Veteran’s Voices: Two veterans who served together in the Army work to unite the Bluefields
BLUEFIELD, WV (WVNS) – The Bluefields have more ties than those that meet the eye.
City of Bluefield, West Virginia Manager, Cecil Marson and Town Manager of Bluefield, Virginia, Andrew Hanson, were both special forces officers in the US Army, although in different groups. The two first met and started working together in Iraq.
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The way their deployment was set up, one of their groups would alternate with the other. One would work 6 months and then take 6 months off, giving way for the other group to take over.
"All the work they would do for 6 months, they would transition with us. We would spend a month together in the interim and you know, 'This is what is going on. These are they key things that are going on. This is who we are working with.' This became a very habitual relationship, so we got to be pretty close after that," said Marson.
Marson and Hanson were separated by just a year between their graduations from the qualification courses – Hanson graduated in 2000 and Marson in 2001.
The two would cross paths several times after their retirements from the Army, with their next place of shared work experience being at Fort Bragg.
"Usually, I might be in a job and Cecil might come in after me or Cecil might be in a job and I would come in after him. That transitioned through to our final job together. I was in a job from 2016 to 2018 and then Cecil replaced me as the garrison commander of West Point," said Hanson.
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"Transitioning with Andy, you know, he had such a good intrinsic understanding of the place because he had been to school there and then, of course he ran the place. So, it was very helpful for me. It made the transition to take the job over pretty simple," added Marson.
Every job they worked offered different components that would prepare Marson and Hanson for city and town managerial roles.
Marson would come back to his home state of West Virginia to live and was later hired as the manager of the City of Bluefield. In his role, Marson frequently collaborates with the Town of Bluefield.
In 2023, the Town of Bluefield Manager role became open. Once Marson caught word of this vacancy, he could not think of a better man for the job than his friend Hanson, who would end up getting the job.
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"Thank God it worked out and I thank God for the citizens of Bluefield, Virginia, but also for us on the West Virginia side to have such a good man across the border and I am very happy to have a confidant that I can talk to about the work and the day-to-day [and] try to make things better for everybody," said Marson.
"It is great to have a mentor in Cecil for all the work he has done and navigating all the civilian-side governmental organizations to help with grants and to help with funding. It is wonderful to have him across the line and to give our support to Bluefield, West Virginia because we are really one and the same community, [there] just happens to be a line in between us," said Hanson.
