Sergeant Keith Feldhaus

Keith Feldhaus is one of many honored veterans who are members of the McElroy’s team. We offer our sincere thanks to every one of our veterans, as well as United States veterans throughout the world. On this Veterans Day, we’d like to share a little extra about Keith.

U.S. Army Family

Keith grew up in St. Louis in a family where many served in the U.S. Army – including his mother, Carol, who retired after 28 years as a Sergeant First Class. Keith enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2002 and completed his basic training at Fort Knox as part of an armored tank crew. His exceptional scores in the Excellence in Armor program earned him a promotion to E-3. Keith was then assigned to the 2^nd Battalion, 70^th Armor Regiment (2–70 Armor) at Fort Riley in Kansas. In January 2003, 2–70 Armor was deployed to Kuwait in preparation for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

Due to his high training scores, Keith was made the ammunition loader for an M1A1 Abrams “command” tank. Starting on March 20, 2003, Keith’s unit was part of the leading forces that cleared the route of march toward Baghdad, Iraq. On March 21, 2–70 Armor was the first coalition unit in history to seize a bridgehead across the Euphrates River. The command tank in which Keith served was the fifth to make that crossing. For the rest of 2003, Keith remained with 2–70 Armor as they continued to clear routes, secure areas and combat enemy forces in and around Baghdad, and Karbala.

Camp Taji

In 2004, Keith was again stationed at Fort Riley, and attended advanced marksmanship school at Fort Hood. He was promoted to E-5 Sergeant and served as a tank gunner when 2–70 Armor was re-deployed to Iraq in 2005. Stationed at Camp Taji, 17 miles north of Baghdad, Keith’s regiment patrolled the main supply routes and worked as a Quick Reaction Force, providing rapid response when and where conflict broke out. Keith returned to Fort Riley in 2006 and was part of a training battalion which taught senior enlisted personal how to train members of the Iraqi Army. “We were training the trainers,” Keith said.

Plumber/Pipefitter

When Keith was honorably discharged, he had friends in the Fort Riley area so he chose to live in nearby Manhattan, Kansas. “I worked in the control room at the Jeffrey Energy Center for nine years, and moved to Rossville for a shorter commute,” Keith said. “I knew a lot of pipefitters at the plant, and I thought I’d like doing what they did, so I applied for a union apprenticeship. McElroy’s picked me up and it’s been great.” Keith has been part of the McElroy’s plumbing/pipefitting team since May 2017 and works in commercial construction. “McElroy’s is a good-sized company that feels like a friendly, family organization. They take good care of their employees.” In his free time, Keith is a tournament-champion bass fisherman.

Veterans on the McElroy’s Team

Keith’s story is just one example of our many distinguished veterans who bring their pride, honor and professionalism to McElroy’s. We take this moment to express our gratitude to these men and women for their selfless service, and our appreciation for everything they do. Thank you to all our esteemed veterans!

 

David Abbey           U.S. Army Staff Sergeant                                   7 Yrs Service

Paul Brown             U.S. Navy Seaman                                              2 Yrs Service

Steve Carlson         U.S. Navy Petty Officer Third Class                 2 Yrs Service

Gary Clemmons     U.S. Army Staff Sergeant                                13 Yrs Service

Keith Feldhaus       U.S. Army Sergeant                                            5 Yrs Service

Jacob Iverson        U.S. Army Sergeant                                            6 Yrs Service

Steven Jester         U.S. Army E-4 Specialist                                    4 Yrs Service

                                 U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Third Class    4 Yrs Service

Quentin Latta         U.S. Army E-4 Specialist                                    3 Yrs Service

Lloyd Long              U.S. Army Staff Sergeant                                18 Yrs Service

Nick Newsom         U.S. Marine Corps Corporal                             4 Yrs Service

Joseph Rank           U.S. Army E-4 Specialist                                   3 Yrs Service

Tanner Schirmer     U.S. Navy E-5                                                      8 Yrs Service

Carrie Seeger          U.S. Army Sergeant First Class                     26 Yrs Service

Niki Thompson       U.S. Army E-4 Specialist                                   6 Yrs Service