Colonel David R. Lyon, First BYU Army ROTC Professor of Military Science (1968-72)
Colonel David R. Lyon was born 21 June 1920 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He graduated from the University of Utah in 1941, and entered active duty in the U.S. Army in January 1942. He holds a master’s in business administration from George Washington University in Washington DC.
After combat duty in Korea, where he was decorated with the Bronze Star and promoted, Lyon served on the staff of the Far East Command in Tokyo. He later served on the staff of the Commander in Chief, Pacific, in Hawaii.
Lyon served four years as an instructor at the Artillery School in Fort Sill, Oklahoma; four years as a faculty member at the Command and General Staff College in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas; three years on the faculty of Cornell University in Cornell, New York; and four years as the professor of Military Science at Brigham Young University.
Lyon came to Brigham Young University from command of a Nike-Hercules air defense group in New York. Colonel Lyon inaugurated the BYU Army ROTC program in 1968. The university had established the Air Force ROTC program when the Air Force became a separate service after WWII and was authorized by Congress to initiate Air Force ROTC programs at a number of institutions. They provided additional officers for the Air Force to augment those commissioned at the Air Force Academy. It was not until 1967 that the U.S. Army was authorized to add any new ROTC units, and BYU applied for and was approved to host one of them. One of Lyon’s sons was a cadet at Brigham Young University and was commissioned through that program while Lyon served as the professor of Military Science there.
He directed the program until his retirement from active duty in 1972. A former chief of staff of the U.S. Army, General Harold K. Johnson, gave the commissioning address at BYU that year. General Johnson congratulated Lyon on the success of the program and presented him with a second award of the Legion of Merit. Lyon remained at the university for six more years in University Relations, and served as president of the Provo Chamber of Commerce from 1978 to 1979 and chairman and board member of the American Red Cross for eighteen years, among other areas of civilian service.
Lyon served in a variety of church callings throughout his life. Some of them include branch president in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, bishop in Oahu, Hawaii, bishop in the BYU Ninth Ward, and High Priest group leader. He and his wife Cherie Lyon married in the Salt Lake Temple 11 May 1942. They served a church mission to the French Island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean 1981–1983. They have four sons, a daughter, twelve grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.
Colonel Lyon died March 19, 2002. His wife Cherie Lyon’s death preceded his by only a few months.
Colonel Bartley E. Day (1972-77)
Colonel Bartley E. Day was born in Fairview, Utah, in 1923. His first exposure to military life was in the Junior ROTC at South High School in Salt Lake City. During his senior year he was the battalion commander of the South Battalion. At the end of the year, he was chosen to command the Salt Lake City High Schools Regiment and was appointed cadet colonel.
Day attended the University of Utah for two years and participated in ROTC there prior to enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1942. He won one of fifty-two Army at large appointments to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and graduated in 1949 as second lieutenant, field artillery.
He attended the Ground General School in Fort Riley, Kansas; the Air Defense School at Fort Bliss, Texas; and the Field Artillery School in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and then joined the 517th Armored Field Artillery Battalion in Germany in 1950. He commanded a Field Artillery Battery prior to returning to the United States in 1954 moving thence to his first duty with ROTC as an Assistant PMS at Colorado State University.
In 1957, Day moved to Thule, Greenland, where he commanded Battery B, 548th Air Defense Artillery. Returning to Fort Sill again in 1958, he was an instructor in field artillery gunnery and then the chief of the Rocket and Missile Research Branch of the Research Division at the school.
In 1961–1962, he attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1962, Day assumed new duties at the newly-formed U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, and for the first year activated and settled the new headquarters prior to assuming duties in the Field Artillery Research Division.
Following a student officer tour at the Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia, Day was assigned to the G3 Division, Central Army Group (NATO) in Germany, working with officers of many other nations throughout three years. During this period, he also attended the NATO Combined Operations School at Old Sarum, England, and also earned his master’s degree in international relations from Boston University, attending at Heidelberg, Germany. In 1967, he returned to Fort Sill again to command the Third Battalion, Thirtieth Field Artillery for eighteen months and then served as deputy commander of the 214th Field Artillery Group.
In 1969, Day joined the Joint Military Assistant Advisor Group, Korea as Secretary of the Joint Staff. Upon return to the United States, he was promoted to colonel in August 1970 and assumed his duties as chief of the Plans, Programs and Operations Division, and as deputy chief of staff of the personnel at the First Army Headquarters in Fort Mead, Maryland.
Day was appointed as the professor of military science at Brigham Young University on 1 July 1972, where he served for five years and then retired from the military to serve for eleven more years at BYU as assistant dean of student life and career education counselor. While serving in this position, he received his Ph.D. in higher education administration.
He served in several callings in the LDS Church. In addition to serving numerous times in his favorite calling as a teacher, he was a bishop, branch president, counselor, member of the stake presidency, member of a mission presidency, and a High Council member. He was active in his community as well, serving as president, vice president and secretary for Kiwanis International, and district chairman for the Republican Party.
Day was awarded the Army Commendation Medal with two Oakleaf Clusters, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, and the Meritorious Service Medal for his exceptional performance of duty in addition to several other service awards.
At the age of 71, while living in Orem, Utah, Day died after a long struggle with diabetes. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Irene, and three daughters, Victoria Hamilton, Janice Wright, and Dean Day. He was preceded in death by a son Carl and daughter Valerie.
Colonel Donald G. Andrews (1977-80)
Colonel Donald G. Andrews was born in 1932 in Miami, Florida. He graduated from high school in 1950 and attended the University of Florida from 1950 to 1954. He was captain of the cross country team and the track team, which won the Southeastern Conference Championship in 1953. He obtained his commission in the U.S. Army through involvement with Army ROTC, was commissioned a field artillery second lieutenant, and received a B.A. in psychology June 1954.
Andrews was called to active duty December 1954 and attended Field Artillery Officer’s Basic Course at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, and the U.S. Army Primary and Advance Aviator Training prior to his first troop duty assignment with the Third Infantry Division at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Following his aviation troop duty in 1955–1958, Andrews was transferred to Kitzingen, Germany, for three years of troop duty with the First Battalion of the Ninth Artillery. He served with the battalion from 1958 to 1961 in various assignments, including battery commander, and was promoted to the rank of captain in 1960.
From 1961–1962, Andrews attended the Career Officers Field Artillery Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Fort Bliss, Texas, and upon completion was assigned to Headquarters, Third U.S. Army, at Fort McPherson, Georgia. From 1962–1963, while at Third Army, Andrews was assigned to the Operations and Training Branch of the Aviation Division at G-3.
Andrews served in the Republic of Vietnam on the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, as an action officer in J-3, current operations, from 1963–1964. Upon his return from Vietnam he served for a year with the John F. Kennedy Center for Special Warfare at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, and the next year as an instructor pilot at the U.S. Army Primary Helicopter School at Ft. Wolters, Texas.
Following his promotion to major in 1966, Andrews attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. After graduating from Ft. Leavenworth, Andrews returned to Vietnam where he commanded the Seventeenth Assault Helicopter Company in support of the 101st Airmobile Division in the Northern provinces. Upon his return from Vietnam, Andrews was assigned to the Pentagon as a branch chief in the Operations and Training Division of the National Guard Bureau. While serving in this assignment he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1969.
Andrews was then assigned to the Fourth Infantry Division at Ft. Carson, Colorado, where he commanded a field artillery battalion and was the division artillery executive officer. Andrews attended the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, in 1974–1975 and earned an MS in communications from Shippensburg State College. Upon graduating from the War College, he was assigned to the U.S. Army Readiness Group at Ft. Douglas, Utah, from 1975–1977. He was promoted to the rank of colonel April 1976. Andrews was designated as the professor of military science at Brigham Young University July 1977.
Andrews is a master army aviator. His decorations include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal w/V, Joint Services Commendation Medal and the Army Commendation Medal.
Following his retirement from active duty December 1980, Andrews accepted employment with Rocky Mountain Helicopters. Initially hired as director of safety, he was soon promoted to vice president of operations and was responsible for helicopter activities in three major divisions of the company with contracts in thirty-six states as well as overseas. During his employment with Rocky Mountain Helicopters, he served on the board of directors of the Helicopter Association International in Washington, DC.
Following a successful fourteen years with Rocky Mountain, he again retired. He and his wife Marilyn served a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the California Anaheim Mission.
Now fully retired, he enjoys the three R’s: reading, running and racquetball—as well as the opportunity for extensive travel and continued church and community service.
Andrews also stays involved in the operation of his apple orchards in Wenatchee, Washington, and serves on a grower’s advisory committee in the industry.
The Andrews have four children and fourteen grandchildren.
Lt. Colonel John Thomas T. Kallunki (1980-83)
Lieutenant Colonel John T. Kallunki was born in 1936 in Portland, Oregon. He graduated from Bell High School in Bell, California, in 1954 and attended California State Polytechnic College at San Luis Obispo, where he majored in agricultural journalism and was active in student government and with student publications. He worked for a series of newspapers, including The Los Angeles Examiner and The Los Angeles Times. In 1961 Kallunki was editor of the Buena Park Pony Express, a weekly newspaper in Orange County, California, when he was informed that he would be drafted.
He entered the Army as a private at Fort Ord, California, where he was assigned to the public information office following basic training. He worked as assistant editor of the post newspaper. In 1963 he attended Infantry Officers Candidate School and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry. His first assignment as an officer was with the First Psychological Warfare Battalion at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. While there he participated in field training exercises in California, Arizona, Alaska, and South Carolina.
Kallunki also participated in military assistance activities during the Selma to Montgomery March and the U.S. intervention in the Dominican Republic in 1965. Kallunki was then assigned to the Fifth Special Forces Group in the MeKong Delta of Viet Nam, where he served as executive officer and later as detachment commander of a special forces operational A detachment. Upon his return from Viet Nam, he commanded a basic combat training unit at Fort Ord, California, and later was an assistant to the chief of staff of that installation.
Following attendance at the Infantry Officers Advanced Course at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1968, Kallunki returned to Viet Nam as assistant public information officer for the First Calvary Division (airmobile). Upon his return to the U.S. in 1969, he completed his work for a bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Soon after, he was assigned as assistant professor of military science at Brigham Young University where he taught the MS III class. While at BYU, he earned a master’s degree in communications (public relations and journalism).
After leaving BYU, he was assigned to work with the U.S. Army chief of staff and then as a public affairs officer. He was then assigned as adjutant (S-1) to the Second Brigade, Second Infantry Division in South Korea. He then was assigned as a public affairs officer on the staff of the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces Europe in Belgium where he served until October 1980.
His final assignment in the army was as professor of military science at BYU, where he endeared himself to cadets, ROTC staff, and university administrators with his personal concern for each cadet, professionalism, integrity, good humor, faith, and spiritual discernment. Following army retirement in 1983, he was employed at BYU in the College of Student Life and held various positions until June 1994 when he left his position as assistant dean of students to serve as president of the Ivory Coast Abidjan Mission in West Africa. After serving two and a half years, Kallunki was diagnosed with kidney cancer and died August 1997.
Colonel Brigham S. Shuler (1983-87)
Colonel Brigham S. Shuler was born 17 December 1941, in Bristol, Florida. He is married to the former Charlotte Hutto and they have two children, Mark and Beth.
In January 1959, Shuler enlisted in the Regular Army. He completed officer candidate school in Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1962 and was assigned to the Fourth Armored Division, Europe, where he served as platoon leader, company commander, and on the brigade staff. From Europe, he went to Viet Nam with the First Infantry Division where he served as executive officer and company commander. He was wounded and medically evacuated to the U.S. From December 1965–June 1966 he was a patient at Dewitt Army Hospital at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. When he was released, Shuler was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he served as chief instructor for the Small Missile Team, Weapons Department, at the Infantry School until December 1967.
After Infantry School, he returned to Viet Nam with the First Brigade, Fifth Infantry Division, and served from September 1968–October 1969 as assistant brigade operations officer and company commander. In November 1969 he returned to Fort Benning, Georgia, and became operations and executive officer to the First Battalion, Fifty-eighth Infantry. He moved to the Twenty-ninth Infantry and remained there for six months before being sent to Brigham Young University, where he received a BA in political science in 1972. He later earned a master’s degree in business management from Central Michigan University.
From 1972–1977 he was assigned to the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command in Washington, DC, as chief of public affairs. From August 1977–January 1978 he attended the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. He then served as public information officer at the Office of the Secretary of Defense in Washington, DC, until November 1979, when he became commander of the Fort Knox District, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky. In August 1983 he left Fort Knox to assume command as professor of military science at BYU and served in that position until May 1987. From BYU he went back to Fort Knox, where he was promoted to colonel and later retired to his home state of Florida.
Among the awards and honors Shuler has received are the Silver Star, Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart, defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Army Achievement Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Vietnam Honor Medal (Second Class), Vietnam Civic Action Honor Medal, four Vietnam Crosses of Gallantry with Gold Star and Palm, numerous service medals, Combat Infantry Badge, and Secretary of Defense Staff Badge.
Civilian awards include Master M-Man (achievement award), being nominated by BYU as “Outstanding Young Man of America” in 1978, and being listed in “Who’s Who in the West” 1986–1987.
Shuler has also been editor of a quarterly technical journal, was published in professional military journals, written as a freelance author, served as a member of mass communication committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, served as personal representative of the Secretary of Defense, and directed all public affairs of the airlifting of human remains from Jonestown, Guyana.
Shuler’s church service has included serving as a bishop’s counselor, branch president, ward clerk, stake clerk, stake executive secretary, serviceman’s group leader, gospel doctrine teacher, and stake counselor.
Lt. Colonel John Norton Jr. (1987-91)
Lieutenant Colonel John Norton Junior’s goal is “to live with integrity and make a difference in the lives of others.” To this end he served as an Army officer from June 1970–September 1992. Several highlights of his career include the following: serving as an advisor with the Vietnamese Airborne Division in RVN; commanding an aero-rifle platoon with the Second Armored Cavalry Regiment in Germany patrolling the borders of East Germany and Czechoslovakia on ground and as a helicopter pilot; commanding an airborne company in Italy; serving as a battalion executive officer and brigade operations officer in the Seventh Infantry Division (light); and serving as the professor of military science at Brigham Young University from 1987–1991.
Upon retiring from the military in 1992, Norton worked as a consultant and facilitator for the Covey Leadership Center’s Washington, DC, affiliate from 1992–1994. Also in 1994, he was the deputy project manager for the World Bank, traveling and training business leaders in Kazakhstan. In 1996, he helped create the Center for Organizational Excellence (COE), a consulting division of the Byrd School of Business at Shenandoah University. He served there as director of learning and innovation, working with businesses and educational organizations in the Northern Shenandoah Valley.
He departed COE in August 1998 to join First Bank, where he serves as a member of their executive committee and as vice president of human resources and marketing.
Norton is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and holds Masters of Arts degrees in international relations from the University of Southern California and in organizational behavior from BYU. He is also a graduate of the Army War College.
He feels his greatest work is within the walls of his home, where he and his wife Cindy are the proud parents of six active children.
Lt. Colonel Paul M. Searle (1991-93)
Lieutenant Colonel Paul M. Searle was the professor of military science at Brigham Young Univerisity from June 1991–June 1993. He retired from active duty in August 1993.
Searle was commissioned in 1968, through officer candidate school in the Adjutant General Corps. He holds both a B.A. in dramatics and a master’s degree in production television from BYU.
His military schooling includes Infantry and Amor Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, and personnel management and military personnel officer training. He is a 1983 graduate of Command and General Staff College.
During his twenty-five years of active service, he served in a variety of command assignments, including one year as combat infantryman in Vietnam, three years in Germany, and fourteen years in adjutant general duty positions, including branch chief of the U.S. Army Military Personnel Center (US Total Army Personnel) from 1983–1987, adjutant general, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, from 1987–88, and the director of personnel and community activities in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, from 1988–1991.
Searle has received numerous awards and decorations, including the Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service (four OLC), Army Commendation Medal (two OLC), Good Conduct Medal, foreign awards and decorations, and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. He was decorated for service in Vietnam.
After retiring from active duty, Searle became a co-owner of Round Top, Inc. (1993–1995). In 1993 he also became owner of Craft Sto L.L., a national distributor for Nutra-Biostimulants. He also serves as vice president of marketing for Utah Valley Farms Inc., a producer of Nutra-Biostimulants.
Searle and his wife Nancy are the parents of six children: Dorey is married with five children; Carl is married; Airaminta is married with two children; David is married with two children; Benjamin; and Sean Paul. Searle and Nancy live in Vernal, Utah.
Lt. Colonel Joseph L. Allred (1993-95)
Lieutenant Colonel Joseph L. (Ren) Allred was the professor of military science at Brigham Young University from August 1993–September 1995. He retired from active duty March 1996.
He was commissioned in 1972 through the University of Utah’s Army ROTC program. He holds both a bachelor’s degree in recreation administration and a master’s degree in mass communications and journalism from the University of Utah.
He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College. During more than twenty-three years of active service, he served in a variety of command assignments, from battery command to commanding an Artillery Group in the Republic of Turkey during Operation Provide Comfort, where he was instrumental in closing the U.S. Army installations as part of the SALT II treaty. He also served in both NATO and U.S. Army staff assignments as a general staff officer and Public Affairs Officer. He was the chief of the Army’s Media Relations Branch at the Pentagon during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He completed the Army’s Public Affairs Officer and Senior Public Affairs Officer Courses, and Advanced Public Affairs Training, as well as the NATO Information Officer’s Course.
Allred attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, as a lieutenant. While a student there, he studied the Turkish language. He subsequently spent more than nine years of his military career on assignments in Turkey and the Balkan region. He was the Army’s liaison in Istanbul during the Iranian hostage crisis of 1980.
Allred has received numerous awards and decorations, including the Legion of Merit (two OLC), Defense Meritorious Service
Medal, Meritorious Service (two OLC), Army Commendation Medal (two OLC), Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal (OLC), Southwest Asia Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Army Superior Unit Award, Overseas Service Ribbon (four), and Army General Staff Identification Badge.
After his retirement from active duty, he became the director of public affairs for MPRI, an Alexandria, Virginia, defense contractor and spent two years in Bosnia-Herzegovina with the U.S. State Department’s Military Stabilization Program.
He is currently a public communication consultant specializing in government communications, media relations, and crisis communications. He has worked on contracts for both the U.S. State Department and Department of Defense in Africa, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Republics. He has also provided strategic planning and strategic communications services to the commanders of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command and U.S. Army Accessions Command.
Allred and his wife Kathleen Noble are the parents of eight children and live in Lindon, Utah.
Lt. Colonel John J. Sullivan (1995-98)
Lieutenant Colonel John Sullivan was born in Boston, Massachusetts, 17 December 1956. He was commissioned a distinguished military graduate and second lieutenant in field artillery through the ROTC program at Hofstra University June 1979.
After graduation, Sullivan attended the U.S. Army’s Rotary Wing Aviators Course and graduated as an attack helicopter pilot. His assignments included: section and platoon leader positions in the B Troop, First Squadron, Seventeenth Cavalry, Eighty-second Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, in 1980; commander, A Troop, Fifth Squadron, Seventeenth Cavalry at Ft. Hood, Texas, in 1985; assistant S3 and S1 in the First Battalion, Third Regiment, Second Armored Division in Ft. Hood, Texas in 1987; headquarters commander, S1, current operations officer, and S3 in the Flight Concepts Division at Ft. Eustis, Virginia, in 1988; chief of special operations for the Aviation Branch, Special Management Division, U.S. Army Personnel Command in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1993; professor of military science at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, in 1995; and Apache Longbow systems integrator for the Aviation Division, Force Development, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans at the Pentagon in 1998.
In 1993, Sullivan received an M.A. in national security and strategic studies from the Naval College of Command and Staff. Sullivan has also completed training at the following professional military schools: U.S. Army Force Development Course in 1998; Naval Command and Staff College in 1993; AH-64 Pilot Qualification Course in 1990; Armor Advance Course in 1983; U.S. Army Rotor Wing Qualification and Attack Helicopter Course in 1980; Field Artillery Officer Basic Course and Cannon Battery Qualification Course in 1979.
Sullivan participated in Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada in 1982.
Awards received include: Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (two OLC), Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Valorous Unit Award, Senior Aviator Wings, and Parachutist Badge.
Sullivan retired from active duty 1 September 2000 and is working for Northrop Grumman.
He is married to Lisa Marie Richan and they have three children: John Earle, James Owen, and Peter Joseph. He and his wife are converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sullivan’s church service includes serving as a second counselor in the stake presidency, bishop, member of the stake high counsel, High Priest group leader, Elder’s quorum president, temple worker, Young Men’s president, scout master and in various teaching assignments in Sunday School and Primary programs.
Lt. Colonel Donald A. Coe (1998-99)
Lieutenant Colonel Donald A. Coe is a native of Salt Lake City, Utah. He was commissioned in the Regular Army through the ROTC at the University of Utah 1978. After completing the Ordnance Officer Basic Course he attended the Explosive Ordnance Disposal School at Indian Head Naval Ordnance Station, Maryland. His assignments have mainly been in the bomb disposal and ammunition management fields.
He commanded the Fifty-second Ordnance Detachment (EOD) at Vancouver Barracks, Washington. After completing the Ordnance Officer Advance Course, he spent five years in Germany, serving first as the division ammunition officer for the Eighth Infantry Division in Bad Kreuznach. He next activated and commanded the Thirty-third Ordnance Company. Following command, Coe was the S2, S3, and the material officer to the 191st Ordnance Battalion in Mannheim, Germany. Upon returning to the United States, he earned an MBA from Babson College in Boston and attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth.
Returning to Germany, Coe was an operations officer at the Headquarters, U.S. Army-Europe in Heidelburg. He then commanded the 168th Ordnance Detachment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal Control Team) in Mannheim, Germany. He served three years in the Exercise and Oversight Branch, Defense Special Weapons Agency, in Alexandria, Virginia, working in counter nuclear terrorism.
His next assignment was as the commander, Third Ordnance Battalion (EOD) at Fort Lewis, Washington. He then served as the professor of military science at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, in 1998. Coe was then selected to attend the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. He is currently serving as the state inspector general for the Wyoming National Guard in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Coe married Debra Oaks in 1976. They have five children; their daughters Amber and Charity are both students at Brigham Young University. They have three sons still at home: Marshall, Sterling, and Lincoln.
His decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (with three Oak Leaf Clusters), the Army Commendation Medal, and Master Explosive Ordnance Disposal Badge.
Lt. Colonel Reid E. Grawe (1999-2006)
Colonel Reid Grawe is the commander of the Brigham Young University ROTC Battalion. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Regular Army 25 June 1981 and entered active duty in the Adjutant General Corps after completing a four-year ROTC program at BYU. He is a graduate of the Adjutant General Corps Basic and Advanced Officer Courses, the Combined Arms and Services Staff School, and the Command and General Staff College. He also completed the Military Comptrollership School, the U.S. Army School of Comptrollership, and the Professional Military Comptroller Course. He received his B.A. from BYU in family financial planning and counseling and his MBA from Syracuse University in organization and management.
Grawe’s initial assignment was in Germany as the detachment commander and battalion S1 (personnel manager) for the Return of Forces to Germany unit, Combat Equipment Battalion, West. Upon returning to the states, he was assigned to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, as the chief of the military personnel office and installation adjutant, and then as the personnel officer for the Eleventh Signal Brigade. Following early designation as a comptroller, he was selected for advanced civilian schooling and completed his MBA in conjunction with the U.S. Army School of Comptrollership at Syracuse University.
Grawe was assigned to Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Virginia, serving first as an installation budget analyst and then as the base operations and support (BASOPS) team chief in his role as program budget officer. He was selected to serve as the chief of the BASOPS division responsible for financial programs and operations in excess of $2 billion. He was further assigned as the chief of the BASOPS Plans and Manpower Division to handle the dynamics of the military and civilian reduction in forces.
Upon completion of Command and General Staff College, Grawe was assigned to First Corps Headquarters at Fort Lewis, Washington, as the chief of the Officer Management (Human Resources) Division. He was later selected to serve as the battalion executive officer of the Twenty-second Personnel Services Battalion and was instrumental in the successful completion of its first-ever Army Readiness, Training, and Evaluation Program.
Grawe was then selected for joint duty assignment as a comptroller for U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. He worked for the J5 Policy and Plans Directorate in the Programs and Budget Division responsible for ensuring CENTCOM’s military operations in the Persian Gulf were financed.
Grawe has been awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, three Meritorious Service Medals, the Army Commendation Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal.
He is married to Julie Ann Riley and they have six daughters, Rachel, Erika, Katrina, RuthAnn, Stefanie, and Kimberly.
Lt. Colonel Ted Leblow (2006-10)
Lt. Colonel Marc Boberg (2010-14)
Lt. Colonel Chanda Mofu (2014-16)
Lt. Colonel Forrest Cook (2016-20)
LTC Forrest V. “Chip” Cook is the Professor of Military Science at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He hails from Spring, Texas and was commissioned from the United States Military Academy in 1999. He last served as the Deputy Executive Assistant to the Commander of NORAD/USNORTHCOM.
LTC Cook completed basic officer training at Fort Benning, Georgia, graduating from the Infantry Officer Basic Course, Airborne School, and US Army Ranger School. He first served in the 25th Infantry Division, Hawaii, as a Rifle Platoon Leader, Support Platoon Leader, Long Range Surveillance Detachment Executive Officer, and Aide-de-camp to the Assistant Division Commander (Operations).
In August 2003, LTC Cook reported back to Fort Benning, Georgia to attend the Infantry Captains Career Course, and was selected as an honor graduate. In April 2004, LTC Cook moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina where he assumed Command of Alpha Company, 3/325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, and later Alpha Company 2/508th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
After command, LTC Cook earned a Master’s degree from Stanford University, and later was assigned to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he served as an Instructor and Assistant Professor, teaching Russian language and culture in the Department of Foreign Languages.
After the Command and General Staff College, LTC returned to Fort Bragg and joined the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), 82nd Airborne Division. He first served as the Operations Officer of 5-73 Cavalry, and later as the Operations Officer of 1-505th PIR. LTC Cook later served as the Brigade Operations Officer for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd (Airborne) Division.
LTC Cook has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and has earned awards and decorations to include two Bronze Stars, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, three Meritorious Service Medals, two Army Commendation Medals, four Army Achievement Medals, and various unit and campaign medals. He has also earned the Combat Infantry Badge, Expert Infantryman Badge, the Ranger Tab, Senior Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge and Pathfinder Badge.
LTC Cook is Married and his five children and is fluent in the Russian language.