Crites earns promotion and begins new job

Mark Crites, a native of Farmington, Mo., has been promoted to the rank of sergeant first class, which offers a new job as readiness noncommissioned officer for the Headquarters Company in Cape Girardeau. The unit falls under the 1140th Engineer Battalion. A readiness noncommissioned officer, or NCO, ensures daily operations for the company, including promoting and overseeing weekend or annual training and keeping administrative details up to date. Before Crites' selection for this job, he was the training NCO for the 1138th Engineer Company (Sapper) in Farmington. He started his career with the Missouri National Guard in 1997. Crites enlisted into the Army in 1979 and served for five years as an infantryman. Crites was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2004 to 2005 and also was one of the many Missouri National Guard soldiers who went to Louisiana in support of Hurricane Katrina cleanup operations. He graduated from Farmington Senior High School in 1980 and is married to the former Kimberly Sue King of Farmington. The couple has three children. Crites is the son of the late Patricia Lou Snyder of Perryville, Mo., and Tom Crites of Ironton, Mo.

-- From staff reports