'Incredibly blessed'

COEUR d’ALENE — Playing football and going hunting in his youth in North Idaho prepared John Cook for a successful military career.

“It’s amazing the values that we learn, or that I was raised with growing up in Dalton Gardens, how applicable that was to 30 years of service,” he said Tuesday.

A retirement ceremony was held Aug. 28 for Col. Cook at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo.

While the spotlight was on him, he pointed it to his family, those who influenced his life and career, and those who served with him.

“I’m incredibly grateful to the people in my life that helped lead me to the military and made me the man I am,” said Cook, who is heading to Coeur d’Alene this week to go hunting with his father, brother and Army buddies.

The Coeur d’Alene High School graduate was commissioned in 1991 from the United States Military Academy at West Point. His career included several duties and assignments over the years.

• In September 1997 he was assigned to 1st Brigade,1st Calvary Division at Fort Hood, Texas, where he assumed command of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment and later commanded Headquarters and Headquarters Company.

• After Command and General Staff College in June 2004, Maj. Cook returned to the 1st Bridge Combat Team, 1st Calvary Division in Eastern Baghdad for Operation Iraqi Freedom II where he served as the Brigade S1.

• Was senior reconnaissance squadron trainer at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.

• Col. Cook commanded the 181st Infantry Brigade from June 2015 to July 2017 at Fort McCoy, Wis. The brigade’s primary mission was to help build Army readiness.

• He was reassigned to Special Operations Command North at Peterson Air Force Base where he served as a director for strategy, plans and policy from 2017 to 2019.

• His awards include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service medal. He is Ranger and Airborne qualified.

He notes that while he was an Army colonel, his last assignment was at an Air Force base.

“One of the few token Army guys,” he said, laughing.

Cook grew up playing many sports in Coeur d’Alene, with football his focus. Such were his talents and grades that in his junior and senior high school years he was recruited by the Air Force and the Army.

“I didn’t know what West Point was,” he said.

But he found out.

He also found out that being a member of teams in high school, going hunting in Idaho and being able to take care of himself in the outdoors, prepared him well for military life.

“You would be surprised at how much confidence you gain by walking around the woods with a rifle in your hands,” he said.

“Ironically, the Army, or the military, is probably the world's largest team,” Cook added.

He said the best part of military service is the people, “far and away.”

He noted that many of his friends flew in from around the country for his retirement ceremony. His family, wife Jamie and children Presley, Brice and McKinley were there, too.

Cook has been proud over the years to introduce friends and family to North Idaho’s lifestyle that he learned and loved so well growing up.

He said his parents, Larry and Kari Cook, instilled values like responsibility, integrity and resolve in him. And men like Steve Caires, a longtime Coeur d’Alene educator who died in 2016 and wrote a recommendation letter for him to West Point, had a strong influence and for that, he is grateful.

“I’ve been incredibly blessed with the people my family and I have come to know,” he said.

The military life takes a toll on family, Cook said, as his duties took him to Egypt, Korea, Bosnia and Iraq. His wife and kids made sacrifices for him and he is both thankful and proud.

“When I serve, everybody in my family has served,” he said.

His retirement ceremony was emotional, a time that isn't easy for him to talk about, but he looks back on his career with pride.

He knows he did his best for his country. He made a difference. He hopes he made it better.

“When you compete, you want to leave it all on the field, all on the court,” he said. “I feel like I left it all on the field,”

Now, he looks forward to life without the military. Cook makes it very clear he is excited at the opportunities ahead and feels good about the next chapter. And while he earned many prestigious titles in his distinguished career, there is one more he said he is very determined to win.

“World’s best dad.”