At left, a young Jody Anderson is pictured in uniform during his Army days. At right, Anderson (far right), who owns Anderson Funeral Homes of Marshalltown with additional locations in Conrad and Gladbrook, is pictured alongside his business partner Brandon Lenehan and Marshalltown Police Department Capt. Chris Jones after making a donation for a plaque that commemmorates deceased MPD officers and K9 units. Anderson enlisted in the Army in 1988 and spent 43 days on active duty during Operation Desert Storm.

(Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories profiling local veterans leading up to Veterans Day on Nov. 11.)

Jody Anderson of Marshalltown has been the owner-operator of three central Iowa funeral homes since 2012.

He is a husband and father too.

He credits the discipline he learned in the United States Army for helping make for a successful business career while developing all-important life skills.

“I would enlist in the United States Army all over again because I learned discipline,” he said. “The home life I had did not give me that. In the Army I learned 10 minutes early is on time, and on time is late.”

Anderson, a Clinton native, enlisted after graduating from high school in 1988.

“I was not ready for college nor was I ready to pay for it,” he said.

One of those factors that enticed Anderson, he said, was that a two-year active duty enlistment with six-year inactive reserve commitment allowed him to pick one of five “combat arms” assignments.

“It was 1988, and I was not concerned about going to war,” he said. “I looked at all of them (the combat arms job assignments) and riding around in a tank looked pretty cool. I was an 18-year old kid.”

He decided being part of a tank crew would be interesting and it was.

Anderson was assigned to Fort Irwin, 25 miles from Barstow, California.

“We dressed up in mock Russian uniforms,” he said. “We drove old Sherman tanks with fiberglass fittings over them to resemble a T-72 Soviet Union tank. We played a hi-tech version of ‘laser tag.’ Various units from throughout the United States would come to Ft. Irwin fighting “fake” wars. For example, U.S. Marines would come up from Camp Pendleton (Oceanside, California) to train.”

In the summer of 1990 his two year active duty enlistment expired.

He was traveling back to Iowa in a car with a friend from Clinton when he learned from a radio report Iraq had invaded Kuwait.

“Should we go back?” … I joked with my friend,” Anderson said. “It was a surreal moment.”

They did not.

Shortly thereafter, Anderson had started classes at Clinton Community College (CCC) in Clinton, while his friend had enrolled at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

However, President George H.W. Bush soon called up Army reservists and Anderson and his buddy quickly found themselves on the way to Ft. Knox, Kentucky in preparation for deployment overseas.

“We spent 11 days at Ft. Knox and were shipped overseas for the war – “Operation Desert Storm.”

The ground war ended in 100 hours.

Anderson and his fellow reservists were in Germany ready to go if needed.

They were not, and after 43 days active duty for Desert Storm, he returned to the United States and resumed studies at CCC.

A career in auto sales followed.

He decided to pursue a career in mortuary science at the recommendation of a friend and has found that career fulfilling.

“I am on call 24-hours in my business,” he said. “The military taught me how to prepare for that. The military taught so much about responsibility and doing one’s job.

It was a huge, eye-opening learning curve and I would do it all over again.”