Donald Thelen enlisted the U.S. Army and trained as an artilleryman. After his first enlistment, in 1973, he joined the National Guard as a mess sergeant for one year before joining an Army Reserve medical unit in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1983, he was hired as a full-time active reservist and placed in charge as station commander of a recruiting office. He would go on to a stellar career, first as command retention sergeant major at the 77th Regional Support Command in New York City, responsible for retention and training for more than 19,000 personnel. During that assignment, he coordinated strategic response plans with the New York City Fire Department in support of the response following the attacks on the World Trade Center. In 2003, he was assigned as commandant of the Army Reserve NCO Academy in Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. It is the Army Reserves largest training academy. In 2006, he assumed the role as command sergeant major at the 304th Sustainment Brigade in Riverside, California, responsible for six battalions. A command sergeant major is appointed to serve as a spokesman to address the issues of all soldiers, from enlisted to officers, from warrant officers and lieutenants to the Army's highest positions. As such, they are the senior enlisted advisor to the commander. He would go on to two more assignments as a command sergeant major, at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Fort Devens, Massachusetts, before retiring in 2013. Thelen and his wife Debbie moved to Palm Coast in 2022. He is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.
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