Local horse soldier still riding

Sgt.

Logan Rubenthaler, former Colton area resident, has been serving for most of the past two years as a member of the horse cavalry detachment of the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division based at Ft.

Hood, Texas.

Rubenthaler signed up with the horse detachment after serving a 10-month tour of duty as a combat soldier in Iraq.

A recipient of the purple heart award, he was offered an assignment to the horse unit to serve out his enlistment.

The son of Randy and Linda Rubenthaler, he was raised in Pullman until the family moved to the Colton area.

He graduated with the 2006 class at Pullman High School and then worked for farmers in the Colton-Uniontown area before joining the Army.

Sgt.

Rubenthaler served the first half of his enlistment in a combat battalion before getting the opportunity to join the horse unit.

He did not develop an interest in horses as a youngster, but has since become an enthusiast and now owns two of his own horses.

The Ft.

Hood unit recently returned from an 11-day trip to California where they appeared in the Rose Parade.

They are one of two horse units remaining in the Army.

The other unit, based in the Washington, D.C., area, participates in ceremonial assignments in the area.