We salute Kyle Gilliam for his 27 years in the Arkansas National Guard! Kyle is the president of Arvest's Equipment Finance Division in Fort Smith, and he was featured in the Monday Matters article of the Times Record. Next month he will retire from military service.
Here is that article by Rusty Garett as it appeared on the Times Record Online site on Monday, February 21, 2011:
There wasn't a time in his life that Kyle Gilliam did not want to wear the uniform of his country.
His father, Gary Gilliam, was a crew chief with the 188th Fighter Wing.
"I remember seeing my Dad come home from weekends on Guard duty wearing his fatigues," he recalled. "And by the time I was 12 years old, my mind was made up."
On his 17th birthday, the first day he was eligible, he had his parents sign the necessary papers and enlisted in the Arkansas National Guard.
"A lot of people say they sign up for the educational benefits. That was secondary for me," he said. The job was attraction enough.
And through the next 27 years, the job of Guard duty has been a part of his life — a part he has balanced with his civilian career and family life.
One day next month, that part of Gilliam's life will end. He is retiring from military service.
From the time he joined the Guard, Gilliam said its benefits manifested themselves. He said life in uniform introduced him to the discipline and dedication necessary for a successful life.
"Military life makes the maturation process more rapid," he said. "Things you learn, like the chain of command, translate to civilian work. Things I learned in the military have helped me become a better leader."
After basic training, Gilliam enrolled in college at Arkansas Tech University. He graduated with a degree in agricultural business and a minor in marketing. He also furthered his military education, including graduation from the Non-Commissioned Officers Academy and The Community College of the Air Force.
In addition to formal courses and studies, he said military service provided him the opportunity to travel. "I've gone to places I would never have gone to, and some I would never want to," he said.
Deployments to Central America, Europe, the Middle East and numerous locations in the U.S. have all be "eye-opening experiences," which Gilliam said reinforced his belief that "there is nothing like home."
Gilliam began his civilian career in insurance and migrated into banking in 1994. He worked with Merchants Bank and Deposit Guaranty, which became Regions. He worked five years with the Bank of the Ozarks in Little Rock.
In 2007 he joined Arvest Bank, where he was involved in creation of the bank's Equipment Finance Division. He is currently president of that division, which serves all 234 Arvest branches in the Arkansas-Oklahoma-Kansas market that it serves.
Gilliam holds the designation of certified lease professional, a distinction shared with only 182 others in the nation.
Gilliam said working for Arvest has made it easier for him to be in the Guard. He said the bank understands the obligations of military commitment and accommodates its employees who are called to service.
Craig Rivaldo, president of Arvest in Fort Smith, describes Gilliam as one who "has a passion for anything he believes strongly in. He is fond of and proud of his military history and the time he has served, and his passion about that is very obvious."
"He is also passionate about his role as a president of the leasing company for our $11 billion bank group," Rivaldo said. "Anyone who talks to him about leasing will learn he is extremely passionate about that as well."
Gilliam draws the support in his professional life from his family. He and his wife, Jackie, met while they were students at ATU.
The daughter of a career Army officer, Jackie Gilliam said, "My dad was in the military all my life until I went to college." She said she grew up familiar with a military life and how it can impact a family.
In their 20 years of marriage, she said she has accepted "giving him up one weekend a month," and knowing that Kyle can be called up at any minute. "It's a feeling that puts you on edge, and you have to live with that feeling," she said, adding it is one that she will be free of only when she knows he cannot be called again.
"I admire and respect the ladies whose husbands are on active duty," she said. "I feel what they go through all the time."
The couple have a son, Grayson, 17, who attends Union Christian Academy, and a daughter, Madison, who is 14 and attends Greenwood schools. Jackie Gilliam is a kindergarten teacher at Westwood Elementary School in Greenwood.
Gilliam has witnessed a dramatic change in the role of the National Guard through his tenure.
Once a force with a role for "filling in" for full-time, active duty military forces, or as the line of last defense in the event of a Soviet attack, he said the Guard is now an integral part of the nation's military force.
Members of the Guard routinely serve on the front lines in overseas combat zones and protecting our borders, as well as at home.
Gilliam said while Guard members one time counted on monthly weekend drills and two weeks of service during the summer, they are routinely called for more than that now.
"You're going to be deployed, probably every couple of years," he said. "There is nothing wrong with it. It is just a different mindset."
Facing a different type of service, Gilliam said, today's Guard members are challenged to maintain optimal physical condition, something that previously had not been emphasized as much.
Gilliam's most recent duty assignment has been with the 188th Fighter Wing in Fort Smith. He has been operations superintendent with the Civil Engineering Squadron. Prior to that he was assigned to the Joint Forces Headquarters, located at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock. His duties there were as liaison for the Air National Guard safety program.
He holds the rank of master sergeant.
Lt. Col. Vincent Langdon, 188th Force Support Squadron Commander, calls Gilliam "an outstanding example of what today's citizen soldier is all about."
Col. Tom Anderson, wing commander of the 188th, also referred to Gilliam's citizen solider status, a role Anderson said requires the difficult balance of family, employer and the military.
"He excelled at everything he did and helped the 188th accomplish its mission," Anderson said.
Gilliam said he is "humbled" by the accolades his retirement is attracting. "So many have done so much more than I have," he said. He said he decided against any formal retirement ceremony. He already has received a framed certificate denoting his time of service.
Gilliam, who is 43, said finding himself with just one full-time job, he intends to spend his newfound leisure time sharpening his pilot skills in a recently acquired Piper Archer, and taking more frequent trips to a family beach house at Gulf Shores.
"I'm going to miss the people," he said of his Guard comrades. "They are like family to me. We have a special bond."
He said the National Guard offers "a diversity of people out there. We've got attorneys, plumbers, bankers, all who come together and work toward a single mission — the service and defense of our country. That's what makes it work."