After four decades, Idaho's senior enlisted adviser, Command Sgt. Maj. Woodall, reflects on his career

Photo By Maj. Robert Taylor | Command Sgt. Maj. Steve Woodall joined the Idaho Army National Guard in 1976 and other than a one-year gap, served until 2017, when he retired as the state's senior enlisted adviser.  

BOISE, ID, UNITED STATES

05.05.2017

Story by Capt. Robert Taylor 

Idaho Army National Guard

Command Sgt. Maj. Steve Woodall first joined the Idaho Army National Guard in 1976 for something different to do. He left the guard in 1983 over a $40 dispute in pay before deciding to reenlist a year later. On Saturday, he retires from the Idaho National Guard after serving as the state senior enlisted leader to the adjutant general since 2015.

“As the senior enlisted leader for Idaho, I have been blessed with the opportunity to serve both the Air and Army National Guard,” he said. “I have had the opportunity work with, and for, some of the greatest people I have ever been around.”

"I liked it and I was good at it."

Woodall first joined the Idaho Army National Guard in 1976 after a high school buddy called and told him that he had joined the guard that day and the he should, too. That high school buddy was Guy Thomas, who retired from the Idaho Army National Guard in 2012 as a colonel.

Woodall grew up in Emmett, Idaho, and joined the local guard unit the next day. At the time, there weren’t the same benefits offered to recruits that there are today so he joined mostly to break up the monotony of the various odd jobs he was working at the time.

Thomas and Woodall attended basic training together. The two would later deploy to Iraq together in 2011 as part of the 116th Calvary Brigade Combat Team’s command team.

“I thought it was perfect,” Woodall said. “I liked it and I was good at it,” he said of the structure and stability he found in the Army.

After his initial enlistment, Woodall transferred to the Inactive National Guard because of his job at Boise Cascade required him to work on weekends.

The Inactive National Guard required members to report once a year to ensure the unit had updated contact information. Woodall wasn’t paid the approximately $40 for reporting in 1983 so he refused to report for 1984’s muster, which resulted in his discharge from the guard.

He said Thomas continued to encourage him to reenlist after his discharge, which he eventually decided to do in December of 1984.

Woodall was hired into the Active Guard/Reserves (AGR) program in 1986 as his unit’s admin clerk. When the 116th Regiment reorganized into a brigade in 1989, admin clerk positions were removed from units and he became a training NCO for the company.

With the transformation, the 116th transitioned from the M60 battle tank to the M1 Abrams.

“There weren’t any ‘old’ tankers anymore,” he said. “It was all brand new. We were all the same. When I first got in, if you had a question about the tank, you could ask someone. All of a sudden we were all on new equipment. There was no one to go ask.”

"We just did stuff and we did it together."

In 1990, Woodall moved to Burley to become the readiness NCO, a position he held until 1996.

He recalls this assignment as both the hardest work he’s ever done and the most fun he’s ever had.

The position was challenging as he adapted to his new role in a new company. He said the unit’s comradery made it a special position.

“We just did stuff and we did it together,” he said. “I have always been blessed to be with great people, but this unit was special.”

Woodall left Burley for the Regional Training Institute where he held a number of different instructor assignments and was promoted to E8 in his final position there. He also served as first sergeant in his former company on the traditional side. Woodall said he learned a lot of technical information and a lot about the tank while assigned to the school.

His next assignment was his dream assignment: battalion master gunner.

Woodall was assigned as the 2-116th’s master gunner in November 2003. However, he would only perform this job for eight months before the unit deployed mobilized with the 116th Calvary Brigade Combat Team to support Operation Iraqi Freedom III the following spring.

“I thought it sucked every day then, but looking back on it, I remember more good things than bad,”

Since the unit did not deploy with its tanks, Woodall spent his time in the battalion’s Tactical Operations Center as an operations sergeant. The unit mobilized to Fort Bliss, Texas, and Kuwait before entering Iraq in December 2004. In Kuwait, Woodall replaced a company first sergeant for the remainder of the deployment.

His company was assigned to its own post away from Kirkuk Regional Air Base (KRAB), where the majority of the 116th Calvary Brigade Combat Team was assigned.

“It was a different experience than anyone else had” he said. “I had no peers in my area. I could only see my buddies on the KRAB. I had no one to share issues with.”

Despite not having a fellow first sergeant to speak freely about Soldier issues with, Woodall still enjoyed the assignment because he was able to leave the base and go on missions with his troops. He admits that his mother and his wife did not share his excitement about being able to do so.

“I thought it sucked every day then, but looking back on it, I remember more good things than bad,” he said.

"I just tried to take care of Soldiers."

When the unit returned home in 2005, Woodall was moved to the state’s G-1 (personnel) office as the senior services sergeant. He became the NCOIC and was promoted to sergeant major six months later.

“I had only done admin work for three years,” he said. “I felt like a fish out of water. I wondered “what are you doing to me?’ I was told they didn’t need an admin guy, they needed a first sergeant. I found I had a staff of people who knew what they were doing and so I just tried to take care of Soldiers.”

In addition to working for the G-1, he was also assigned as the 116th Brigade Special Troops Battalion command sergeant major in November 2006. He held both of these positions until being selected as the 116th Calvary Brigade Combat Team’s command sergeant major in 2008.

“I only had one job,” he said of that promotion. “But it was a big one.”

The unit was preparing to deploy to Iraq for a second time when he arrived. The brigade’s commander was COL Guy Thomas.

The two hadn’t worked together since Woodall was an admin clerk and Thomas was his company commander.

“We couldn’t have timed it any better,” he said of working alongside the person who had encouraged him to join the National Guard on two separate occasions. “There’s only one commander and one command sergeant major. There’s only one time in history we could both be in those positions. It was just luck.”

Woodall said that the brigade’s second deployment couldn’t be any further from the first deployment. The brigade had done mostly counter-insurgency operations in 2004-2005 where his unit was stationed on a half-mile base. In 2011, the deployment was to Victory Complex Base, a 27-mile complex surrounding the Baghdad International Airport. The brigade played a large role in helping to drawdown the equipment in Iraq as the U.S. withdrew from combat operations.

"It’s my time to pay back."

Woodall became the Idaho Army National Guard command sergeant major after he returned from Iraq. In this position he worked closely with Brig. Gen. John Goodale, the assistant adjutant general and commander of the Idaho Army National Guard. In 2015, he became the state senior enlisted adviser, a similar position in which he works closely with the state’s commanding general, Maj. Gen. Gary Sayler.

He said he didn’t expect to be appointed to either position and is quick to point out that his dream job was a master sergeant position. He sometimes found his final position as lonely as his first sergeant position in Iraq. He said that it isn’t a position that he aspired to, but it is a challenging position that draws from all of his past experiences.

At the state level, Woodall worked to increase communication with the Idaho Air National Guard and increase career opportunities for traditional Soldiers and Airmen. While working as the senior Army enlisted member, he endorsed Chief Master Sgt. Carlo Fenicottero’s selection as the state’s senior enlisted adviser. Fenicottero was the first Air Guard member to hold the state’s senior enlisted leadership position. Woodall replaced him when he retired in 2015.

“This wasn’t something I ever aspired to,” he said of being appointed as the state’s highest ranking enlisted member. “But now it’s my time to pay back. I’ve been having too much fun in my career. My dad used to say ‘first they pay you for what you do, then there’s a point where they pay you for what you know.’ I suppose that’s what happens when you get here.”

He also worked to staff the land component commander command sergeant major position, which now provides traditional Soldiers the chance to hold a command sergeant major position at the general officer level.

"It's not about you."

Throughout his career, Woodall has tried to maintain a close relationship with various mentors. Toward the end of his career, he recognized he was at a point where there weren’t any enlisted members senior to him and so instead of looking up for guidance, he started looking to junior leaders he trusted to give him honest feedback.

“It isn’t about you, it is about the organization,” he said. “Everything you do or say while in the National Guard, is an interview for your next position. Everything you do is part of your resume and everyone you meet is a potential reference, whether you like it or not.”

His career advice for fellow enlisted members is simple: Do the job you have, do it well, take care of your subordinates and promotion opportunities will follow.

CSM Woodall lives in Meridian, Idaho, with his wife, Toni. The two were married in 1979 and have two children and one grandchild.

• Date Taken: 05.05.2017
• Date Posted: 05.05.2017 11:12
• Story ID: 232707
• Location: BOISE, ID, US
• Hometown: BOISE, ID, US
• Hometown: EMMETT, ID, US