Pictured: Air Guardsman Nathan Stoel in Afghanistan in 2018.

By Jill Fennema –

Nathan Stoel joined the South Dakota Air National Guard (SDANG) in December 2008. He did not join right out of high school, nor was he drafted. He was 24 years old, a Southeast Technical Institute graduate, and married for two years. He and his wife, Ashley De Kam, had been living in Sioux Falls where Nathan worked for Wheelco and Ashley had been a student at Southeast Technical Institute. 

They moved back to Edgerton after Ashley completed STI in 2008. Their group of friends included people who were currently in the military. Talking with them helped Nathan come to a decision that had been in his mind for a long time. 

“I had decided it was time to step up,” he recalls. “It is an honor to serve one’s country.” 

He and Ashley discussed it and the decision was made. He officially joined the SDANG in December 2008. Once he decided, he wanted to get going. His plan was to complete basic training while Ashley was pregnant with their first baby. That did not quite go as planned.

“The saying is, ‘Hurry up and Wait,’” Nate said. By the time he left for basic training on July 21, 2009, Sawyer was one month old. 

Nathan attended bootcamp at San Antonio, Texas, for eight and a half weeks. The main communication between him and his family back home was letters, emails, and a phone call or two per week. 

“It was routine,” Nathan said. “You just need to be quiet and follow orders.”

His flight was referred to as the “grandpa” flight because the new recruits were not 18-year-olds, fresh out of high school.

“Surprisingly, being 24 years old, I was not the oldest person in my flight,” Nathan said. There were four other airmen who were 33 years old – the oldest you can be to join – and one 24-year-old going through basic training with him. 

“Surprisingly, being 24 years old, I was not the oldest person in my flight,” Nathan said. There were four other airmen who were 33 years old – the oldest you can be to join – and one 24-year-old going through basic training with him. 

“It was good having them with me,” Nate recalls. “I was married and had a child at home. They understood that and were in the same boat.”

When it came time to graduate, Ashley and Sawyer, along with her parents, Wes and Sheila De Kam and sister Courtney, and Nathan’s parents, Bert, Kris Wilbur, and his oldest sister and husband, Randy and Andrea Nutt came down to Texas for the event. 

After graduation, his family went back home and Nate went straight to Witchita Falls, Texas, for 17 weeks of technical training. 

“This was a lot less strict compared to basic training,” Nathan said. 

He was training to work as weapons personnel, with the job title of aircraft armament system specialist. Because the rules were less strict, he could talk with Ashley on the phone every day. She also came down to visit him twice and he was able to go home for Christmas for a week. After Christmas, he had three more weeks of training and then came home for good. 

“Once basic training and tech training were over, it was pretty much life as normal,” Nathan said. “I would do my one weekend a month and then two weeks a year.” The two weeks per year varied with trips to Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona for training, or just training at the Sioux Falls Air Base.

In 2011, Nathan’s unit was activated to help with sandbagging at Dakota Dunes. He was gone for 14 days at that time. 

In 2018, he was deployed to Afghanistan for Freedom Sentinel, Resolute Support. This deployment was a big deal for their family. He was gone for about four months – July 21 through November 6, with 90 days “boots on the ground” plus travel and “unpacking” time. In addition to his regular job at Pipestone County Highway Department at that time, he and Ashley were also farming. 

Ashley was raised a farm girl so she was able to do some of the work, but she also needed to keep working at her job at Chandler Feed Co. and as a photographer, in addition to taking care of their two children – Raelyn joined the family in 2013.