“Life is more fun with great teammates, and Tom has been a great teammate, and Rich, I know you will be too. We will do our best to be great teammates to you as well.” — Maj. Gen. Kenneth Kamper, Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill commanding General.
FORT SILL, Okla., (January 19, 2023) – At a retreat ceremony on Jan. 12, 2023, the Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill said goodbye to Brig. Gen. Thomas Moore, outgoing deputy commanding general, Army National guard, Air Defense Artillery.
The ceremony, held in the Kerwin Auditorium, also welcomed Brig. Gen. Richard Wholey, the incoming deputy commanding general for Army National Guard Air Defense Artillery.
Wholey comes to Fort Sill after serving as the deputy commanding general, 263rd Army Air Missile Defense Command in Anderson, South Carolina. Wholey earned his undergraduate from Clemson and graduate degree from Webster University. As a civilian, Wholey managed a Michelin Tire Corporation plant with over 1200 employees.
Maj. Gen. Ken Kamper, commanding general, FCoE and Fort Sill, acknowledged Moore’s service as deputy commanding general as a fundamental strength of the Army.
“I think of it often as the ‘Army Song’,” Kamper said. “The Army goes rolling along like a wheel turning, somebody hops off the wheel and somebody else hops on the wheel and the Army just keeps moving on. But these moments are special where we recognize the transition of leaders.”
Kamper mentioned the Fires 50 axioms and applied number 45 to both Wholey and Moore as senior leaders.
“Number 45,” Kamper said. “Life is more fun with great teammates, and Tom has been a great teammate, and Rich, I know you will be too. We will do our best to be great teammates to you as well.”
Moore thanked his family, children and fiancé Melissa, for their continued support, and many members of his team with the Army National Guard.
“I'll keep telling jokes until everybody laughs,” Moore said.
Moore said he is joyful to reflect on his time of service.
“It’s hard to believe you can sum up 33 years on one sheet of paper,” Moore said, “But it’s encouraging to know that we will take this and apply it the next objective.”
Chief Laura Armstrong, and Sgt. Ernesto Gomez, of the Fort Sill Artillery Half Section, presented a bouquet of red roses to Melissa and Marilyn Wholey received a colorful bouquet on behalf of the FCoE and Lawton Fort Sill community.
The Fort Sill Salute Battery, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Field Artillery, commanded by Capt. Emily Trip, fired rounds during the ceremony and presented them to both Moore and Wholey.
Maj. Lisa Norway gave the invocation and prayed for the families of the generals during this time of transition.
The 77th United States Army Band concluded the ceremony with the playing of the Air Defense Artillery March, followed by The Army Song.
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