“Champions of Fort Campbell” are typically made up of community leaders who work tirelessly to support soldiers, their families and veterans — while binding the ties between post life and the surrounding area.
Last week, officials from the 101st Airborne Division tapped retired Army aviator Jack Smith to be among its ranks — an honor for which he feels extremely grateful.
Smith’s path to the award has deep ties to the Commonwealth. A graduate of Oldham County High School, he followed up ROTC at the University of Kentucky with airborne school in 1983, flight school in 1985, and post assignment to Fort Campbell in 1986.
From there, he served in Desert Storm with the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry — and after a soldier’s life stayed very much in touch with the goings on of the post’s status.
Around 2012 and 2013, as general transportation manager at Hopkinsville’s Walmart Distribution Center, he and several local officials discovered an oversight at a local cemetery — through the national non-profit Wreaths Across America.
Walmart, he added, made it even easier for western Kentucky to get involved in this movement — as they have long shipped those wreaths across the country, and for community cemeteries large and small.
It’s also during this time when he volunteered in “Citizens For Fort Campbell,” and later became Military Affairs Committee chairman through the Christian County Chamber of Commerce.
In 2015, Smith was one of many individuals to speak on behalf of Fort Campbell during “Base Realignment and Closure” — or BRAC — discussions, in which military and federal officials mulled national defense, and the whispered removal of the 101st’s roost.
Smith said he got “really involved” in those listening sessions, in which he gave a presentation on what the post means to south western Kentucky, its valuable airspace and resident units, and how rare it is for the 101st’s brigade commander to train and use “every weapon at his disposal.”
Smith said there were several key factors in Fort Campbell remaining open, including its land area, its lack of endangered species, its storied history and “Rendezvous with Destiny,” and its unprecedented support from places like Trigg, Todd, Christian and Montgomery counties.
Following those orientations, Smith went on to lead and organize recreation and education events for our soldiers and veterans, hoping to improve quality of life and readiness through facility improvements across the installation.
Now, Smith finds himself among at least 15 local and regional voices leading the way for a 2023 Blackhawk crash monument in Trigg County — one that will be located near Vinson Cemetery and US 68, and later will have an adjoining garden and learning space for visitors seeking regional military history.
This group, in conjunction with Trigg County Fiscal Court authority, has twice met — with plans to have the memorial phase completed before the harrowing March 2025 anniversary of the disaster.
