Walnut Hill man achieves rank of Sgt. Maj.
Published 4:13 pm Monday, February 23, 2009
By By MaryClaire Foster
Timothy Adams, recently achieved what less than one percent of people in the military ever can.
The Walnut Hill, Fla. resident was recently promoted to the rank of sergeant major in the U.S. Army.
Adams joined the Army in 1976 and later switched to the Army Reserve, from there he stands where he is today bearing the title of the highest enlisted rank.
Adams, who moved to Walnut Hill in 1999, was promoted Jan. 30 during a ceremony at Fort Belvoir, Va., where he is serving his third year of a mobilization with the Department of Defense Criminal Investigation Task Force (CITF).
The Task Force, which was established in 2002 following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, is a unique multi-service organization that conducts criminal investigations of suspected terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Adams has served 25 years in the Army, 10 on active duty and 15 in the Reserves, taking a break from the service from 1980-89. He has been on active duty since 2003 and was with another unit before joining CITF.
At his current assignment with CITF, Adams serves as the Task Force’s senior enlisted advisor.
He said he enjoys serving as the senior enlisted advisor because it is challenging and gives him an opportunity to make a difference, and to have some impact.
He said it is this caretaking aspect that he likes best about his job.
About 90 people, including Adams’ wife, Glenda, an Army veteran whom he met while they were both on active duty in Hawaii, attended his promotion ceremony.
Adams has been promoted six times since joining the Army, but said his latest promotion was particularly significant because it represented the last time he had a chance at a promotion ceremony to publicly thank his wife for her support throughout his Army career.
Lt. Cmdr. Kyra Hawn is the deputy public affairs officer for the CITF and said she has been to many milestone event ceremonies for members of the military, but rarely sees the public display of gratitude, like Adams showed his wife.
Col. Mark C. Darden, CITF’s commander, said Adams achieved his rank not only because of his work ethic, but also because of who he is as a person.
Adams’ military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal; Army Commendation Medal, with three oak leaf clusters, and the Army Achievement Medal, with three oak leaf clusters.
Adams and his wife have two sons, Benjamin, who served in the Air Force for six years and now works as an intelligence analyst, and Caleb, who is completing his high school education in Virginia and plans to join the Air Force in the fall. They also have a daughter-in-law, Marie, and two granddaughters, Sydney, 10, and Daisy, 2.
Adams said he and his wife plan to return to Walnut Hill, where she is originally from, when he retires.
Adams said he plans on and looks forward to being an active member of the community upon his return.
Adams is set to retire in March of 2011.