Steven L. White
LTC, ADA
U.S. Army (Ret)
(505) 324-3044 (Office)
Steve is a native New Mexican, born to Richard
and Patricia White on June 23rd, 1948 at Las Cruces, New Mexico. His parents were
attending New Mexico State University at the time. Steve moved around a lot
owing to his father's employment with the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Childhood locations included Hot Springs (T or C), Roswell, Zuni, Santa Fe,
Albuquerque and Socorro in New Mexico, Topeka, Kansas and Colome, South Dakota.
He
graduated from high school at New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI), Roswell, NM in June
of 1966 and NMMI Junior College in 1968. Having enrolled in ROTC while at NMMI, he
was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in July 1968. He attended
Artillery Officer's Basic Course at Fort Sill, OK from July through October
1968.
His first assignment was to the
5th Battalion (Vulcan/Chaparral)(Self-Propelled), 67th Air Defense
Artillery where he served as the Battalion Motor Officer. This was the
first air defense battalion of its kind and provided support to the Air Defense
School at Fort Bliss, TX. The battalion designation was later changed from
5/67(V/C) to 5/67(C/V) because of the V/C connotation to Viet Cong. Steve was
promoted to First Lieutenant in July 1969 and sent to Vietnam in February 1970. He attended the Jungle Operations Course in
Panama in the two months prior to leaving for Vietnam.
He was assigned to the 4th Battalion (Automatic
Weapons)(Self-Propelled),
60th Artillery in An Khe, Republic of Vietnam in February 1970. He served as
Battalion Maintenance Officer, Battery C Platoon Leader, Battalion Assistant S-3
(Operations) Officer, Battery
C Commander and S-4 (Supply) Officer . He was promoted to Captain in July of
1970 and assumed command of Battery C on December 7th, 1970. In June 1971, his
Battery was inactivated and he returned for stateside duty at the Air Defense
School, Fort Bliss, TX in September 1971. While stationed in Vietnam, Steve
received 4 campaign ribbons and was awarded three Bronze Stars for Service.
At
the U.S. Army Air Defense School, he served as Instructor and Branch Chief of
the Redeye/Small Arms Branch of the Forward Area Weapons Division of the Low
Altitude Air Defense Department. The Branch taught students how to use the Redeye missile and
small arms to engage and destroy enemy aircraft. The Redeye missile was the predecessor to the
Stinger missile system. They also taught students how to
maintain these weapons. The last year (1973) at Fort Bliss was spent attending the Air
Defense Officer Advanced Course. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for
service while at this assignment.
On
completion of the course, he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion (C/V)(SP), 67th
Air Defense Artillery at Kieserslautern, Federal Republic of Germany. Here he
served as Battalion S-4 (Supply) Officer and Commander of Battery B (Vulcan). During
his 42 month tour, he participated in four REFORGER exercises and spent 17 months
in the field on various combat exercises. He was awarded the Meritorious Service
Medal for his service to the unit. He was reassigned in May 1977.
Returning
stateside, this time to Fort Carson, CO, Steve had been selected to complete his
Bachelor Degree under the "Boot Strap" Educational Program. He crammed
18 months of courses into 12 months graduating first in his class with a BS
in Sociology. Steve was then assigned to the 4th Battalion (C/V)(SP) In June
1978. Here he served as Battalion Maintenance Officer and 4th Infantry Division Air
Battle Management Officer (ABMO). He was promoted to the rank Major in 1979. As ABMO, he
coordinated the training of the Battalion, the Division's Redeye/Stinger crews
and Forward Area Alerting Radar crews, and supervised the operation of the
Division Air Defense Moving Target Simulators. For his service, Steve received
the Meritorious Service Medal (MSM).
Steve's
next assignment carried him to the exotic Middle East, Saudi Arabia. Here, he
and five other members comprised a Technical Assistance field Team (TAFT) that
provided training and advisory support to the King Abdul Aziz Mechanized
Infantry Brigade Air Defense Battalion at Tabuk. He was awarded another MSM for
his service here. The best thing about this assignment was meeting his
wife-to-be, Eileen. She was a nurse working at the Tabuk military hospital. This
assignment lasted from June 1980 to July 1981.
From Saudi Arabia, the
next assignment was at Fort Mead, MD where he served his entire tour as the Post
Training Officer. He ran the firing ranges and training facilities, and
coordinated the Reserve and National Guard units' training for the region. His
efforts earned him another award of the MSM.
In
June of 1983, he was selected to attend the Command and General Staff College at
Fort Leavenworth, KS. On completion of the college, he stayed on for three more
years as Director, Army Training Management, Combined Arms Center. He was promoted to Lieutenant
Colonel in 1985. His major contribution here was the authoring and coordination
of Field Manual 25-100, Training the Force. The Army's capstone training
manual. While there, he was also able to complete his Master of Business
Administration degree at Webster University's Kansas City campus. Another award of the MSM followed.
He left for the Defense Language Institute in June 1987 to learn Japanese.
His
last assignment in the military was as the Director, Army Programs, Mutual
Defense Assistance Office, U.S. Embassy, Tokyo, Japan. He managed 4.3 billion
dollars worth of Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Cooperative Production (CP)
programs for the Defense Security Agency. The major systems included the AH-1S
helicopter, Patriot Missile System, Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), HAWK
missile system, Stinger missile system and M109 155mm Howitzer. Steve elected to
retire from the Army during this tour. He returned to Fort Bliss for the last
time and retired on October 1, 1990. He was awarded the Defense Meritorious
Service Medal (DMSM) for his service to the Defense Department while in Japan.
Since
retirement, Steve has been a freight pilot for a United Parcel Service air delivery
contractor in Albuquerque (3 years). Served as Business Manager and Director of Operations
for Four Corners Aviation here in Farmington (3 years). And is currently the owner and
operator of Computer Tutor, Ltd. a microcomputer consulting firm. He also
teaches Community Learning Center computer courses at San Juan College.
Steve
is happily married to the former Miss Eileen Stebbings of Horwich, England. They
spend as much time as possible at Navajo Lake enjoying their boat and camping trailer.
Steve's daughter, Rebecca, currently resides in the Washington, D.C. area.
Steve's
hobbies include computers, boating, camping, guns, woodworking and Honey-Do's.
