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Ralph Gauer Named Jefferson Award Winner
Posted: 1:37 PM Dec 14, 2005
Last Updated: 1:37 PM Dec 14, 2005
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Col. Ralph C. Gauer, US Army Retired, is currently the President of the Fort Hood Chapter of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), an unpaid, volunteer position. AUSA exists to speak for the US Army - the entire Army - Active, Reserve, National Guard, Officer, NCO, Enlisted and Retired, plus the Army’s family members, civilian employees and the business communities most affected by the Army’s presence in their midst.
In this past year (July, 2002-June, 2003), the Fort Hood chapter, under Gauer’s leadership, earned AUSA’s highest award for conducting the association’s best General Membership meeting and another for its growth in Government Civilian Membership. The chapter also earned an AUSA national “Runner Up” designation for its pursuit of AUSA objectives and a wide variety of Honorable Mention or Commendable Performance designations for overall chapter performance, overall membership growth, retiree membership growth, corporate membership growth, chapter newsletter and level of corporate member support – all part of the national association’s evaluation of performance at each of its 129 worldwide chapters.
Referring to the General Membership Award, Gauer recently commented that, “In February 2003, we had country singer and song writer Larry Gatlin, Congressman Chet Edwards and III Corps Commanding General LTG Thomas Metz, all on a program we’d titled “Our Soldiers Our Neighbors Our Freedom.” That gave rise to our “Stand Up and Thank Them Now” campaign (title taken from a Larry Gatlin song) that raised over $50,000 to support Fort Hood soldiers and their families. Gauer passed the praise to his team, “In any volunteer organization, it takes a team effort and we have a great regional team, including our regional chambers of commerce that have always been there to help. That’s what local AUSA is all about.”
Gauer produced and hosted the “Our Soldiers, Our Neighbors, Our Freedom” program for departing 4th Infantry Division soldiers. A logical outgrowth of the “Stand Up and Thank Them Now” campaign boosted by a massive television campaign was AUSA’s Adopt-A-Unit project.
The public service campaign was led by III Corps & Fort Hood Commanding General Thomas Metz at the request of Gauer. More than 100 businesses, churches and civic organizations have adopted units to date. The adoption is designed to provide a personal link to the soldiers serving our country overseas and a support arm for their families back home. Each adopting organization responds to the commitment in a different way. Some churches have hosted pot luck dinners for soldier families, others have launched letter writing campaigns to the soldiers, and some are providing direct services to the families of the soldiers in their adopted units.
February 16th Gauer again personally produced and hosted “Our Soldiers, Our Neighbors, Our Freedom” to rally support for departing 1st Cavalry Division soldiers. The rally, under the leadership of Gauer, was seen on two local television stations, a statewide cable network and portions of it were carried by CNN. All orchestrated by Gauer to bring attention to our soldiers and their families.
Lt. Colonel John Stanford of the Texas National Guard writes, “ Ralph Gauer has been an exemplary supporter of the Texas National Guard for over a decade. His support has been instrumental in securing increased protections and benefits for National Guard soldiers and airmen.”
Gauer also serves as Vice Chairman of the Texas Strategic Military Planning Commission. Commission members are appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry and volunteer to advise him on critical issues impacting the vast resources of the military installations based in Texas.
To provide some idea of the sheer size of the task Gauer has undertaken with his commitment to soldiers, it is important to know Fort Hood, with 42,000 soldiers and 9,600 civilian employees, is the largest single site employer in the state of Texas. Fort Hood’s FY ‘03 budget totals $2.923.3 billion dollars. Fort Hood is home to the III Armored Corps (nicknamed the “Phantom Corps”). The corps, with 67,500 active duty soldiers and 25,000 vehicles, makes up 37% of the Army’s total active component ground combat power. Two thirds of that power is stationed at Fort Hood, with the rest at five other US installations.
Gauer’s commitment to soldiers, their families and the community of Central Texas is best demonstrated by the letters we received ranging from the Commanding General of III Corps and Fort Hood, who has recently deployed as the Deputy Commander/Allied Forces Iraq, to the national president of AUSA, to US Congressman Chet Edwards, to State Representative Diane White Delisi, to his wife who is Mayor of Harker Heights, a Fort Hood suburb.
No single person has done more to rally the civilian community surrounding Fort Hood in support of our soldiers and their families during the difficult time of deployment in defense of our nation’s freedom that Ralph C. Gauer. His life is committed to supporting today’s American soldier and his/her family.
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