30-Year Veteran From Monmouth County to Speak at Moorestown Veterans Day Event

A decorated 30-year veteran from West Long Branch will be the guest speaker at a Veterans Day Assembly at high school in Burlington County.

Col. Michael T. Ruane, grandfather of Moorestown High School senior Kiera Dalmass, will be the guest speaker at the assembly, which will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 9 a.m. at the Moorestown Athletic Center at Moorestown high school.

Ruane is currently the Executive Director of the Monmouth County Office on Aging, Disabilities, and Veterans Services. He is also the Founder and Chief Operations Officer of The James Thomas Group, a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business that is a Weapons of Mass Destruction, Counter-terrorism, and Emergency Management consulting firm, and a founding partner of WorldScape Processing Solutions, a supplier of advanced processor technologies for the US Navy, Department of Defense, and the commercial market.

He is married to the former Barbara Ann Hicks, has seven children and ten grandchildren and resides in West Long Branch, New Jersey.

Guest arrival time is 8:30 a.m. and all guest veterans are asked to drive to the rear of the building and park in the reserved parking adjacent to the Moorestown Athletic Center.

Those wishing to attend are asked to RSVP to the office of Assistant Principal Robert McGough by Nov. 5. RSVPs can be made by phone at 856-778-6610, ext. 12000 or by emailing mrust@mtps.com.

Ruane is the recipient of over 20 military awards and decorations, including the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and the Legion of Merit, according to biographical information provided by the school.

He began his military career in the US Army at Fort Knox, Kentucky in 1963 and retired after 30 years of active and reserve duty in 1993, with over 13 years of command time at Company, Battalion and Brigade level to include commanding two Infantry companies in Vietnam.

After graduating from Seton Hall University, Ruane received an Army ROTC commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Armor Branch.

He served in Korea, from March of 1964 through April of 1965, as an Engineer Supply Officer and as the Battalion Logistics Officer for the 1st Battalion, 15th Armored Regiment (1/15 Armor) of the 1st Cavalry Division.

He spent time in Fort Devens, Massachusetts as a Company Commander in the 3rd Battalion/77th Armored Regiment, 5th Mechanized Infantry Division.

In 1965, he became the first Company Commander of A Company, 3rd Battalion/21st Infantry Regiment of the newly formed 196th Light Infantry Brigade. He trained his unit of newly enlisted soldiers at Fort Devens and led them on combat operations in Vietnam.

While there, he also served as the Battalion Operations Officer (Air), transferred from the Armor to the Infantry Branch, and returned to the field to lead C Company of the Brigade’s 4 Battalion/31st Infantry Regiment.

When he returned to America, he was assigned to the U.S. Army Signal Center and School as a Company Commander and Assistant Brigade Training Officer.

In 1968, he left active duty and joined the Inactive Reserve.

Ruane joined the New Jersey National Guard’s 50th Armored Division in February of 1972 and served as an Armor Company Commander with the 4th Battalion/102nd Armored regiment and as the Headquarters and Headquarters Company Commander with the 2nd Battalion/114th Infantry Regiment.

After leaving the Guard in 1976, he joined the Infantry Training Team, 78th Maneuver Training Command (MTC) of the Army Reserve’s 78th Division at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

In this assignment he wrote and conducted Infantry command post and field training exercises for National Guard and Reserve units in the Northeast from Platoon through Division level. He was named Infantry Team Chief in 1983 and, in 1985, he assumed battalion command of the 1st Battalion/78th Infantry Regiment (Training).

In 1988, he returned to the MTC as the Chief of Combat Arms Division II, comprised of the Infantry, Aviation and Engineer Teams.

In this capacity, he planned, wrote and conducted an Army Training and Evaluation Program (ARTEP) exercise for the NATO Warplan for the Defense of Iceland.

This highly successful exercise was conducted at Canadian Forces Base-Gagetown with a team of over 110 Controller/Evaluators overseeing over 5,000 soldiers of the 187th Separate Infantry Brigade and supporting services conduct their ARTEPs.

In 1991, as a result of the lessons learned from Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield and the Chief of Staff of the Army’s newly formulated Reserve Training Concept (RTC), he was selected as the Brigade Commander for the 5th Brigade (Lanes Training), 78th Division.

This high visibility one-of-a-kind test bed unit was organized to validate the RTC and was composed of hundreds of Reserve volunteer soldiers from Maine to Virginia as well as active duty soldiers from the 82nd Airborne, 3rd Armor, and 24th Mechanized Infantry and 1st Infantry Divisions.

The Brigade successfully completed its mission in the summer of 1993 at Forts Drum, Dix, and A.P. Hill and five Reserve Divisions were reorganized to train the RTC.

The 5th Brigade was deactivated and Ruane retired in September 1993. The RTC of “Lanes” is still used by the Army today to train its soldiers.

The attached image is a Patch file photo