“That was what General [David] Petraeus told them,” the chief of the Army Reserve said in an interview on the Capitol grounds.

Speaking on the West Lawn of the Capitol with its view of the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, shortly before another re-enlistment ceremony involving 100 hand-picked soldiers, representing every state and territory, to mark the Army Reserve’s Centennial April 23 began, he said, “They are warrior citizens, school teachers, policemen, doctors, nurses who stepped forward and said, ‘I love my country and I want to do something more.’”

Stultz said that Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin, whose remains were found recently in Iraq and had been listed as missing in action for several years, “represents what the Army Reserve is all about.
He was in college, very bright, enlisted and deployed” with his transportation unit to Iraq in 2004, He put everything on hold to serve his country.” Adding, “His brother felt the same way, enlisted in the Marine Corps.”

Looking at the soldiers assembling to his side, Stultz said, “It’s the highest quality force we have ever had.

In a similar way to the soldiers, “families are sacrificing too. They have to put everything on hold as well. Wife has to take on a whole new set of responsibilities -- the husband’s now the cook, the laundryman.”

He thanked employers for also stepping up in the interview and his address “when I say I need this warrior for a year. They say: ‘Go We’re lucky.’”

In his address, Stultz called the soldiers heroes and reminded the audience of family members, military leaders and members of Congress that 193,000 Army Reserve soldiers have been mobilized since the terrorist attacks upon the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

“We are so blessed as a nation” to have warrior-citizens, such as the 160 medical professionals who joined the Army Reserve 100 years ago to the more than 200,000 men and women serving in it today.

“They are the next greatest generation,” he said of the soldiers serving today.

Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth Preston, whose son recently re-enlisted as a military policeman in an Army Reserve company, said in an interview before the ceremony, “The professionalism is so evident. First off, you don’t notice a difference, whether the soldier is from the active, reserve or guard. They are very proud of their units and what they do with soldiers.”

“Working with soldiers is what these NCOs love. You can see it every day. One of my great challenges is keeping these great NCOs in [Army] boots,” Command. Sgt. Maj. Leon Caffie of the Army Reserve said. “These are the future leaders of the Army Reserve.”

After the ceremony, Rep. Chet Edward, D-Texas, chairman of the House Military Construction and Veterans’ Appropriations Subcommittee, said, “The symbolism of this event is amazing.”
Looking toward the Capitol from the audience, the ranks of soldiers where the soldiers stood before having their names called to come to the stage and be presented with their re-enlistment papers from Stultz and coins from Preston and Caffie, was a clear view of the Capitol Dome on a beautiful spring day.

“It was a moving ceremony and reminds legislators of the sacrifices our soldiers – active, guard and reserve – are making every day,” Edwards said.