Georgia State Defense Force Soldiers Recognized for Dedicated Service

The Georgia State Defense Force commended several Soldiers for their dedicated service, Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Marietta, Ga., Dec. 5, 2020. Georgia State Defense Force photo by Warrant Officer Alexander Davidson

On Saturday, December 5, 2020, the Georgia State Defense Force (GSDF) commended several Soldiers for their dedicated service to the state of Georgia. During a ceremony in Hangar 5 at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Marietta, Ga., the GSDF recognized the following Soldiers:

Col. Michael Greene, Command Surgeon

• Promoted from lieutenant colonel to colonel.

Col. William McShane, Assistant Chief of Staff, G5 – Plans

• Promoted from lieutenant colonel to colonel.

Lt. Col. Catherine Page, Office of Inspector General

• Awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious service to the GSDF from April 2005 to July 2020. During this period, Lt. Col. Catherine Page served in progressively critical assignments having direct impact on force-wide standardization and organization, completing her service as a valuable staff officer in the GSDF Office of Inspector General. Her efforts produced a viable electronic document control database, modernized the GSDF publication
  library, and deployed a concurrent website force-wide.
• Lt. Col. Page retired from the GSDF at the end of December.

Lt. Col. Michael Page, Deputy G1 – Personnel

• Awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious service from September 2004 to November 2020. Lt. Col. Michael Page served with distinction in numerous positions of responsibility culminating with service as the GSDF Deputy G1. He was instrumental in the development, implementation, and deployment of the Electronic Tactical Operations Center (eTOC) system, the first fully functional electronic database capable of tracking personnel, personnel actions, and assignments in real time. His service during the COVID-19 response, especially the rapid onboarding of 390 Medical Reserve Corps personnel, provided mission critical support that allowed for expanded GSDF mission capability.
• Lt. Col. Page retired from the GSDF at the end of December.

Col. Chet Heidl, Liaison Officer Program Manager

• Awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for outstanding meritorious service while serving as the GSDF G3 Liaison Officer Program Manager, Joint Headquarters Georgia National Guard Joint Operations Center (JOC) and Georgia Emergency Management Agency State Operations Center (SOC) from October 2007 to December 2020. Col. Heidl recruited, trained, and staffed operations center personnel coordinating JOC/SOC support for state emergency declarations for hurricanes, tornados, snowstorms, and most recently the COVID-19 response. When unexploded ordinance was discovered during Annual Training 2013, his training and experience as an Army Master Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Technician provided invaluable support and guidance to the GSDF as well as active EOD responders, a total of 26 pieces of unexploded ordinance were safely identified and disposed of without incident.
• Col. Heidl retired from the GSDF at the end of December.