Submitted photo Timothy Vance, a native of Elkins, has served in the National Guard for 31 years and took part in Operation Desert Shield/Storm and Iraqi Freedom II.

Submitted photo
Timothy Vance, a native of Elkins, has served in the National Guard for 31 years and took part in Operation Desert Shield/Storm and Iraqi Freedom II.

Editor’s note: This article is part of The Inter-Mountain’s Unsung Heroes series for 2020, which features veterans in our area sharing first-hand accounts of their military service. The series will be published through Veterans Day.

ELKINS — Timothy Vance, a 1986 graduate of Elkins High School, began his military career as a means to offset the costs of higher education. In doing so he began a career of 31 years, serving as both a traditional and active National Guardsman in many different assignments along the way.

“The Army National Guard has been good to my family and I,” Vance said of his long tenure of service. “To be able to serve our country and see the world has been a blessing and to expose my family to affording them the opportunity to experience diversity and culture. Grit and fortitude, bound by family support, is what it takes.”

After high school, he attended Fairmont State College studying criminal justice. Finding the costs of higher education a burden on his parents, he enlisted in the West Virginia Army National Guard. Interrupting his pursuit for higher education, COL Vance deployed to Operation Desert Shield/Storm in December 1990 as a member of the A Btry-1st Battalion 201st Field Artillery, Elkins.

Following his service in Operation Desert Shield/Storm he returned home and immediately enrolled in WV Military Academy in Kingwood, graduating as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1992.

Simultaneously, Vance earned a bachelor’s degree from Marshall University in Huntington. Currently he holds the rank of Colonel on active duty, serving as Chief, Army Requirements Branch-Army Futures Command in Austin, Texas.

Vance enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1988 and attended Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. From there he spent the traditional one weekend a month and two weeks per year in the National Guard all the way up until 2005, when he transitioned to active duty to serve full-time with the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C.

While in the nation’s capital, Vance worked on plans and programs for Army acquisition, where he planned funding needed to support training and equipment procurement. He remained in that position until reassigned to the Office of the Inspector General Investigator for the Army National Guard in 2008.

In 2011, he was recalled by the Adjutant General, WVARNG to serve as Commander of the First Battalion 201st Field Artillery, from 2011-2013. He then returned to National Guard Bureau and worked in force management, structure and equipment.

Vance was then transferred to the Pentagon, where he served as the Army National Guard Command Plan Manager. From there Vance was sent to the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania for 10 months, where he earned a master’s degree in strategic studies.

Upon graduating War College, he reported to Fort Eustis, Virginia to serve at Training and Doctrine Command. Subsequently he was reassigned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma in 2017, serving as the Senior Army National Guard Advisor to the Commanding General and promoted to the rank of Colonel in 2018.

Vance served in both Operation Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom II.

“I was a fire direction specialist over there (during Desert Storm). I computed the ballistic solutions providing direction and angle of fire for the howitzers. Location information would be transmitted to the section I worked in about the target. We turned that information in to actionable firing solutions and send to the guns to fire,” Vance said.

Vance’s father, CSM (Ret) John “Bob” Vance was also a member of the Battalion during Desert Storm.

“What’s unique is that my father served as Command Sergeant Major for the 1st Battalion 201st Field Artillery, and then I was fortunate enough to serve as Commander of the same battalion some years later,” he said. “Both of us were in key leadership roles for the battalion at different times.”

Vance’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (5th Award), Army Commendation Medal (3rd Award), Joint Service Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal (5th Award), National Defense Service Medal (Bronze Service Star), Southwest Asia Service Medal (Bronze Service Star), Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal (Silver Hour Glass: M/2 devices), Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi-Arabia), Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait), Combat Action Badge, Army Staff Identification Badge, Army Meritorious Unit Citation, Army Superior Unit Award, and the Honorable Order of Saint Barbara.

Vance has been married to his wife Karma “Krissy” White-Vance, a 1987 graduate of Elkins High School, for 30 years. The couple has two daughters, Morgan Blatt and Mackenzie Vance.