During the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, General Oliver Smith famously said that he's not retreating, only advancing in a different direction.

The Hon. Judge Frank LaBuda, who is retiring as Sullivan County Court Judge after some 23 years on the bench, said that he too is advancing in another direction.

More than 300 people filled the conference room at The Sullivan Event Center in Rock Hill on Friday night for the Sullivan County Bar Association's annual holiday party and to toast the evening's guest of honor -- Judge LaBuda.

President of the Sullivan County Bar Association Danielle Jose-Decker welcomed former District Attorney Joseph Jaffe as Master of Ceremonies. The evening features kind words from current Judges Michael McGuire, Mark Meddaugh and Stephan Schick, as well as remarks from New York State Senator Jen Metzger.

Judge Meddaugh spoke of all the lives Judge LaBuda has affected from behind the bench, while Erika LaBuda spoke warmly of her father's influence throughout her own life.

Judge LaBuda thanked the support of those who elected him three times to the highest trial level court in New York State.

“My oath as an Officer in the US Army over 40 years ago has been my guidepost in life and on the bench till this day -- To serve the Constitution and Laws of our Nation, and to serve and protect the people from all enemies, foreign and domestic,” LaBuda said. “Today we face a clear and present enemy -- the domestic enemies of drugs, violent criminals and the opioid scourge upon our children. To these domestic enemies we must show no quarter.”

LaBuda served as a captain in the United States Army from 1975 to 1978. He voluntarily returned to active duty again during the Persian Gulf War, serving as a major in Operation Desert Storm.

Prior to becoming a county court judge, LaBuda was a litigator and trial attorney in public and private practice for 20 years. He served as Chief Assistant District Attorney of Sullivan County for over ten years, prosecuting thousands of criminal cases in that time.

During his time on the bench, LaBuda has authored more than 205 published decisions that have provided legal precedent for other trial judges on constitutional, statutory and common law issues of evidence, trial procedure, criminal, civil and negligence law.

“I can say with quite some authority that Judge LaBuda, out of all county court judges throughout New York State, has more published opinions than any other county court judge,” said State Supreme Court Justice Stephan Schick.

“If you're qualified to be president of the United States at 78-years-old, I have to wonder why Judge LaBuda isn't qualified to be Sullivan County Court Judge at 70-years-old,” Schick told the crowd assembled. “It's my sincere hope that Judge LaBuda has more public service that he can render ...”

Appointed by the Chief Judge of New York, LaBuda established two specialized courts in Sullivan County -- drug court which provides diversion programs to defendants with substance abuse issues, and VetTrack which helps to address the issues of criminal defendants who are veterans.

“Certainly himself as a veteran understood that folks saw things in Vietnam, the Middle East, Kuwait and Iraq that none of us want to think about ... They brought that home,” Judge McGuire said. “Judge LaBuda was there to say ‘I understand what you've been through because I've been there.'”

In addition to serving his own community on the bench, LaBuda has acted as an unofficial ambassador of sorts, having spent years lecturing at universities and judicial training centers throughout the United States and the world. From the Judicial Training Centre in Ljubljana, Slovenia to Judicial Academies in Serbia, Moldova and Uganda, Judge LaBuda represents the American legal system abroad as a model to emulate. LaBuda was honored for his Rule of Law Programs in East Africa by his admission into the Ugandan Judicial Officers Association.

“Our great country and our criminal justice system is based upon the rule of Law, and I am proud to serve overseas again in many countries all around our troubled World ... teaching and advising judges, prosecutors and law students on American law and trial procedures,” LaBuda said.

Whatever comes next for Judge LaBuda is tough to say, but he himself says that retirement is just not in his DNA.

“Retirement is not in my dictionary or my blood,” LaBuda said. “I don't retreat. I simply fight in another direction.”