Coe, Maguire and Westfall were among 12 service members honored Saturday evening at the Salt Lake Chamber's annual military salute. Yet the honorees were but representatives.

The chamber's annual event is meant not just to honor individuals, but to inspire a community of business owners to honor the tens of thousands of service members and veterans and family members who make up Utah's military community.

"I hope you leave with renewed hope for our country, with a renewed gratitude to those who serve and with a tear in your eye every time you see the colors," the chamber's military affairs committee chairman, Al Walker, told an audience of hundreds at the black-tie event.

"It is very easy to be patriotic around those who represent what patriotism truly is in this country," chamber President Lane Beattie said of the dozens who attended the event in military dress uniform.

"We can simply say 'Thank you' . . . that is as simple as we can make it, and yet it is truly heartfelt."

Kathleen Close, who assumed command at Hill Air Force Base earlier this year, was the event's keynote speaker.

Close, who recently was promoted to major general, making her one of the three highest-ranking service members in the state, spoke about the way the nation's current military obligations have changed the way service members are used - and what service members must sacrifice for those obligations.

"Our deployment requirements have gone up," she said of the overseas missions being served by Air Force personnel. "They've gone up 400 percent."

In addition to being saddled with more deployments, Close noted, service members have had to take on a greater variety of responsibilities. In the Air Force, for instance, thousands of airmen have taken on "in lieu of" combat jobs - roles traditionally assigned to the Army.

"We are going to continue to do this until it is time to go home," she said. "And we know this is a long war."

mlaplante@sltrib.com