WHEREAS, Colonel Mark Carroll Thackston, VANG, has served and safeguarded the Commonwealth for 24 years as a member of the Virginia Army National Guard; and

WHEREAS, Mark Thackston received a bachelor's degree from Virginia Military Institute in 1992 and was sworn into the Virginia Army National Guard in 1997 after graduating from the Washington and Lee University School of Law; and

WHEREAS, Mark Thackston was a longtime member of the Virginia Army National Guard Judge Advocate General's Corps, serving as trial counsel, staff judge advocate, chief of criminal law, and command judge advocate; and

WHEREAS, Mark Thackston was subsequently appointed to the J-8 Division of the Virginia National Guard Joint Staff as a resource management officer; and

WHEREAS, Mark Thackston has helped prepare numerous fellow service members for active duty deployments, and he recently served in support of the Commonwealth's response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and

WHEREAS, Mark Thackston has earned many awards and decorations throughout his military career, including the Army Achievement Medal and two Army Commendation Medals, and he was promoted to the rank of colonel in the Virginia Army National Guard on February 20, 2021; and

WHEREAS, the true embodiment of the ideals of the citizen-soldier, Mark Thackston worked as an attorney in private practice for several years and currently serves as senior vice president for commercial lending of First Bank and Trust Company; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That Colonel Mark Carroll Thackston, VANG, hereby be commended for his decades of service to the Commonwealth as a member of the Virginia Army National Guard; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Colonel Mark Carroll Thackston, VANG, as an expression of the House of Delegates' admiration for his many contributions to the Commonwealth in military and civilian life.