{"id":193408,"date":"2024-06-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=193408"},"modified":"2024-06-04T21:16:37","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T21:16:37","slug":"presidio-of-monterey-employee-commissions-in-army-national-guard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=193408","title":{"rendered":"Presidio of Monterey employee commissions in Army National Guard"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Lyndon Tarver, right, and 2nd Lt. Brandon Pham, assigned to Joint Base Lewis\u2013McChord, pins the gold bar of a second lieutenant on 2nd Lt. Kristian McKenith\u2019s shoulder in a commissioning ceremony at the Presidio of Monterey, Calif., May 23.
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\n 2nd Lt. Kristian McKenith right, receives his first salute as a commissioned officer from his older brother and role model, Sgt. Anthony McKenith, left, during a commissioning ceremony at the Presidio of Monterey, Calif., May 23.
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\n 1st Lt. Luke Jones of the Air Force, left, administers the commissioned officer\u2019s oath of office to 2nd Lt. Kristian McKenith, right, in a commissioning ceremony at the Presidio of Monterey, Calif., May 23.
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\n Ana Fowler, right, a budget officer and McKenith\u2019s supervisor at the Presidio of Monterey, offers her congratulations and farewell to 2nd Lt. Kristian McKenith, left, during a commissioning ceremony at the Presidio of Monterey, Calif., May 23.
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\n 2nd Lt. Kristian McKenith, left, receives a special recognition award for his achievements during his commissioning ceremony at the Presidio of Monterey, Calif., May 23. The award was presented by close friends and mentors, retired Sgt. Maj. Faye Jenkins-Bellow, middle, and Lyndon Tarver, far right.
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PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. (June 4, 2024) \u2014 Kristian McKenith, a civilian budget analyst for the Presidio of Monterey, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army National Guard during a ceremony on May 23, at the Post Theater.<\/p>\n

“My success isn\u2019t all my own, but it was possible with the support and love from those in this room,\u201d McKenith said speaking to family, friends and leadership. \u201cMost people are surprised to learn I grew up in a rural community of Robeson County, North Carolina, an area once ranked number two in the nation for murder and the poorest county in the state. I stand before you as proof that waking up and getting after your dreams and what you wish to pursue is possible.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

McKenith\u2019s friend and mentor, 1st Lt. Luke Jones of the Air Force administered the commissioned officer\u2019s oath of office.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn aviation, we can have long days sitting in an ejection seat for ten hours. When things start to get tough, I would sometimes call Kristian and hear about all he does and\u202fhow\u202fhard\u202fhe\u202fworks. I\u2019m so proud of him, and he\u202fmotivates\u202fme\u202fto\u202fpush\u202fharder in my\u202fprofessional\u202flife,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

2nd Lt. McKenith received his first salute from his older brother and role model, Sgt. Anthony McKenith. 2nd Lt. McKenith credited Sgt. McKenith as his inspiration for wanting to become an officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have never dreamed of being a soldier,\u201d said 2nd Lt. McKenith. \u201cGrowing up, he was the brawn, and I was the brains. Joining the Army was a challenge I issued to myself because of his example and commitment to service.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The commissioning ceremony also served as McKenith\u2019s farewell to PoM as he prepares to move to the National Capital Region for his new position as a budget analyst for the Department of State. There, he will report to the 111th Engineer Brigade of the West Virginia Army National Guard to work as a finance officer.<\/p>\n

Ana Fowler, PoM’s budget officer and McKenith\u2019s supervisor, offered her congratulations and farewell.<\/p>\n

\u201cKristian has been a great leader and instrumental in our office,\u201d she said. \u201cWe wish he could stay with us, but we know that there are great opportunities out there, and he\u2019s taking them on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graduating from Robeson Early College High School with an associate\u2019s degree at the age of 17, McKenith has always been committed to professional development and the pursuit of education. McKenith\u2019s federal service first began with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he supervised a team of eight and concurrently earned two bachelor\u2019s and two master\u2019s degrees.<\/p>\n

McKenith\u2019s Army career started with his selection to the Army Fellows Program and placement at PoM as a budget analyst in 2020. The Army Fellows Program allowed him to develop professionally while progressing from entry-level to advanced positions within the workforce.<\/p>\n

While excelling as an Army Civilian<\/a> for PoM, McKenith taught political science at Hartnell College, served as the treasurer for the Monterey County branch of the NAACP and joined the California Army National Guard<\/a>, all before the age of 25.<\/p>\n

“Today’s ceremony was very special to see the amount of support in the room,\u201d McKenith said. \u201cIt doesn’t always feel that way when you’re doing all the hard work, but to look around and know that these were the people who have been with me all along and came to celebrate with me is truly humbling.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Lyndon Tarver, right, and 2nd Lt. Brandon Pham, assigned to Joint Base Lewis\u2013McChord, pins the gold bar of a second lieutenant on 2nd Lt. Kristian McKenith\u2019s shoulder in a commissioning ceremony at the Presidio of Monterey, Calif., May 23. (Photo Credit: Jennifer Leggett) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193410,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=193408"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193416,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193408\/revisions\/193416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/193410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=193408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=193408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=193408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}