Photo submitted Command Sergeant Major Robert Casher, formerly of St. Marys, recently retired from the U.S. Army following a 37-year career.

During his three decades in the military, Casher’s wife, the former Jane Prechtel, also of St. Marys, has also been heavily involved with military Family Readiness and Family Support.

“The best part about being in the military is that nothing is impossible. If you work hard, and remain motivated there is no end to what you can do or become,” Casher said. “I love the military family. No matter where we got assigned to, everyone came together and they take care of each other, good or bad.”

Throughout his career, Casher has served as a Senior Enlisted Training Instructor with the Field Artillery Basic Training and in Advanced Individual Training, Platoon Sergeant and First Sergeant for a Field Artillery Firing Battery, Special Weapons Team Chief in Field Artillery units, truck master in a transportation unit, Operations Sergeant Major and Command Sergeant Major while deployed with a transportation group, Senior Transportation Coordinator for a Regional Support Company, Senior Enlisted Leader for Joint Warfighting Center and most recently as a Command Sergeant Major of the Army Reserves Aviation Command at Ft. Knox, Ky.

During his most recent three-year assignment in Ft. Knox, Casher was the Senior Enlisted Leader to a Brigadier General, where he supported all the enlisted soldiers and families of 27 units in 18 states.

“I started using the words coach, teach, mentor and train, from a past commander I had when I was a Sergeant First Class. These four little words have played a huge part in everything we as Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO)/Leaders do daily,” Casher said. “By using these words to the fullest extent possible they have helped in my success.”

Among his many awards and recognitions, Casher has received such accommodations as the Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Joint Meritorious Service Medal and Army Meritorious Service Medal.

“I have always told my soldiers one of the hardest things to do as leader is taking the hard right,” Casher noted. “Doing the right thing for the right person at the right time can sometimes be very difficult, but as a leader we have to always do what is right.”

Casher and his wife currently reside in Radcliff, Ky., where he works for the non-profit organization, USA Cares, as a program manager for Jobs for Veterans.

He also serves as Grand Knight of the St. Christopher/Old St. Patrick Knights of Columbus Council and is Color Corps Commander for the E.T. Murphy 4th Degree Assembly. Casher is also an active motorcyclist and a member of the Legion Riders and Patriot Guard.

A successful military career

Following his graduation from St. Marys Area High School in 1973, Casher joined the Army Reserve, Company D 458th Engineers, based in St. Marys. During this time, he worked as an assistant foreman at St. Marys Carbon Co.  

“I joined the military because I admired one of my uncles who was serving in the Air Force as a para rescue and because I wanted to do something other than spending my life in a factory,” Casher explained.

In 1985, Casher took an active duty assignment in Ft. Sill, Okla. From there they moved back to Pennsylvania to the Tobyhanna Army Depot in 1989. In 1994, the family moved to Wichita, Kan. and four years later moved again to Ft. Eustis, Va. One year later they were off to Ft. Bliss, Texas, where Casher spent one year as a student in the Sergeants Major Academy. In 2001, he moved back to Butler.

Casher was deployed to Iraq in 2003 with a transportation unit from Florida. In 2004, the entire family relocated once again to Tampa, Fla. where he was selected as the Senior Enlisted Leader for the Joint Warfighting Center in Chesapeake, Va. In 2006, he was selected as the Command Sergeant Major for the Army Reserves Operational Function Command in Ft. Knox.

Casher explained that moving posed some of the biggest challenges of his military career. Among those were finding good schools for his daughters.

“Military family life is not easy, especially for the children, but one thing it does is make the family strong. Now that my children are grown and out on their own, I know they can survive on their own,” Casher said. “The other challenge is the deployments and being separated a lot for both deployments and training exercises. But one thing is for sure, those hurdles only made us stronger.”

He added that he was thankful for both his wife and daughters, Nichol and Jessie’s support and many sacrifices they have endured.

During his military career, Casher eventually furthered his education earning as Associate Degree from Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kan. in 1998 and a Bachelor of Science degree from Excelsior College in New York.

Behind every good man is a good woman

Together Casher and his wife have been married for over 30 years and have three daughters, Niki Stahl of Ridgway, Nichol Serivner of Wichita, Kan. and Jessie Johnson of Burgettstown.

“Jane has always had a deep passion for the young soldiers under my charge,” Casher explained. “She knew that for some this was the first time they have ever been away from home and for others, they just needed someone that could give them advice and just show they cared. She has always enjoyed talking to soldiers and their families.”

Jane often worked as an Army Family Team Building Instructor and sat on various committees which would advise unit commanders on family related issues.

Throughout the past four years at Ft. Knox, she attended Quality of Life conferences conducted by the Department of the Army for Reserve Affairs. She was awarded the Honorable Order of Molly Pitcher, for her support to field artillery families, the Order of Lady of Loreto for her support to aviation families and the Presidential Volunteer Service Award presented by President Obama.

“The 37 years we have spent in the Army is priceless and Jane and I have grown very strong together in the 30 years we have been married,” Casher said. “We have ended this phase of our life as not only husband and wife, but as best friends and we will continue on with that helping other military families and veterans.”