Retiring Colonel Concludes 'Amazing' Career Ride

By Ms. Kari Hawkins (AMCOM)April 27, 2016

AWARDING WIFE FOR SUPPORT
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Col. Karl Stahlecker's wife, Tracey, is awarded the Lady of Loreto from the Army Aviation Association of America during his husband's retirement ceremony April 22, 2016, at Redstone Arsenal, Ala. The award was presented by Brig. Gen. Bob Marion, prog... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
RETIRING OFFICER
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Col. Karl Stahlecker receives his Legion of Merit from Brig. Gen. Bob Marion, the program executive officer for Aviation, during his retirement ceremony April 22 at Redstone Arsenal, Ala. Stahlecker has 35-plus years of service with the Alaska Army N... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- Admitting he's not a "natural military officer" and recalling the learning curves to become a helicopter mechanic, a maintenance test pilot and an acquisition officer as well as a husband and father, Col. Karl Stahlecker told well-wishers at his retirement ceremony April 22 that he is grateful for those who have helped him during a 35-plus-year Army career.

With the happy-go-lucky, humorous attitude he is known for, Stahlecker reflected on each of his professional and personal challenges toward success with a simple, "That's okay."

During his retirement ceremony at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.'s Bob Jones Auditorium, Stahlecker said his 24 years as an Alaska National Guard enlisted Soldier and then aviation officer, and then his 10 years as an active duty officer at Redstone Arsenal was "just an amazing ride" with opportunities he had never imagined and great people whom he will always be proud to have worked with.

In the audience with his wife Tracey, daughter Tekla and other family members, was Tekla's seventh-grade class from Grace Lutheran School. Stahlecker joked with the class, telling them he had learned from their teacher that they would each have to write a 20-page paper on their civics field trip to Redstone Arsenal.

Stahlecker comes from a military family, with his father having served as a chief warrant officer 2, flying Huey helicopter gunships in Vietnam, and his older uncle killed in the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

"This family understands the high price of freedom, and the commitments and sacrifices families make for that freedom," said Brig Gen. Bob Marion, the program executive officer for Aviation, who officiated at the ceremony.

Stahlecker grew up in Michigan, attended college to be an engineer and then moved to Alaska to work in construction. He enlisted in the Army in 1981 to be a helicopter mechanic, serving in the ranks from private to sergeant, and then from first lieutenant to colonel in the course of his Army career. He attended Officer Candidate School in 1986, followed by Rotary Wing Flight School to be an aviation officer.

"Twelve grades in 35 years. That's a heck of an accomplishment for anybody. He has had a unique path in service," Marion said.

Among his greatest accomplishments, Stahlecker said, was the nine years it took to convince his wife to marry him and then being the father of a teenager while in his mid-50s. But, Marion said his professional accomplishments are also impressive.

Stahlecker came to Redstone in 2005 to serve in the Program Executive Office for Aviation in the UH-60 Black Hawk project management office, assisting with aviation brigade deployments. He then had various assignments in reset at the Aviation and Missile Command before spending the last one-plus years of his career back at PEO-Aviation as a special projects officer.

"The Army has a mandate to be audit ready by the end of this year, financially and with property," Marion said. "The financial part we'll get. But the hard part, especially in this business, is the property. Every piece of equipment the Army and the PEO has bought and used anywhere in the world has to be tracked."

Stahlecker has been working toward the 100-percent audit goal for the PEO, establishing the PEOs one standard tool for property accountability and establishing the way the PEO will value its property.

It's been Stahlecker's "mission to solve that tough problem for PEO-Aviation with very little guidance from the Army on how to do it," Marion said. "It's a monumental task that I was concerned about last year. Now, I'm confident that we have the best answer that is humanly possible. And, that's all because of what Karl came up with as a vision and what his team is implementing today."

During the ceremony, Stahlecker received a Legion of Merit, a Order of St. Michael-Bronze Award from the Army Aviation Association of America, and several congratulation letters from Army and U.S. elected officials.

As he gives up the uniform, Stahlecker is getting ready for a civilian career, telling his friends, family and co-workers that he had a new learning curve to contend with.

"I stayed in the military because that was what I wanted to do," he said. "Now, I've been told that the new (civilian) clothes I buy today won't fit me in six months, that I need to buy clothes that I can grow into. And, I've learned that the light brushed blue denim suit hanging in my closet that I wanted to wear to interviews is not in style anymore."