U.S. ARMY NATIONAL GUARD PHOTOS BY ARMY SPC. BREANNE DONNELL
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Timothy A. Reisch, adjutant general of the South Dakota Army National Guard, addressed his ceremony attendees. In the second photo, Reisch and incoming adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey P. Marlette, stand with their wives Anne and Sandy, respectively, at Reisch’s retirement ceremony, June 7 at Camp Rapid.
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Spc. Breanne Donnell 129th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
RAPID CITY — Maj. Gen. Tim Reisch, of Howard, retired from the South Dakota National Guard after more than 40 years of military service to his community, state and nation.
More than 200 people attended the retirement ceremony honoring Reisch at Joint Force Headquarters on Camp Rapid, June 7.
Reisch retired as the adjutant general of the South Dakota National Guard and secretary of the SD Department of the Military and held numerous key leadership positions throughout his career.
“His tremendous leadership and enforcement of standards leaves no question the performance of the South Dakota Guard was at the very best under his command,” said Gov. Kristi Noem, during the ceremony.
Reisch served as the adjutant general from April 2, 2011 - June 8, 2019, and was responsible for the preparation of more than 4,200 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen and over 1,000 full-time federal and state employees to respond in times of state or national emergency.
“My favorite part of being in the Guard is the people,” said Reisch. “Throughout your whole career you’re blessed to be assigned to units with great people and you look forward to the weekend drills so that you could interact with your Soldiers.”
During his career, Reisch served at every level of command and in nearly every staff position at the company, battalion and brigade level.
He received his commission as a second lieutenant through the South Dakota Military Academy Officer Candidate School program in 1980, branching as an engineer officer.
Reisch’s leadership positions included commander of Company B and C of the 153rd Engineer Battalion, 153rd Engineer Battalion, 109th Engineer Group, the first commander of the 109th Regional Support Group, and deputy commander of Joint Force Headquarters. He was also named the assistant adjutant general - Army in May 2009.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration from Upper Iowa University; a Master’s Degree in Administrative Studies from the University of South Dakota; and a Master’s Degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.
Under Reisch’s leadership, units and members in both the Air and Army National Guard received an astounding 159 national awards from 2011-2018 for performance in areas that included maintenance, safety, diversity, readiness, family, energy, supply, distinguished flying and many more.
“Maj. Gen. Reisch can take a lot of pride in all the awards that have been won by the South Dakota National Guard,” said Maj. Gen. Ray Carpenter, retired. “It’s unusual for a state to have won 30 awards in one year and to do that consistently puts South Dakota head and shoulders above many other states across this nation.”
“I want to thank every Soldier and Airman in the South Dakota National Guard for the way that they’ve made me look good and more importantly made the South Dakota National Guard look good,” said Reisch. “We take a back seat to nobody here in South Dakota.”
