Veterans Museum | Vilonia, Arkansas

Museum of Veterans and Military History

Proudly honoring our military Veterans through education, outreach and community service

Museum of Veterans

and Military History

P.O. Box 668

Vilonia, Arkansas 72173

2014 Faulkner County

Veteran of the Year

grounded in integrity, service to others and excellence in endeavors

First Sgt. Brian Anible of Conway with the 188th Mission Support Group, Arkansas Air National Guard in Fort Smith, received a standing ovation when he was awarded the title of 2014 Faulkner County Veteran of the Year.

The honor, sponsored by the Museum of Veterans and Military History in Vilonia, was given March 14 in front of approximately 200 people at the Vilonia Area Chamber of Commerce banquet.

Anible said that when he accepted the award, he felt the same sense of appreciation as he did in 2005 when he and his fellow soldiers in the Air National Guard, 188th Fighter Wing, were loading a plane for an 18-hour flight headed to Balad, Iraq.

“It was just like that Super Bowl commercial from awhile back. Citizens were clapping as we walked by. We walked single file, with our backpacks. It brought chills to me then, and it still does when I think about it. I was never so proud to be an American,” Anible said.

Appreciation, smiles and applause go a long way to a member of the military when a nation is at war, he said.

He said he regards his time in Iraq as “pretty uneventful,” if you don’t count the encounters with bats, camel spiders, 115-degree heat, lack of rain and bouts of homesickness, that is. Anible said he didn’t know what to expect the first couple of days, and the base was hit daily with mortar fire.

“After the first week, everything was at ease,” he said. “When you are well-trained, you don’t think about danger."

Linda Hicks/Contributing Writer

Published March 23, 2014 at 12:00 a.m.

ARDEMGAZ River Valley & Ozark edition

Arkansas Online

First Sgt. Brian Anible of Conway, who serves

with the 188th Mission Support Group of the

Arkansas Air National Guard in Fort Smith,

was awarded the title of 2014 Faulkner County

Veteran of the Year on March 14

His job was to load weapons on F16s. Using a marker, he would draw pictures and write messages to his two sons, Brandon and Blane, as well as other sayings, such as “Go Hogs” on the bottom side of the bombs.

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