Brigadier General Donald King Woodman is mobilization assistant to the director of intelligence, Headquarters Air Combat Command, Langley Air Force Base, Va.
General Woodman was born in Beaumont, Texas. The son of a career naval officer, he spent his childhood on naval bases across the continental United States, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and French Morocco. He graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy, Wayne, Pa., in 1957. He earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering from the U.S. Military Academy in 1962 and a juris doctor degree from the University of Virginia Law School in 1973. The general completed Squadron Officer School in 1968, Air Command and Staff College in 1975, National Security Management Course of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1976 and Air War College in 1987.
In June 1962 he was commissioned upon graduation from the U.S. Military Academy. He reported for his first duty assignment in August 1962 as intelligence officer for the newly formed 308th Strategic Missile Wing, a Strategic Air Command Titan II unit with headquarters at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. In April 1964 General Woodman attended the U.S. Army Intelligence School, Fort Holabird, Md. Upon graduation in August 1964, he subsequently reported for duty with the 7113th Special Activity Group, Rhein-Main Air Base, West Germany, for a three-year tour as a human resources intelligence (HUMINT) officer. In 1967 he attended the Air University’s Academic Instructor Course en route to his next three-year assignment as assistant professor of aerospace studies at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.
General Woodman separated from active duty in 1970 and immediately accepted a Reserve commission. He was assigned as an individual mobilization augmentee to the 1127th Field Activity Group, Fort Belvoir, Va. After assignment to several training detachments of the Air Force Intelligence Reserve Program, he assumed command of Intelligence Reserve Detachment 47, Fort Belvoir, in 1982. While assigned as an individual mobilization augmentee to active-duty HUMINT organizations, General Woodman also served as faculty member of the Air Force Intelligence Service’s Interrogation Training Program. He served as course manager of the Advanced Interrogation Course from 1982 to 1985, and became HUMINT training and program manager of the Field Interrogation Program in 1985. Also in 1985, General Woodman was selected for a special active-duty assignment as action officer to develop a four-service program to assign Reserve individual mobilization augmentees to the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The program he developed was approved by the director of the Joint Staff and implemented in 1986. From 1987 until 1989 he was director of the Northeast Region of the Air Force Intelligence Reserve program, with a mobilization assignment to 23rd Air Force, Hurlburt Field, Fla. From 1989 until 1992 the general was mobilization assistant to the deputy chief of staff, Intelligence, Headquarters Strategic Air Command (SAC), Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. In that capacity he oversaw mobilization of intelligence reserve personnel to support SAC’s support to Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Also, he restructured the Reserve program to support the newly formed U.S. Strategic Command as part of the Air Force’s reorganization in 1992. He assumed his current position in December 1992.
His military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, Air Force Organizational Excellence Award with two oak leaf clusters, Air Force Recognition Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal with service star, Air Force Longevity Service Award Ribbon with seven oak leaf clusters, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with hourglass device, Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon, Air Force Training Ribbon, and Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation. The general also wears the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge and, in 1984, was selected as the Air Force Intelligence Service’s Individual Mobilization Augmentee of the Year.
In his civilian capacity, General Woodman is an attorney in private practice in New York City.
He is a life member of both the Air Force Association and the Reserve Officers’ Association, a member of the Board of Governors of the West Point Society of New York City, and has twice served on the Board of Governors of the Blue Hill Troupe, Ltd., a charitable theatrical performance organization. He is also a member of the Association of the U.S. Army.
He was promoted to brigadier general Aug. 12, 1992.
(Current as of February 2021)