LOCAL HERO | TOM KRABBENHOFT
WRITTEN BY: ALEXIS SWENSON PHOTOS BY: URBAN TOAD MEDIA
At age 17, Tom Krabbenhoft joined the Minnesota Army National Guard on a part-time basis. Krabbenhoft was interested in joining in part due to coming from a military family. Beyond that, the year was 1984—when teachers were on strike. Krabbenhoft asked for a challenging role and was placed in Infantry where he experienced significant culture shock from the rigid discipline and routine. "I wasn't going to be the teenager that mapped the human genome. Sometimes you just gotta be honest with yourself," said Krabbenhoft. "You're going from teachers on strike and not really succeeding in academia to doing things that you read about and see on TV." Service Life Upon finishing Basic and Advanced Individual Training, Krabbenhoft returned to Moorhead, MN where he often volunteered to accompany Army key personnel utilization program (KPUP) tours. In 1987, Krabbenhoft became a Forward Observer, controlling artillery and mortar fire along with calling in air strikes. Two and half years later, he pursued Stinger Missile training and became one of the chief instructors for the weapon in the United States. Krabbenhoft also joined a newly developed Air Defense Artillery unit in Grand Forks, ND. "I was the third enlisted person to join and the lowest-ranked. It was ground floor of something unique and different. I was there for the opportunity and adventure," said Krabbenhoft. "It was an incredible thing at the time to get in on a fairly new, proven weapon system." 30 / THE GOOD LIFE / urbantoadmedia.com
