REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- The key to a successful government civilian career is all in the planning.

But, for Bill Andrews, planning in those early years of his career didn't include aiming for senior civilian leadership assignments at the Aviation and Missile Command.

And that's exactly where he landed.

"It's important to develop a road map," said Andrews, deputy executive director of the AMCOM Logistics Center.

"It's important to plan out the education and training and key assignments that will take you where you want to be mission-wise or function-wise. At the same time, you have to be flexible to take advantage of opportunities. I didn't necessarily aspire to this job, but I followed a path step by step that led me to where I am today."

Now, as he prepares to retire, Andrews can look back on a career that included the planning and preparation which allowed him to take on various opportunities and challenges at AMCOM. As ALC's deputy executive director since October 2006, he has also served as acting executive director of ALC and acting deputy to the AMCOM commander.

A retirement reception for Andrews is set for 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 5 in the Sparkman Center's Building 5308, Room 8124.

"This has been an exciting job. It's been different every day," he said. "You don't know if the day will bring a call from one of the program executive offices or from the Army Logistics Office or from a commander in the field.

"That makes it exciting and dynamic and interesting. I might not have known where the call was coming from, but I always knew the employees of the AMCOM Logistics Center would be able to fulfill the mission that came with that call."

About five years ago, Andrews and his wife Michele, who worked at Redstone Arsenal as a logistician for 20 years, began thinking ahead to his retirement. They decided 2016 would be the year for Andrews to take a brief break and possibly go on to a second career in the local area.

"Everything is undecided and open. When I'm ready, I will look for something that is a good fit for me," he said.

For 32 years, Army government civilian service was a good fit for Andrews. He and his wife were high school and college sweethearts in Virginia, and hired for the intern program at Red River Army Depot, Texas. They were assigned to Redstone Arsenal with Andrews working as an item manager for the Missile Command's Missile Logistics Center.

"We had to look on the map to find Huntsville. We had never been in the state of Alabama," Andrews said.

"We liked it here. Things happened along the way. There were great career opportunities here in the late '80s and early '90s for us. We had three children, and we liked the schools, the community and the quality of life here. Michele worked as a logistician for MLRS and I worked with Patriot when we were fielding it to Europe. Those experiences along with the quality of life in Huntsville and North Alabama solidified us being here and we never looked back."

His work as the Patriot Weapon Systems supervisor led to leadership positions in MICOM's Budget and Acquisition Branch, Materiel Management Directorate; and the Materiel Fielding Division, Readiness Directorate. He then served as the senior logistician for the Program Executive Office for Air and Missile Defense, and then as the division and branch chief for AMCOM's Maintenance Directorate before moving into aviation as the director of the Attack Directorate, Apache Helicopter, for the Program Executive Office for Aviation.

"I've had great mentors and leaders. I've tried to take the good from the amazing leaders and emulate it. They pushed me and challenged me to do things I probably wouldn't have done," Andrews said.

"They encouraged me to look for other opportunities, like the Apache opening. I didn't know anything about helicopters. I knew missiles. But the job was logistics and logistics was what I did, so I threw my name in. It was a great growth opportunity to learn about aviation. It was probably the best assignment I had with a great team."

During his 10 years as the AMCOM Logistics Center's deputy executive director, Andrews was responsible for world-wide acquisition and sustainment logistics support for all AMCOM aviation and missile weapon platforms. Those years coincided with the up-tempo in Iraq and Afghanistan, and opportunities to work closely with military leaders at AMCOM and units supported by AMCOM.

"There was a lot of travel to learn how our equipment is working, and about the support we are providing in theater and how our logistics assistance representatives are doing with support," Andrews said. "Travel always involved two missions -- one was the opportunity to meet with Soldiers and customers to learn where we are successful and where we need improvements and, two, to understand how improvements in the systems we support are making a difference."

But, it's working with and developing employees that's been most rewarding for Andrews. He made that role official by serving as the Activity Career Program Manager for the 600 employees who make up AMCOM's supply career program.

"As a leader, you get to develop other talent and mentor employees," Andrews said. "I'm here to help if they need advice. The most rewarding part was meeting not just with interns but with supervisors, senior employees and leaders who are trying to grow their careers. It involves looking at resumes and learning about aspirations, and helping decide where to go next."

Employees who base their work on selfless service and what they can do to improve support to the Soldier, will always succeed, he said.

"If you want to continue to grow in experience and talent, then you need to be flexible, move both laterally as well as in different mission areas," he said. "If you aspire to grow in your career, then you need different challenges. If you aspire to senior level leadership roles, you need to find opportunities to leave Redstone to work at the Pentagon or the Forces Command or overseas, for example."

As with the rest of the Army, AMCOM is facing challenges from budgetary concerns. But, making that even more complicated, Andrews said, are the "multiple engagements overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq for 15 years and the growing need to hire employees.

"We need to continue to build our workforce both with prior military and fresh-out-of-college employees. Fifty-four percent of our employees are prior service. We need to balance that experience by bringing in youth with new ideas," Andrews said. "The opportunities in terms of customer support are bigger than ever. And, with the program executive offices moving their programs into the sustainment stage, the demand for employees will remain."

Although ALC has employees who can become future leaders, finding the right balance of employees with technical and leadership skills can be difficult.

"We have outstanding talent, and are molding and mentoring, and they are ready to move up to the next level," Andrews said. "But you have to put the right people in the right seat. They might have the right technical component, but do they have the leadership skills?"

Andrews said the key to being a good leader is to be a leader who listens.

"The thing I've worked on the most is listening. It's an acquired skill, at least for me," he said. "If you are a listener, then it helps you discern how you can help as a leader.

"And, as a leader, you have to let your employees grow and not solve problems for them, provide clear guidance, and then get out of their way and let them do their job."

During those times when Andrews stepped up to serve in acting leadership roles, his job was filled by subordinate leaders temporarily. Those situations proved challenging for Andrews.

"I had to turn loose of my old job so I could do my job and they could do their job. I had to have confidence in them and be comfortable that they understood guidance. I had to let them take care of business. I told them to make decisions as though I'm not coming back. And, if they did truly need me, I was only a phone call away," he said.

"Those times were an opportunity for me to go try something different and I learned a lot. It was the same for those who filled my position while I was gone."

This time, Andrews won't be coming back.

"I hope the employees here remember me as being trustworthy. I hope that they respect me and the job I've done, and that they knew I was honest," he said.

"There's pluses and minuses with everything. I won't miss the mandated training. But I will miss the day-to-day exchanges with the directors and staff. I will miss my admin Tina Neeley who has been with me all these 10 years and the rest of the front office staff. And, I will certainly miss the employees of ALC and the mission of AMCOM."

Thirty-two years, he said, went by much quicker than expected.

"I'm really excited about the opportunity to finish this and have some down time with Michele and see what the future has to hold," Andrews said. "I'm proud of what ALC has done in support of military service members and I know they will continue in support of the mission."