Brothers to retire from Iowa National Guard after ‘remarkable’ careers

CEDAR RAPIDS - In the spring of 1986, Todd and Ryan Aarhus sat together in their parent's home in Cedar Rapids and discussed what an National Guard recruiter had just pitched to them.

'It wasn't anything we definitely thought we'd do,” Ryan Aarhus said. 'I was kind of joking but said, ‘Hey Todd, if you do it, I'll do it' and he said, ‘Okay, let's do this.' ”

On June 5 of that year, the brothers enlisted together in the Iowa National Guard. Now, after 31 years of service, the brothers are preparing to retire.

'A career of serving in the military 30 years or more is pretty remarkable and to have two brothers that enlist on the same day and retire on the same day, that's the first that I've heard of it,” said Col. Greg Hapgood, director of public affairs for the Iowa National Guard. 'It is very significant.”

Lt. Col. Todd Aarhus and 1st Sgt. Ryan Aarhus have walked a similar path in life as each brother dedicated himself to a career of service to community and country.

Both attended and graduated from Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids in the late 1980s and pursued higher education at Kirkwood Community College.

Todd Aarhus, 51, of Ankeny, went on to earn his bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Mount Mercy College in 1994. Ryan Aarhus, 48, of Robins, later attended Upper Iowa University, earning his bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 2014.

'There was a little bit of competition and rivalry there,” Todd Aarhus said. 'We do a lot of the same things together and we continue to do a lot of the same things. We have a lot of shared interests and are more alike than we are different.”

After enlisting in the Iowa Army National Guard, the brothers' paths diverged but both remained dedicated to service.

Todd Aarhus trained to become an officer and held many positions throughout his career. He attended a variety of military schools and received many awards for his hard work.

Ryan Aarhus joined the Guard as a split option, which meant he completed basic training between his junior and senior year of high school. He eventually joined an airborne unit and worked his way up to becoming a jumpmaster, ending his career with 87 military parachute jumps.

Ryan Aarhus also attended a variety of military schools and received multiple awards for his dedicated service.

'It's a good feeling between the two of us that we accomplished a major career from serving in the military and that we learned so much,” Todd Aarhus said.

Both brothers were deployed during their 31 years of service.

Todd Aarhus was deployed three times, first to Kosovo in 2004 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, then from 2005 to 2007 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and then again to Kosovo from 2015 to 2017. Ryan Aarhus' first deployment was stateside and he was deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2005 to 2007.

It's probably no surprise that the brothers followed a similar path for their civilian jobs as well. Both are troopers for the Iowa State Patrol.

'We're pretty proud of them not only for their service to the country and the guard but their service to the state of Iowa as troopers,” said Harriet Aarhus, Todd and Ryan's mother.

After stepping away from the National Guard, the brothers look forward to dedicating more time to their jobs and spending time with their family, which also includes their father Gwyneth, sister Kylene Dunham and niece Ashleigh Dunham.

A retirement ceremony for the brothers takes place at 10 a.m. Sunday at Camp Dodge in Johnston.

'They've both enjoyed long and distinguished careers because they did the hard things. They went to schools that were challenging, they picked things that they really enjoyed, and they made a lot of relationships with people who helped them and then they mentored others,” Hapgood said. 'Really, their careers are marked by doing all the right things and we couldn't be prouder to say that they were part of our organization.”

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