Top Army Pacific commander praises Fairbanks’ support for military families

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) - The 2026 Military Appreciation Banquet in Fairbanks featured Gen. Ronald Clark as the keynote speaker, and while he doesn’t command from the last frontier, his remarks bestowed high praise to the interior.

This year’s banquet took place on Friday at the 8-Star Event Center. Both of Alaska’s senators were in attendance for the event and spoke to the significance of military presence in Alaska.

Perhaps the most important speaker of the night was Gen. Clark, who commands the United States Army’s Pacific forces (USARPAC), the largest service component in the U.S. Army.

While Clark was last to speak at the banquet, his speech highlighted the heart of the event.

“Tonight’s celebration is about the thing we hold most dear, which is people,” Clark said. “It’s the people who are responsible for our enduring partnerships to help our service members and their families prevail.”

He touched on his own relationship with the military, being born into an Army family and serving alongside his father early in his career. That lifelong familiarity with being part of the armed forces led to his recognition of those that live with the sacrifices of their loved ones.

“Our family members are an integral part of any success that we would enjoy and so important to the strength of our military and of our nation. Our spouses volunteer to selflessly serve and contribute by supporting us every day across every time zone, during times of relative peace and during times of conflict,” he said.

Clark then focused in on the significance Fairbanks has in the military community.

“It’s really about the warmth and legendary hospitality of the interior, specifically Fairbanks,” he said.

“The people of Alaska, especially the interior, embody a unique resilience, toughness, grit, and togetherness that you share with our service members who live here with you.“

He added that he and his wife Simona have “repeatedly talked about how impressed she was with the warmth, hospitality, the welcome of this community,” and how “despite PCSing so many times, one of the places that we really wish we had come was here.”

Cpt. Addison Hurt, an operations OIC with the 25th Brigade Support Battalion at Fort Wainwright, added to Clark’s sentiments after being invited to the event as an off-duty activity.

“I think that actually, really speaks to the tight-knit community here in Fairbanks, where I have friends outside of the Army, outside of Fort Wainwright, that are actively involved in my life and I’m involved in their life, and they wanted me to be at an event.”

“Fairbanks really brings that in and I’m very thankful to the community I have here.”

Hurt gave another example of that warmth and welcoming brought by the community in Fairbanks. Despite being away from his home in North Carolina for eight years, the Mallory family in Fairbanks provided Hurt with a place to call home for Thanksgiving.

“They always open their house up to people in the community, regardless of situation,” he explained. “I think that’s like on a micro level, kind of like what that community shows here.”

Amanda Jones, a military spouse and leader in local veteran organizations in the borough was also at the event. Her family moved to Alaska as part of the Air Force in 2020.

“Military men and women come in and out of this community and their experience depends on this local community’s warming and warm welcoming,” she said.

“[The banquet] is a really important event to bring all of that together, honor some very deserving recipients of awards, but also to highlight the partnerships that the community brings to serve the military members and their families,” she added.

Lisa Putnam, the emcee of the banquet, spoke to its 55-year legacy and why it continues.

“[One] third of our economy is based on, Department of Defense spending here. They are part of our community, our military, they often are the ones that are responding to accidents on the side of the road, they volunteer in our schools and in our churches and I think we have to say thank you for their service,” she said.

This year’s banquet also had the unique presence of not just the commander of the USARPAC but also leaders of the Marines Corps.

“Tonight was really special and unique in that Gen. Clark took the opportunity to meet with all the honorees individually out in a room before the banquet started and just say thank you to them for being outstanding soldiers and airmen,” she said. “Those are opportunities that I don’t think come all the time to soldiers and airmen and those especially that are just brand new, maybe this is their first duty station and how amazing is that, you got to hear a four-star [general]?”

Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan also spoke at the event, touching on the significance Alaska holds also a military service location and the expansion of a Marine Corps presence in Alaska.

Holding to annual tradition, honorees from both Fort Wainwright and Eielson Air Force Base were named as well as civilian honorees. From Eielson, they included: Senior Airman Charles Davis, Senior Airmen Brooke Garrison, Senior Airman Karicia Jimenez, Staff Sgt. Danielle Broidrick, 1st Lt. Codi Clemmons and Cpt. Elizabeth Carter.

From Fort Wainwright the honorees were: Spc. Alexis Garza, Spc. Shawn-Allen Hayes, Sgt. Christopher Harrell, Sgt. 1st Class Mark Coloma, 1st Sgt. Eric Anslinger, 1st Lt. Dakota Lichliter and 1st Lt. Kevin Swanson.

Civilian honorees were Shannon Geese, Timothy Hardman and Micaela Miller.

The highest honor of the night, the Jim Messer Award, was given to Sen. Dan Sullivan. this award is given to civilians that the military recognizes for doing the most to promote community-military relations and/or morale and welfare programs.

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