Tuesday night, Putnam County native, Major General Dave Evans announced his candidacy for Congress in a speech to the Putnam County Republican Party.

“I am here this evening,” Evans said speaking to a standing-room only crowd, “to announce that I will seek the Republican nomination to challenge liberal Democrat Bart Gordon for the privilege of representing Tennesseans who reside in the Sixth Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.”

The general election will b be held in November, 2010, but if we are to succeed in our goal of beating liberal Bart Gordon, then we must begin now.”

Evans has a distinguished career of military and community service.

He is a Major General in the United States Army Reserve, and was employed in his civilian career first a the United States Post Office and later at the Department of Defense.

In 1990, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his service in the Persian Gulf War, and in 1996, he served in Bosnia and Croatia.

Evans’ military career began in 1968, when he graduated from Upperman High School in Putnam County and two days later enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.

In 1972, he transferred to the Tennessee Army National Guard, and since 1979, he has served in the United States Army Reserve.

Some say that a person learns most of their life lessons in the first five years of life.

Born and raised outside of Baxter, Tennessee, in the Gentry Community, Dave was the youngest of eight children.

Like many families of that era, Dave’s father did what he had to survive, from being a farmer to working in a steel mill.

His mother worked at a dairy farm.

The hard times and frugality were lessons early taught, but while Dave Evans wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he ended up with two silver stars.

The early lessons of hard work, frugality, and creative means just to “get by” can generate important underpinnings of good leadership.

But education, experience, and wisdom garnered through life’s challenge make up the strategic intelligence, tactile intuitiveness, and political sophistry necessary to have the senior command of Major General, in the United States Army Reserve.