guard’s G4 (Logistics) Directorate during a ceremony at the Guard’s headquarters on Camp Lincoln in Springfield.
His 36 years of military service, 34 in the Illinois Army National Guard, included more than 16 months in Iraq (January 2005 to May 2006) as the Battalion Maintenance Technician for the 2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment.
Cobble spent his first two years in the active Army as a Light Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic in Germany. He joined the Illinois Army National Guard in April 1988 serving with C Battery, 1st Battalion, 202nd Air Defense Artillery then based in Dixon. After 10 years as an enlisted Soldier, Cobble has been a Warrant Officer for the past 26 years.
Throughout his distinguished career, he has ensured Soldiers have had the equipment and ordnance needed to protect the citizens of Illinois and defend the United States of America. Lt. Col. Tim Barnhart, the Surface Maintenance Manager for the G4 (Logistics) Directorate, credited Cobble with kick-starting the Illinois Army National Guard’s involvement in the Army Award for Maintenance Excellence Program. The Illinois Army National Guard has had great success in the Army-wide program winning multiple national awards in the last few years.
“It has helped increase our readiness and has been great for unit esprit de corps,” Barnhart said.
While he has served in the Illinois Army National Guard, he and his wife, Erin, have enjoyed 28 years of marriage and have seven children: Josiah (26), Justus (24), Elianna (22), Denise (20), Adam (20), Michael (19), and Gideon (14). Erin has homeschooled all of their children.
He has also built a successful civilian career. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Economics with a minor in Business Administration in 1986 from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. He then went on to become an elevator mechanic for 29 years and has been self-employed for the past 18 years.
“If you think of everything that goes into managing a business….and raising seven children…it makes Chief Cobble’s military accomplishments all the more impressive,” Barnhart said. “He is a true Citizen-Soldier.”
Cobble’s other military assignments have included unit maintenance officer for E Co., 634th Brigade Support Battalion based in Joliet from May 2006 to April 2012. He also served some time as E Co.’s Commander. He served as the Senior Ordnance Ground Maintenance Warrant Officer for Headquarters Headquarters Co., 634th Brigade Support Battalion from 2012 to 2016, the 108th Sustainment Brigade's Senior Ordnance Ground Maintenance Warrant Officer from 2016 to 2017 before being promoted to the Senior Ordnance Ground Maintenance Officer for the Illinois Army National Guard’s G4 (Logistics) Directorate.
He has completed multiple military courses throughout his career including multiple noncommissioned officer and warrant officer technical and leadership courses.
His awards include the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, and three Army Achievement Medals, among several others.
He was awarded a second Meritorious Service Medal upon retirement. Cobble echoed what a friend and retired colonel said when people thanked him for his service.
“He said ‘It has been an honor to serve,’” Cobble said. “And it truly has been an honor to serve.”
| Date Taken: | 12.07.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.09.2024 17:17 |
| Story ID: | 487030 |
| Location: | SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, US |
| Hometown: | PLAINFIELD, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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