North Dakota National Guard Says Goodbye and Good Luck to a 40+ - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

  It was 1972 -- the year of the Munich Olympics terrorist attack, Watergate and anti-war demonstrations across the country.  It was also the year Command Sergeant Major Dan Job joined the U.S. Army -- and later, the North Dakota National Guard.

  After more than 40 years of service, over 200 people, including North Dakota National Guardsmen, gathered to say thank you, goodbye and good luck to one of their own.  However, for Command Sergeant Major Job, it's always about others -- and that's what he'll miss most of all.  "It's the people.  And that's really a big part of my job is dealing with people; working with people.  So at the end of the day, I'll miss the people," says Job.

In fact, for every 10,000 citizens in North Dakota, 65 serve in the North Dakota National Guard -- a rate more than four times the national average.  When asked why North Dakotans are so over-represented nationally, Command Sergeant Major Job had a ready reply:  "If you look at North Dakotans, if you look at their background, how they're brought up, the educational process, ethics, morals, values -- we just have that.  That's something that's been bred into us for many, many years.  And it's carried on as a tradition."

Among Job's many key positions, he served as the Command Sergeant Major for the 142nd Engineer Combat Battalion when the unit was deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Assuming Command Sergeant Major Job's duties is Chief Master Sergeant James Gibson, a 32-year veteran of the North Dakota Air National Guard.