Tax service gives NASCAR fame to Guard Soldiers

[dreadpirateroberts]

Tax service gives NASCAR fame to Guard Soldiers

By Master Sgt. Bob Haskell
April 26, 2006

ARLINGTON, Va. (Army News Service, April 26, 2006) – A North Dakota Army National Guard Soldier, who has known the satisfaction and the sadness of going to war, is in the running to have his picture displayed on the hood of a stock car that will race in one of NASCAR’s premier division races in 2007.

Staff Sgt. Robbi Smette of Makoti, N.D., was the first Citizen-Soldier to be nominated as the Hero of the Year in a unique national campaign that Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. has initiated to honor the nation’s Army Guard members.

Smette was the guest of honor when the one-of-a-kind contest was introduced to the National Capital Region by Michael Lister, president and chief executive officer of Jackson Hewitt, and Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn, director of the Army National Guard, at the Army Guard’s Readiness Center in mid-April.

Jackson Hewitt will honor one Army Guard Soldier each month for the rest of this year, and a panel of judges will select a Hero of the Year from those 10 candidates. Smette is the nominee for March.

The picture of the winner will be displayed on the No. 16 Ford during a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race next year.

The Army Guard is one of the primary sponsors for the Roush Racing Team’s car that is being driven by Greg Biffle for the second season and that was on display at the readiness center when the contest was announced.

Family members, friends or employers can nominate Guard Soldiers for the monthly honors by logging on to www.supporttheguard.com and explaining in 500 words or less how a Soldier exemplifies the time-honored tradition of the Army National Guard.

“Jackson Hewitt is thrilled to have this opportunity to showcase some of America’s outstanding National Guard heroes and to give people around the country the chance to play a role in nominating and honoring a Soldier,” Lister said. “This campaign is part of our ongoing relationship with the National Guard and our commitment to support all of the many men and women in all branches of service who provide service to our country.”

Jackson Hewitt is also honoring a family and civilian employer of National Guard members each month, and a family and an employer will also be selected to attend the same Nextel Cup race next year.

Smette joined the North Dakota Army Guard as a combat engineer in January 2000 and volunteered to serve as a bridge crew member with the 957th Engineer Company during an Operation Iraqi Freedom tour of duty from January 2003 through May 2004.

His older brother, Sgt. Keith Smette, was killed by a roadside bomb on Jan. 24, 2004, while serving with Robbi in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Smette remembered his deceased brother on the day that he was the center of attention in Arlington.

“My brother stood for everything that was good about the National Guard and about life in general,” Smette said. “After he died, I took it upon myself to try to be a replica of him, to try to be as good as I could be because that’s the way he lived his life.”

“It’s very humbling because I really never thought of myself as a hero,” said Smette who was nominated for the honor by his friend Cory Morlock.

“There are so many other National Guard Soldiers out there doing the same thing that I’m doing. It’s a great honor. I’ll accept this on their behalf as well,” he said.

(Editor's note: Master Sgt. Bob Haskell writes for the National Guard Bureau Public Affairs Office.)