LtCol (retired) William Ronald LaGrone

Born May 7th 1954, Indianola, Mississippi, United States of America

Citizenship:  United States

Marital Status:  Married to the former Ulla-Riitta Maria Kärkkäinen of Helsinki, Finland on 27 October 1979, Two adult sons.

Language skills: English: native, French, Estonian: beginner

Education:  

Bachelor of Science, Chemistry, Virginia Military Institute, 1976

Special Forces Officer’s Course, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 1978

Infantry Officer’s Advanced Course, Fort Benning, Georgia, 1980

Combined Services and Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1983

Chemical Officer’s Advanced Course, Fort McClellan, Alabama, 1983

United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas, 1990

NATO Staff Officer’s Course, National Defence University, Washington, DC, 1999

Master of Arts, Liberal Studies (mathematics and environmental science) with a Graduate Certificate in Geographical Information Systems, Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, Alabama 2006

Service and Work Record:

Platoon Leader, Company B, 2-47 Infantry, Fort Lewis, Washington, 1976-1978

Commander, Operational Detachments A- 571 and A-573, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina 1978-1980

Executive Officer and Operations Officer, Special Troops Command, 8th U.S. Army, Seoul, Republic of Korea. 1980-1983

Commander, 101st Chemical Company, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 1983-1985

Chemical and Biological Warfare Investigator: American Embassy Bangkok, Thailand, 1985-1986.

Executive Officer, 84th Chemical Battalion, Fort McClellan, Alabama 1986-1988

Technical Staff Officer: Smoke and Obscurants Proponency Office, U.S. Army Chemical School, Fort McClellan, Alabama, 1988-1989

Company Commander and Executive Officer: 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), Okinawa, Japan 1990-1992.

Deputy Commander and Chief, Combat Arms Division: Readiness Group Redstone, Huntsville, Alabama, 1992-1995.

Executive Officer: 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Lewis, Washington, 1995 – 1997.

Special Forces Staff Officer: Army Operations Center, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, The Pentagon, Washington D.C., 1997 – 1999.

Directing Staff (SGO and Military Technology), Baltic Defence College, Tartu, Estonia, 1999-2002

Operations Officer and Deputy Chief of Current Operations, Combined Forces Land Component Command, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Camp Doha, Kuwait, 2002-2003

Retired from the U.S. Army with the rank Lieutenant Colonel, 2003

Graduate Student and Environmental Studies Intern, Anniston Army Depot, Department of Risk Management. 2004-2006

Environmental Scientist, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Anniston, Alabama 2006-2009

Directing Staff (Acting JCGSC Course Director and SGO), Baltic Defence College, 2009-2012

Major Environmental and other Work Accomplishments:

Development and maintenance of a geographical database with complete groundwater monitoring results for the Southeast Industrial Area, Anniston Army Depot. 2005-2009

Analysis, realignment, and restoration of the geographical information systems database in support of long term environmental compliance monitoring of the Harley Davidson Plant, York, Pennsylvania, 2008

Major contributor to a readiness review and future capabilities study of the United States Coast Guard’s ability to response to Chemical, Biological, and Radiological/Nuclear, and Explosive Incidents. 2008

Hobbies:

Amateur radio and competitive shooting