Medal of Honor recipient Ralph Puckett and his wife, Jeannie, had profound impact on new Fort Moore commander
FORT MOORE, Ga. (WRBL) — Fort Moore has a new commanding general – and Maj. Gen. Colin Tuley is no stranger to the post and Columbus.
During a Friday morning change of command, Maj. Gen. Curtis Buzzard relinquished command to Tuley.
Tuley comes to Fort Moore from the XVIII Army Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty where he was deputy commander.
But he spent about 10 years of his career in the 75th Ranger Regiment and the 3rd Ranger Battalion here on Fort Moore.
And he and his wife have deep connections to Medal of Honor recipient the late Col. Ralph Puckett and his wife, Jeannie.
It was here as a young lieutenant and platoon leader that he met Col. Ralph Puckett, who was the honorary colonel of the Ranger regiment.
Col. Puckett was going to walk a live-fire exercise with Tuley. The new general remembers the story this way: “So we linked up later on that day and Col. Puckett could obviously tell I was not comfortable with this. He walks up to me and says, ‘Lt. Tuley, I have seen a couple of firefights in my life. I think I can handle this.’”
That started a long mentorship and there are lessons taught by Puckett that Tuley brings back Fort Moore.
“His famous quote, ‘Be proud but never satisfied,'” Tuley said. “You can apply that to everything in life – from your family to your personal life to your professional life. And that has been a basis on how I approach everything.”
The mentorship turned into a deep family friendship.
“We have known them for over 20 years,” Jeannie Puckett said. “My husband mentored Colin and Jin and I have been good friends. They are friends of the family. We are really excited. Columbus will benefit by having them here.”
Tuley talked about that relationship in his remarks after assuming command. Jeannie Puckett sat with the family and even rode in the truck with Tuley to the ceremony.
“I didn’t lie in my remarks,” Tuley said afterward. “He and Jeannie took in my family. If you listen really closely, it was not really an adoption of me, it was an adoption of them. I was gone. He and Jeannie showed compassion, the showed caring about the people.”
And that made a lasting impact on Tuley and helped shape some of his leadership style.
“We we can’t forget that — it’s about the people,” Tuley said. … We call it a ‘say, do gap.’ You can’t talk about family, you can’t talk about people if you are not actually doing it. Col. Ralph Puckett and Jeannie showed that each and every day.”
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