Hardeman County Native Appointed to Lead Tennessee National Guard
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced the appointment of Brigadier General Warner A. Ross II as Adjutant General of Tennessee and Commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Military, effective January 21, 2023. Ross currently serves as the Assistant Adjutant General, Army for the Tennessee National Guard. He gained significant leadership experience while assigned to Infantry, Field Artillery, and Cavalry branches across the Tennessee Army National Guard, and his most recent assignment was as Commander of the 194th Engineer Brigade.
“It is an honor and a tremendous privilege to continue to serve the citizens of Tennessee and our nation. I didn’t anticipate this and am just privileged, and very honored to do it. Tennessee has a very proud tradition of military service and volunteers,” said Ross. “You trace back to what the Volunteers are about you will find that it is very directly connected to the call and our support of the Texas’ Alamo and that legacy continues. For me to be able to continue serving the state and nation in this capacity is very much an honor and a privilege.”
Ross will have 33 years of military service in January and received his commission from Officer Candidate School after beginning his career as an infantry rifleman at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1990. Although Ross has smoothly risen through the ranks of the Army National Guard, following that path was not his original plan. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration at the University of Mississippi and continued to Freed-Hardeman University where he earned a Master of Education. Ross, who has a strong history of teachers in his family, began his teaching career at Bolivar Middle School (when it was actually called Bolivar Junior High School). His mother, Janie Ross, was a teacher and he had multiple aunts who taught in the public school system. Ross also has a relative, Mecoy Ross, who was superintendent of schools in Hardeman County, and Ross held the same position from July 2012 until he retired in October 2021 to take the assignment with the Tennessee Department of Military. Despite the legacy of educators in his family and the students positively impacted along the way, Ross felt a pull in a different direction.
“I was raised out there in the Silerton community on my dad’s and granddad’s farm and it was full of families that helped and lived with us. They all had served, either active duty or in the National Guard,” said Ross who is affectionately known in Hardeman County as “Nubbin”. “I went to college first, came back to the farm, and again fell under the influence of those people who raised me. In my mind, I wanted to please them, and I would never do that, no matter how many college degrees or whatever, until I had served in the military.”
By this time, Ross had more than himself to consider when making life and career changes.
“I got married and my wife, Becky, and I decided I would serve. I went to basic training and started as an unlisted soldier, Private Ross. That soldier has now done almost 33 years of military service,” said Ross whose family was proud of him before and is definitely proud of him now.
Ross will be headquartered In Nashville where he has currently been living for the past year. Although his new position has him managing much of what he is already doing, the focus of his work will increase. He will have both the Army and the Air National Guard to work with and manage, while advocating for those 13,000 soldiers who he will lead, and who serve in the State of Tennessee and live in its communities. The relationships the soldiers build in the communities is one of the missions of the Army National Guard.
“They (soldiers) are in every zip code across this state. They go to our churches and our schools. They serve on boards. They serve in positions of responsibility in communities across this state,” said Ross, who considers the people he serves as well as the soldiers he leads as his responsibility. “We want to continue to build those and keep strong relationships. It is important to our communities that they know our faces and know who we are in times of need and crisis. We prepare our soldiers to answer the call of the department of defense missions and a lot of the time that’s our top priority and requires our soldiers to be deployed.”
Ross prepares the soldiers with a motto of “ready now”. The soldiers he leads are trained and “ready now” at all times, because they cannot predict when the next crisis – flood, tornado, etc. – is going to happen. A crisis much like the COVID epidemic (domestic and international) to the floods in Waverly, Kentucky. Sometimes on a weekly basis to help the Tennessee State Park service rescue hikers out of the Smokies, to an international crisis that requires his units to be deployed overseas, supporting a federal mission can occur at any time.
“I will continue working as a liaison between us, the federal government, the department of defense, state legislators, all the way down to our county mayors. I will be in constant contact and communication. Working with those people on all levels to make sure when they call on us, we are ready now,” said Ross, who earned his Master in Strategic Studies at the Army War College. “It’s a very broad and meaningful career in service to our neighbors. It is what all our soldiers do.”
Ross succeeds Major General Jeff Holmes, who will retire after 43 years of military service. He served with Holmes for many years and recognizes him as a mentor.
“Major General Holmes has prepared not only me, but several others across his career. He has done a tremendous amount of work. I hate to see him go and wish he would have stayed,” said Ross. “We all wish he would have stayed another couple of years, but we are just so grateful to have had him with us.”
Ross did not make the journey to the appointment of Adjutant General of Tennessee and Commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Military alone. He and Becky have three sons, Mitch, Mason, and Mark. Although his sons are now grown, his wife and sons are every bit a part of Ross’ success.
“Becky and my sons have been on this journey along with me from day one. So, they are soldiers as much as I am even though they don’t put the uniform on. Becky supported me through three combat deployments, raised my children, and did a fine job there. Mitch lives in the Carolinas. He is a Harvard graduate and works in banking. Mason and Jessica live on the family farm with our new granddaughter, Emerson. Mark is my youngest and still lives in Hardeman County,” said Ross who added he and Becky, as well as their sons, and daughter-in-law are graduates of Bolivar Central High School.
Ross’ wife Becky has known him since she was 13 years old. In fact, Becky was his high school sweetheart. She worked for more than 30 years for Dr. Walters and Dr. Berryman. Never did she imagine their life together taking the course it has with their involvement and commitment in the military.
“I am humbled and honored, and I love it. I love to recruit, love to talk to kids about their lives, their journey, and if they are confused about it, maybe we can put them on the path to military life,” said Becky, who on the day we interviewed her was accompanying Ross on a soldier visitation day in Chattanooga. “As much as we have talked about coming back to Hardeman County, my vision is to return and help our veterans in our county, and anyone else. I love the proudness and the heartful feelings you have as a part of the military. I am just so humbled. It is just amazing, and I am proud that I am in love with a soldier.”
Ross and Becky still have a home in Hardeman County and plan to return after his assignment is over.
“Hardeman County is our home. I appreciate everything about Hardeman County. It is not just anything, it is everything. It is the people. It is who I am. It is what I am. Everything that is good and everybody,” said Ross. “The most important people to me are Hardeman Countians because that’s my family, and that’s where I am from. That’s who taught me. That’s who prepared me for jobs I didn’t even know I would have one day.”
Photos courtesy of Warner A. Ross II.
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