REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- Members of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command said goodbye to a leader who served as an Army civilian for 32 years during a retirement ceremony Nov. 3.
Ronald E. Chronister, deputy to the commander USASMDC/ARSTRAT, joined the command in August 2012 as its senior civilian leader. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in October 2005.
"What I am most proud of during my time at SMDC is having had the opportunity to be a part of this organization," Chronister said. "I have been on the arsenal 30 years prior to coming over here, and I didn't have a really detailed knowledge of what SMDC did, especially their operational mission. I am just proud of the fact that I could just come in and participate in this organization and get to spend time with the Soldiers and civilians and help them carry out their missions."
Chronister came to SMDC from his former position as the deputy to the commanding general, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, where he served from 2008 to 2012. There, he managed an organization with an annual budget of more than $4 billion and a global work force of more than 11,000 military and civilian employees and was responsible for the readiness of all Army aviation and missile programs.
From 1983 to 2008, Chronister served in a variety of positions including U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command Integrated Materiel Management Center executive director; Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center Engineering Directorate acting director; AMRDEC ED deputy director; AMRDEC ED Manufacturing, Science and Technology Division chief; AMRDEC ED Production Engineering Division chief; and AMRDEC ED PED general engineer.
While at SMDC, Chronister has provided leadership for the Army's space and missile defense programs, acquisition support, personnel and resource management and for the command's mission to provide trained and ready space and missile defense capabilities, build future space and missile defense forces, and research, test, and integrate space, missile defense, directed energy and related technologies.
"The thing I will remember most about SMDC is the fact that the two years I have been here have been two pretty tough years with reductions and furloughs and other issues," Chronister said. "Those are all negatives, but what I will remember most is turning that negative situation into a positive. When we went through the sequester and we started looking at our resources, both our funding and our people, it forced us to look at ourselves and our priorities, and also forced the Army to look at its priorities. And as we went through that process, what I saw occur was the Army start to really recognize the magnitude and the significance and relevance of this command and its importance to our nation's defense."
The command's top leader spoke about what Chronister has meant to the Army and especially to SMDC.
"Ronnie spent his entire career in service to his nation and along the way he has worked on some critically, strategically important organizations and many efforts and projects through the years," said Lt. Gen. David L. Mann, SMDC commanding general. "The command is a very unique organization, split up all over the world at 60 different locations with a very complex and technical portfolio. At a command like this, with the commander on the road all of the time, it really does need a very strong and capable deputy to make sure and keep everything on track.
"I could not have done my job if it had not been for this great American," he added. "His time with us has been nothing short of simply spectacular. Over 32 years, he has directly influenced, not only this command and other commands, but he has also had a tremendously significant impact on our national security and he will indeed be very, very hard to replace."
Mann thanked him for all of his contributions that made the command a better place, and wished him well in his future endeavors.
"You leave the Army with class, honor and distinction," Mann said. "I want to personally say, on behalf of the United States Army, thank you for your service and your sacrifice. God bless you and Susan. "We wish you every blessing life has to offer and, please, don't be a stranger."
Chronister took time to talk about the SMDC work force he has worked with and how he will never be forget them.
"The SMDC work force across the board, whether you are talking about the operational element, the Future Warfare Center, the Technical Center or the staff, is one of the most technically competent work forces that I have ever seen," Chronister said. "We have some really big-brained civilians who do what they do phenomenally well. When you start thinking about civilians who are doing planning for the global missile defense mission or for space missions, they are just exceptional. When you start thinking about the folks in the FWC who are doing the training of all of the Soldiers and civilians for missile defense and space, they are exceptional at what they do. And then in the Tech Center where you have all of the scientists and you start talking about things like hypersonics, nano-satellites and high-energy lasers, they are just phenomenally technically qualified.
"I also think about how resilient the work force is," he continued. "Going back to the time we had with sequester and furlough, and despite all the negatives and morale issues, this civilian work force never, not once, didn't meet their mission requirements. Our mission never failed here. Our civilians stepped up during that morass of issues and did what they were supposed to do and our country never suffered and our mission never deteriorated. I am very proud of them for that.
"I would like to thank the work force for putting our Soldiers and our country first and not themselves and helping this command to execute its mission in the midst of all the turmoil," Chronister added. "Our mission is much more relevant and we are getting more visibility. So aside from thanking them for what they have done, I would like to encourage them to work better together across the board."
He also gave advice to new Department of the Army civilians who are just beginning their journey as civil servants.
"When coming into a job as a DA civilian I think what is key is to embrace the public service mentality," Chronister said. "Recognize that it is not about you, but about others and something more important than you.
"Then they have to find something and become technically credible," he continued "And what I mean by that is that they have to be good at something. Sometimes I see people coming in and they move around and they don't get really knowledgeable in one area, they are a mile wide and an inch deep. My belief is they need to establish their technical credibility and through that they establish their reputation as a civilian.
"Another thing is to abide by a few principles and one of them is to build relationships and have a good attitude," Chronister added. "Learn how to work your way through adversity in your career. Everybody gets hosed over -- I have -- and how you deal with adversity in your career and your work is exceptionally important. If you embrace the civil service mentality, if you establish yourself and your reputation through the kind of work that you do, and if you have a good attitude and learn to build relationships, I think those are a good map for a successful DA civilian career."
Chronister spoke about his decision to retire and how it will allow him to have more balance in his personal and professional life.
"I am not going far," Chronister said. "This retirement decision was done relatively quickly and I would describe that as a divine convergence of events. Some positive things happened that were a little unexpected and so my decision to retire was based on a multitude of factors. I will get the opportunity to do some things that are important to me."
As Chronister and his wife, Susan, prepare to take the next step in their journey, he said how a supportive family made his career more enjoyable and that he could not have accomplished what he did without his entire family.
"I would not be here if it were not for my family," Chronister said. "I am talking about my whole family. I am an Army brat, I was born at Fort Sill, Okla., and from my parents to my sister and to my wife and children, they have all played a huge part in supporting me in my career in various and different ways.
"This has always been a family business," he added. "I never interviewed for a job, I never applied for a job and I never did anything career wise without first sitting down and discussing it with my wife. She knows me better than I know myself. I am a product of a huge support structure from my family and it has never been about me, it has always been about we and my family."
Chronister talked about what he will miss most about working with the Army and those charged with the nation's defense.
"I have enjoyed the public service aspect of what I do," Chronister said. "I have enjoyed being part of a team and part of something that is bigger than me. There are very few places where you can operate in that kind of environment, and it is very satisfying. It is hard to quantify and very hard to describe, but I will miss the camaraderie and working together to ensure the Soldiers have what they need to defend our country."
Chronister earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of Alabama and a Master of Science in program management from the Naval Post Graduate School, where he graduated with distinction.
His awards and honors include: Army's Greatest Invention Award for Blue Force Tracker presented by the commander of the Army Materiel Command; Alabama A&M University Leadership Award; Army Acquisition Corp Award for Scholastic Achievement from the Naval Post Graduate School; University of Alabama Distinguished Engineering Fellow; Secretary of the Army Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Award; Secretary of the Army Diversity and Leadership Award; Presidential Distinguished Rank Award; Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame inductee; and Department of the Army Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service.
Chronister is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps, American Helicopter Society, Association of the United States Army, Army Aviation Association of America, the National Defense Industrial Association and the Air, Space, and Missile Defense Association.
As he prepared to close the chapter on his Army career, Chronister spoke about the future and how he hopes his time serving with Soldiers and DA civilians was as beneficial for the Army as it was for him.
"I have a problem with legacy questions. Somebody else will have to figure that out," Chronister said. "I will tell you what I have tried to do, and this is not just here but in any position I have been in is, I have tried to be a good example of positive leadership. I think being a positive, credible leader is the thing that I hope, when people reflect back on my time here or any other place, is something that comes up. You can't be a positive leader unless you have credibility with the people you work with, and I don't think you can gain credibility with people unless you care about them. And I hope that looking back that people realize that I do care about them genuinely and that maybe I created a positive example of what good leadership is.
"I am very happy and I have been very fortunate in my 32-year career with some great Soldiers, civilians and contractors," he added. "I have been very blessed and it is time to go do something else. I am being led somewhere else, I am very comfortable with that, and I wish everyone the best."
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