(La Porte, IN) - She grew up in Michigan City and later played a role in gathering intelligence used to help the president decide the next military steps to take in the Middle East.

 

Anna Lloyd, who retired from the U.S. Marines as a master sergeant in 2018, was the featured speaker during the 37th annual Veterans Day ceremony before a large crowd at the Civic Auditorium in La Porte.

 

Lloyd, a 1997 graduate of Michigan City High School, said all veterans whether in combat or not deserve “immense gratitude” for helping to defend the country and the personal sacrifices their acts of selflessness that came with it.

 

“These brave individuals wrote a blank check made payable to the United States of America in the amount up to and including their own lives for the freedoms we all have and hold so dear today,” she said.

 

Lloyd recalled her parents giving their written consent for her to join the military since she was only 17.  She knew absolutely nothing about the operations of an aircraft but was chosen by the military to become an electrician on helicopters.

 

Five years later, she was given the task of inspecting repairs on helicopters and giving her stamp of approval if she felt the work was good enough for them to return to the air.

 

“Lives depended upon my technical skills,” she said.

 

From the very beginning, Lloyd credited her instructors for making sure she would become a master at her craft.

 

“I was in awe of their expertise and leadership,” she said.

 

In response to the terrorist attacks at home in September of 2001, she was deployed twice to Iraq.  After returning, Lloyd said she was tired and thought about retiring but stayed when offered a chance to be trained at fixing various equipment used for gathering intelligence against the enemy.  

 

She put her new skills to work during two more deployments to Iraq.  On one occasion, Lloyd recalled the role she played in obtaining cell phone data, which was translated and sent back to military officials and the president to help decide the next step in the conflict.

 

She later served in Congress bringing awareness to issues impacting veterans and military security.  Toward the end of her military career, Lloyd said she was in the Pentagon helping to formulate the best possible military advice for consideration by the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Security Council and the president.

 

“When I say these people are the best of the best in the military, they are. Intelligence doesn’t come close to describing these people,” she said.

 

Lloyd is now a volunteer with Task Force Argo, a group of 240 private citizens across the globe working to get U.S. citizens and U.S. allies in Afghanistan out of the country.  They were left behind in 2021 when the U.S. pulled its long time military presence out of the foreign nation.

 

Initially, Task Force Argo was able to get about 2,100 people out of the terrorism ravaged country.  More than 7,000 other Afghans have been relocated to other countries since the group partnered with the U.S. State Department on the effort.

 

Lloyd ended her 15 minute speech by urging school children in attendance to get involved whether be through the military or some other cause.

 

“However you choose to serve, please just serve and serve in the most self-less ways,” she said.

 

Lloyd now lives downstate in Carmel with her husband, Jeremy, who she met while they early in their military careers.  The couple has three children.