Anthony Woods | |
---|---|
Secretary of the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families | |
Assumed office March 2, 2023 Acting: January 18, 2023 – March 2, 2023 | |
Governor | Wes Moore |
Preceded by | George W. Owings III |
Personal details | |
Born | Anthony Christopher Woods July 20,1980 Fairfield,California,U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Education | United States Military Academy (BS) Harvard University (MPP) University of Maryland,College Park (MBA) |
Military career | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/ | United States Army |
Years of service | 2003–2008 (active) 2014–present (reserves) |
Rank | Major |
Unit | U.S. Army Reserve |
Anthony Christopher Woods (born July 20,1980) is an American politician serving as the secretary of the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families since January 2023. He was a U.S. Army officer deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Woods was discharged in 2008 for violating the military's "Don't ask,don't tell" policy. [1]
Born on July 20,1980, [2] at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield,California,Woods was raised by a single mother who supported her family as a small business owner and housekeeper. [3] As a child,Woods lived in both Fairfield and Vacaville in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. [4] He graduated with honors from Vanden High School in 1999. [5] [2] Woods received a nomination from U.S. representative Vic Fazio (D CA-3) to attend the United States Military Academy. [6] At West Point,he majored in economics and political science,and graduated in 2003 with a B.S. in Economics and American Politics with a minor in computer science. [3] [5] In 2008,Woods completed a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. [2] [7] He earned an executive Master of Business Administration from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland,College Park. [7]
Woods was commissioned in the United States Army as a second lieutenant in the Armor branch and began the Armor Officer Basic Course at Fort Knox,Kentucky,in July 2003. While there,he volunteered for his first deployment to Iraq to lead a platoon of National Guard soldiers. Woods deployed to the Diyala province of Iraq,where he served for eleven months. [8]
Woods returned from this deployment to the U.S. in January 2005 and was transferred from Fort Bragg to Fort Carson,Colorado. Later that year,in June 2005,he made his second deployment to Iraq with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. [9]
Upon return from his second deployment,the Army selected Woods to teach at West Point,an unusual appointment for so junior an officer and one which would require him to earn a graduate degree first. [10] That year,he enrolled at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University,where he studied for a master's degree in public policy. [9]
While at Harvard,Woods volunteered to mentor low-income minorities applying to college and numerous other community leadership activities,including co-founding the first student chapter of The Fuller Center for Housing and making three trips to New Orleans to assist families struggling to rebuild following Hurricane Katrina. [6] He was among a group of students awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Public Service Award for this work. [9]
During the summer of 2007,Woods co-led a group of thirty cyclists across the U.S. to raise money for Habitat for Humanity through a non-profit group known as Bike &Build. The trip took them across the United States from the Outer Banks of North Carolina to San Diego,California. The group raised over $130,000 and built homes in five states during their trip. [9]
Before graduating in 2008,Woods competed for the opportunity to speak at Harvard's annual commencement and was selected as one of three students to deliver a commencement speech. [11] [12]
Shortly after graduation,Woods reported to Fort Knox,Kentucky,for the Armor Captain's Career Course. Shortly thereafter,Woods outed himself as gay and was subsequently discharged under the government's now-repealed “Don't ask,don't tell”policy. [11] For this decision,Woods was ordered to reimburse the Army for the $35,000 tuition paid on his behalf to attend Harvard. [13] In December 2008,the U.S. Army completed the discharge process for Woods. [14]
In 2014,Woods joined the United States Army Reserve as a major in military intelligence. [2]
After his honorable discharge from the Army in 2008,Woods worked as an aide for Governor David Paterson of New York. [4] On March 18,2009,Woods declared his intention to run in the 2009 California's 10th congressional district special election to replace representative Ellen Tauscher,who was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. His campaign made it a high-profile affair receiving national attention. [11] However,his bid to become the first openly gay African-American elected to Congress ended when he lost a special election held on September 1,2009,receiving under 9 percent of the vote. [15] [16]
Following the campaign in California,Woods returned to Washington,D.C.,where he worked for the nonprofit Be the Change,Inc. Woods helped run the organization's ServiceNation campaign devoted to increasing support for expanding national service programs like the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. He served as the Director of the "Service as a Strategy" initiative,aiding in developing volunteer-driven solutions for American cities. [9] In 2011,Woods joined the 2011–2012 Class of White House Fellows. [17] Woods worked at the United States Office of Personnel Management under John Berry during this time. [9]
On January 12,2023,Maryland governor-elect Wes Moore nominated Woods as the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs. [18] His nomination was unanimously approved by the Maryland Senate on February 17. [19]
Tommy Ray Franks is a retired United States Army general. His last army post was as the Commander of the United States Central Command, overseeing United States military operations in a 25-country region, including the Middle East. Franks succeeded General Anthony Zinni to this position on 6 July 2000 and served until his retirement on 7 July 2003. Franks was the United States general leading the attack on the Taliban in Afghanistan in response to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon in 2001. He also oversaw the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
Fort Cavazos is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. The post is named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. Formerly named Fort Hood for Confederate General John Bell Hood, the post is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about 60 mi (97 km) from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquarters of III Armored Corps and First Army Division West and is home to the 1st Cavalry Division and 3rd Cavalry Regiment, among others.
Eric Ken Shinseki is a retired United States Army general who served as the seventh United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2009–2014) and the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army (1999–2003). Shinseki is a veteran of two tours of combat in the Vietnam War, in which he was awarded three Bronze Star Medals for valor and two Purple Hearts. He was the first Asian-American four-star general, and the first Asian-American Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
III Corps is a corps of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Cavazos, Texas. It is a major formation of the United States Army Forces Command.
Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt is the former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, serving under George W. Bush from August 2008 to January 2009; he was the 16th person to hold the post. Prior to joining the State Department, he was a brigadier general in the United States Army, and served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East. Kimmitt has also served as deputy director for strategy and plans for the United States Central Command, and deputy director for operations/chief military spokesman for coalition forces in Iraq, and served at NATO's SHAPE headquarters in Belgium.
Fort Johnson, formerly Fort Polk, is a United States Army installation located in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, about 10 miles (15 km) east of Leesville and 30 miles (50 km) north of DeRidder in Beauregard Parish.
Albert Bryant Jr. is a retired United States Army brigadier general, best known for service as the Chief of Western Hemisphere Operations during and in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and for his tenure as the Assistant Division Commander of the 4th Infantry Division at the time of the division's detection and capture of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Bryant also served as the Deputy Commander of Fort Knox, Kentucky, and the United States Army's Armor School. As Chief of Staff of NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR), Bryant was the highest ranking American general on the KFOR leadership team in the lead up to Kosovo independence.
Patrick Joseph Murphy is an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd United States Under Secretary of the Army. He was the first veteran of the Iraq War to be elected to the United States House of Representatives, representing Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district from 2007 to 2011. Murphy is a former anchor of Taking the Hill on MSNBC. Murphy is currently on the faculty of Wharton Business School and the Distinguished Chair of Innovation at the United States Military Academy.
Anthony Gregory Brown is an American lawyer and politician serving as the attorney general of Maryland. He also served as the U.S. representative for Maryland's 4th congressional district from 2017 to 2023 and as lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for governor in the 2014 election, losing to Republican Larry Hogan in a close race.
Ehren Keoni Watada is a former first lieutenant of the United States Army, best known as the first commissioned officer in the US armed forces to refuse to deploy to Iraq. In June 2006, Watada refused to deploy for his unit's assigned rotation to Operation Iraqi Freedom, saying he believed the war to be illegal and that, under the doctrine of command responsibility, it would make him party to war crimes. At the time, he was assigned to duty with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, as a fire support officer. He was brought before a court-martial in 2007 which ended in a mistrial; the Army subsequently discharged him under "Other-Than-Honorable-Conditions" (OTH) in 2009. An OTH discharge is the least favorable type of administrative discharge from the Army, and is reserved for a "pattern of behavior that constitutes a significant departure from the conduct expected of Soldiers of the Army."
The 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (10th SFG (A), or 10th Group) is an active duty United States Army Special Forces (SF) Group. 10th Group is designed to deploy and execute nine doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare (UW), foreign internal defense (FID), direct action (DA), counterinsurgency, special reconnaissance, counterterrorism, information operations, counter-proliferation of weapon of mass destruction, and security force assistance. 10th Group is responsible for operations within the EUCOM area of responsibility, as part of Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR).
Gale S. Pollock is a retired United States Army major general who served as the Deputy Surgeon General of the United States Army from October 2006 to March 2007, and also as chief of the Army Nurse Corps. She became acting Surgeon General of the United States Army for nine months following the 20 March 2007 retirement of her predecessor, Kevin C. Kiley, due to fallout from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal. She was the first woman and the first non-physician to hold the position.
Michael Harold Coffman is an American politician, businessman, and veteran of the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps serving as Mayor of Aurora, Colorado since 2019. A Republican, Coffman served as the U.S. representative for Colorado's 6th congressional district for five terms, as well as Secretary of State of Colorado and Colorado State Treasurer.
Robert William Cone was a United States Army four-star general who last served as the commanding general of United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). He assumed command of TRADOC on April 29, 2011. He previously served as the commander of Fort Hood and III Corps on September 22, 2009, with which he deployed to Iraq in February 2010, and served as the Deputy Commanding General for Operations, United States Forces – Iraq, until February 2011. Prior to that, he served as the Special Assistant to the Commanding General of TRADOC. He retired in 2014.
James A. Adkins is an American retired senior military officer and former cabinet-level official who served the adjutant general of Maryland and secretary of the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs.
The United States military formerly excluded gay men, bisexuals, and lesbians from service. In 1993, the United States Congress passed, and President Bill Clinton signed, a law instituting the policy commonly referred to as "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT), which allowed gay, lesbian, and bisexual people to serve as long as they did not reveal their sexual orientation. Although there were isolated instances in which service personnel were met with limited success through lawsuits, efforts to end the ban on openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual people serving either legislatively or through the courts initially proved unsuccessful.
Michael D. Prysner is an American socialist political activist. He is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq as a specialist. His duties in Iraq included ground surveillance, home raids, and interrogation of prisoners. According to Prysner, these experiences led him to take an anti-war stance.
Joseph Matthew Martin is a General in the United States Army who served as the 37th Vice Chief of Staff of the Army from 2022. He previously served as the director of the Army Staff in Washington, D.C.
John Kai Tien Jr. is an American government official and retired United States Army officer who served as the United States deputy secretary of homeland security in the Biden administration from 2021 to 2023.
John Buchanan Richardson IV is a retired United States Army major general. He served as Commanding General of the 1st Cavalry Division from July 2021 to July 2023. and Deputy Commanding General of the III Corps from September 2, 2020, to July 2021. Before that, he served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Plans, and Training of the United States Army Forces Command. Richardson is a 1991 graduate of the United States Military Academy.