By Timothy Hale
RALEIGH, N.C. – Nearly 500 guests were on hand to honor Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz and his wife, Laura, on June 8, 2012 at the Raleigh Convention Center, on the eve of his change of command ceremony.
The Stultz’s have been the husband and wife command team for the U.S. Army Reserve for the past six years.
During this time, the general and his wife have touched the lives of thousands of soldiers, their families and civilians who serve across the command.
“It is a military family,” he said. “We’re all part of the Army whether you wear the uniform, or you’re the spouse of a soldier, or you’re a civilian supporting the Army, or part of that community out there that supports us.”
He said the last six years serving as the Chief of the Army Reserve was the “best job, and I got to share with the love of my life.”
While Stultz was taking care of military matters, testifying before Congress and visiting Army Reserve soldiers all around the world, Mrs. Stultz became a champion for the families of those he was leading.
“I felt like it was my patriotic, moral (duty) to take the family message to the people that could make a difference,” she said, fighting back tears.
She called it her “mission late in life” adding that their children were grown when her husband took command.
“This was something that I just felt had to be done,” she said.
Maj. Gen. Keith L. Thurgood, USARC chief of staff, served as host for the evening. He kept the evening’s festivities light, telling Mrs. Stultz the Army Reserve was returning her husband "fully mission capable” to spend time with their grandchildren and start working on that honey-do list.
“The calendar is empty,” Thurgood continued. “And for a change, you’ll actually have him home for Thanksgiving and Christmas,” he said, referring to the many holiday trips Stultz took to visit with Army Reserve soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Stultz retires next month after 38 years of service to the nation.