|
November is the month of Veterans
Day, a holiday where Americans get to celebrate the brave men and
women who have served in the Armed Forces. At many Veterans Day
celebrations, in addition to recognizing the veterans, something is
usually said about the men and women who are currently serving, on
the path to one day becoming veterans themselves.
Austin Swarts is one of these current serving members. Swarts was
born and raised in Logan County, having gone to Northwest Elementary
School, Lincoln Junior High School, and Lincoln Community High
School. In his youth, Swarts took mixed martial arts classes and
wrestled all the way through high school. In wrestling, Swarts was a
four-time variety letter winner and four-time 20 match winner. With
his mixed martial arts, he was the champion of eleven submission
fighting tournaments.
Once Swarts graduated in 2016, he immediately joined the Illinois
Army National Guard Signal Corps. He attended basic training at Fort
Benning and Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Fort Gordon, both
located in Georgia. According to Swarts, the Signal Corps is sort of
like IT. They focus on maintaining radios and other types of
computerized communications.
Swarts was deployed out to the Middle East in 2024, leaving from
Fort Bliss (Texas) in July of that year. Swarts said that there were
about 500 people that he was deployed with in the First Battalion
178 Infantry. This group went overseas in support of Operation
Spartan Shield and Operation Inherent Resolve until March of 2025.
His job was to oversee a team of about ten Signal Corps members.
Swarts and his squad provided communications support to the 178.
While overseas, Swarts lived in Tower
22 in Jordan. He stated that he was located right on the border with
Syria. His battalion was responsible for the security of the base
they were at. Swarts shared that most of the security threats
nowadays are not from the ground, but rather from the air, with many
of these threats coming in the form of drones. Luckily for the
178th, Swarts stated that a lot of these potential security threats
were not targeting their base. Most of them were targeting Israel
and their allies in the area. Swarts and his team mainly worked on
communications and encryptions for the base.
[to top of second column] |
While deployed, Swarts shared, he
received a promotion. He applied for the promotion before he was
deployed but was accepted during his deployment. He was promoted to
Captain. He has also been the Company Commander of the 433rd Signal
Company since May. Swarts described his promotion as “very
exciting,” also saying that it will be a great opportunity to work
with young soldiers who want to work with the Signal Company.
Swarts says that being in the National Guard is only part time, and
that he works full time for an IT company up in Chicago. He has been
a member of the military for almost ten years, February of 2026 will
mark his tenth anniversary, and he would like to continue to serve
for at least the next ten years. After that, Swarts shared, he may
continue, but it depends on where he is in his career.
Swarts very much appreciates the people he served with. One person
in particular, Master Sergeant Jeremy Graham, was one Swarts
mentioned by name. Graham was Swarts’s counterpart in the military.
Most officer positions have a non-commanding officer (NCO)
counterpart position, and Graham was Swartz’s NCO. He said that
Graham helped keep things running while he had to attend officer
meetings. He also mentioned Warrant Officer Cody Mull. Mull lived in
Tower 22 with Swarts. He said that Mull was very friendly and
helpful with day-to-day business and was also a good friend.
Swarts stated that the people he has met during his time in the
military are the reason he has served for so long and continues to
serve. He stated that they help make the military a great community.
[Matt Boutcher] |
