Cheyenne's Jim Casey becomes first honorary member of 10th Special Forces Group
CHEYENNE — The 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) welcomed its first honorary member into the group Thursday.
Command Sergeant Major (Retired) Luke Emanuel, previously assigned to 10th SFG(A), said the group doesn't usually make exceptions, but that Jim Casey is an exceptional man.
Casey is the president of Halladay Motors in Cheyenne. Although he has never served in the military, it has always been an important part of his life since his father moved his family to Cheyenne to work at F.E. Warren Air Force Base.
'I'm very honored, but, you know, I'm humbled too, because the men and women that serve and what they sacrifice and what they give is what really matters,' Casey said after being inducted into the group.
Emanuel was one of the founding members of the 10th SFG(A) in 1952 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, after he returned from the Korean War. He said the group was created to continue the duties of the First Special Service Force after World War II. The FSSF was an elite joint American-Canadian commando unit attached to the United States Fifth Army.
The 10th SFG(A) is the oldest Special Forces Group in the country. Its original mission was to conduct partisan warfare, using small, independent forces, behind enemy lines in the event of a Soviet bloc invasion of western Europe.
In 1991, the 10th SFG(A) was deployed to Saudi Arabia during the first Persian Gulf War and has been heavily involved in the War on Terror, deploying consistently to Iraq and other countries. Although their operations are classified, Emanuel said the group operates in 141 different countries.
Casey was inducted as an honorary member after making a generous donation to the group's charitable fund, though he did not disclose how much that was. The charitable fund is used to support families who have lost loved ones in the SFG(A).
'He is a special person,' Emanuel said of Casey. 'He likes to contribute to different charities all over Cheyenne. He's been doing it for many years.'
The pair have been friends for around 30 years, and Emanuel said Casey sold him his first car, a Nissan Maxima.
Emanuel also presented Casey with a green beret similar to the ones members of the 10th SFG(A) wear and artwork of a Trojan horse, the insignia of the group.
According to the United States Army Special Forces Command History Office, the Trojan horse insignia was chosen to represent a similarity between the techniques of the original Trojan horse and the operations of the 10th SFG(A).
'Surreptitious entry, undercover placement for a while, and then coming out and doing your thing,' 2nd Lt. Timothy G. Gannon told the History Office.
The 10th SFG(A) is now based at Fort Carson in Colorado.
'I get the privilege to live in this great country and to have my life I have because of guys like Luke and those young men and women that are down there,' Casey said.
He previously told the WTE that Halladay's Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Nissan and Subaru dealership is involved with more than 100 charitable organizations, and has contributed more than $4 million in financial support to local organizations.
After graduating from Cheyenne's Central High School in 1979, Casey attended the University of Wyoming. One semester before graduating college, he took some time off and got a job selling cars.
Casey began his career as a finance manager at a Ford store in Cheyenne. He moved to Halladay Motors in 1990, where he remained for 10 years before taking a general sales manager position at Fremont Motor Company in Sheridan.
In 2007, Casey returned to Halladay Motors as general sales manager and worked his way from general manager to vice president to eventually buying the dealership.
In 2024, he was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year award by the Wyoming Automobile Dealers Association.
Casey is also on the board of the St. Mary's School Foundation and the Parish Pastoral Council for the Cathedral of St. Mary, and has served on the boards of the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce and the COMEA House and Resource Center homeless shelter.
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