Chief Warrant Officer 5 David W. Willson is from Dexter, Michigan, and currently serves as the senior warrant officer advisor for the U.S. European Command Army Reserve Element. He enlisted in the United States Army Reserve as an Image Interpreter in 1984, initially serving with the 906th Military Intelligence Company in Southfield, Michigan. After moving to the Washington, DC area in 1988 following his graduation from the University of Michigan, he was assigned to the 338th Military Intelligence Battalion at Ft. Meade, Maryland. He returned to the University of Michigan for a graduate program in 1989 and served with the 314th Military Intelligence Battalion in Detroit, Michigan and the 415th Military Intelligence Detachment (Strategic) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. While with the 415th MID, he became a qualified all-source intelligence analyst.
In 1996, he attended the Warrant Officer Candidate School at Ft. Rucker, Alabama and was appointed to the grade of Warrant Officer 1. He became a qualified all-source intelligence technician following his graduation from the Military Intelligence Warrant Officer Basic Course in 1997. In 1998, he joined the Individual Mobilization Augmentee program and was assigned to the U.S. European Command Joint Analysis Center at Royal Air Force Base Molesworth in the United Kingdom, serving in the Detroit Detachment of the Joint Reserve Intelligence Support Element – Chicago. In 2002, he was mobilized to Headquarters, US European Command at Patch Barracks, Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany for one year as a Force Protection Intelligence Operations Officer. Following demobilization in 2003, he joined the Joint Reserve Intelligence Support Element – Detroit/Wright-Patterson. He graduated from the Military Intelligence Warrant Officer Advanced Course at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona in 2004 and the Warrant Officer Staff Course at Ft. Rucker, Alabama in 2007. He was mobilized again in 2010 with the 368th Military Intelligence Battalion from Camp Parks, California attached to Headquarters, United States Forces-Iraq at Camp Victory in Baghdad as an all-source intelligence technician. After demobilization, he returned to Joint Reserve Intelligence Support Element – Detroit/Wright-Patterson. He attended the Reserve Component National Security Course at the National Defense University, Ft. McNair, District of Columbia in 2015. In 2016, he joined Headquarters, 3100 Strategic Intelligence Group and graduated from the Warrant Officer Senior Service Education Course at Ft. Rucker, Alabama. In 2017, he graduated from the Military Intelligence Pre-Command and Military Intelligence Warrant Officer Senior Service Education Courses at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona and was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer 5. He was selected as the Command Chief Warrant Officer for the 200th Military Police Command in 2018 and served in that position until 2022.
Chief Warrant Officer 5 Willson’s awards include the Meritorious Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Joint Service Commendation Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Commendation Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Joint Service Achievement Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Army Achievement Medal, the Joint Meritorious Unit Award with six Oak Leaf Clusters, the Meritorious Unit Commendation Award, the Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal with ten Oak Leaf Clusters, the National Defense Service Medal with one Service Star, the Iraq Campaign Medal with two Campaign Service Stars, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with the “M” and Gold Hourglass devices, the NCO Professional Development Ribbon with the “2” device, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon with the “2” device, and the Army Reserve Components Overseas Training Ribbon with the “7” device. They also include the Knowlton Award and the Military Police Friend of the Regiment Award. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree in Meteorology, a Master of Science degree in Atmospheric and Space Sciences, and a Master of Science degree in Technical Information Design and Management, all from the University of Michigan.
In his civilian capacity, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Willson is a Technical Writing Manager for Netscout Systems in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is married to the former Katherine Lange of Indian River, Michigan.