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Senior Enlisted Adviser to the Chief of the National Guard Bureau Tony L. Whitehead didn't think twice in August 2020 before accepting his appointment as the Guard's senior-most noncommissioned officer and principal military adviser on enlisted matters. It seemed that the Guard had never been in greater demand.
Guard members across the country were mobilized in support of local communities battling COVID-19 during the early stages of the pandemic. In California, citizen soldiers and airmen were answering the call as hundreds of wildfires blazed throughout the state during what would become a record-breaking season. And those demands at home, which would continue to play out throughout the following year, were in addition to National Guard deployments overseas.
With nearly four decades of service in the Air Force and Air National Guard, Whitehead was up for the challenge of leading and shaping enlisted corps of soldiers and airmen that make up the backbone of the National Guard when then-Chief of the National Guard Bureau Army Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson called to offer him the job.
"He said 'Are you ready to take this ride with me?' And I said 'Yes, sir,'" Whitehead said this week in an interview ahead of the ceremony on Friday where he will close out his 42-year career and transfer his responsibilities to Army Command Sgt. Maj. John T. Raines.
Whitehead got to work immediately. Just two weeks after accepting the job, Whitehead and Hokanson were on the road to meet with guardsmen in the missile fields of Alaska and on the frontlines of the wildfires in California.
Soon thereafter, more guardsmen were in full swing responding to hurricane season. Others were continuing to respond to the pandemic and serving a crucial role in delivering the vaccine across the country.
By June 2021, more than 120,000 guardsmen were on orders, Whitehead said, including 36,000 soldiers and airmen who were supporting operations overseas.
Those first few months, he said, painted a vivid picture of what the next four years as senior enlisted adviser would be like and reaffirmed what he long knew: that the men and women that make up the ranks are what drive the National Guard's success.
"It was impressive," Whitehead said. "These are our guardsmen. I felt very, very humbled by that. These are our people."
Answering the Call to Service
Whitehead began his Air Force career on active duty in 1982.
As he reached the end of high school in Jacksonville, Florida, he said he knew going to college full time would not be in the cards. He began talking to Air Force recruiters.
"They showed this really cool video, VHS tape, of security specialists as we were called back then," he said. "It looked really cool, and I decided that's what I was going to do. So, joined delayed enlistment before I even graduated."
Basic training was a change of pace, he said, but he quickly found his stride.
"You're talking about a kid that never flew in an airplane until I actually left to go to Lackland Air Force Base," Whitehead said. "And then to meet people from different walks of life, I was like, 'Wow.'"
But he said his upbringing by a hardworking mother who raised him, and his seven siblings and growing up in a tight-knit neighborhood served him well in making the adjustment.
"We just had each other and so, you know, I became a student of people just by watching them and learning what they were doing," Whitehead said in describing his youth. "You learn from their work ethic, you know, their commitment to supporting people."
He quickly realized in basic training that although there were people from all different walks of life, everyone was far more similar than they were different.
"It was just a matter of getting there and figuring it all out," he said. "And then when I got there, I was like 'Okay, I think I can do this.'"
Those lessons Whitehead learned during his childhood served him long beyond basic training and have continued to serve as a solid foundation over his more than four-decade career.
Whitehead spent nine years on active duty with assignments in South Dakota, Japan, South Korea and Panama before settling closer to home at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia when his mother was diagnosed with cancer.
He left active duty in 1992, returned to Jacksonville and spent 18 months in the inactive ready reserve.
Then one day, months after leaving active duty, Whitehead saw an airman wearing a security forces beret in Jacksonville.
"I asked him 'What are you doing here? Moody is two hours away," Whitehead said.
Through that conversation, he learned about a National Guard unit in Jacksonville and jumped at the chance to wear the uniform again.
As in active duty, Whitehead quickly found his stride in the Guard.
"We had a lot of fun together, but when it was time to turn it on — boom! — we could do it in a heartbeat," he said.
Leading Through Change
Throughout Whitehead's career, which began in the Cold War, spanned the Global War on Terror and will conclude during a period of refocus on strategic competition, the National Guard and reserve component has become an increasingly critical component. both at home and abroad.
And the Guard's success, Whitehead said, is increasingly defined by its ability to adapt and prevail amid constant change.
"Change is part of who we are," he said. "It's in our DNA."
The ability to adapt to that change is instilled throughout the ranks, and the men and women who serve in the National Guard have demonstrated they are up to the challenge, time and time again.
As senior enlisted adviser, Whitehead focused on ensuring the National Guard's enlisted corps continues to drive this success.
Throughout the past four years, he has focused on his top three priorities of educating and empowering the force and executing the mission.
When it comes to education, Whitehead said his focus extends far beyond academics.
"It's about our culture and the people that make up our culture," he said. "That's a huge piece of education, knowing the mission, knowing the people that are going to execute that mission and then, of course, knowing those resources that can help you get after it."
He added creating space for junior soldiers and airmen to make mistakes is a critical component of empowering the force and spurring innovation throughout the ranks.
Whitehead said National Guard and active duty noncommissioned officers continue to be a key differentiator in setting the U.S. armed forces apart from all other militaries worldwide.
"When you think about the things that we have to do in the time frame that we have to do it, and the totality of how enormous it can be, it takes ... NCOs to be able to do that," he said. "We're empowered to make those decisions, come up with plans of action and execute."
As Whitehead prepares to close out his long career, the demands placed on the National Guard show no signs of abating.
But he said he remains confident that the future generation remains up to the task.
"It has been a thrill," he said. "I'm going to miss it. But I understand that ... as an institution, at some point in time, we need to move on, so that those that are younger, quicker, faster, smarter, can come in and take our places. And we need to be comfortable with that."
He added that it is critical for leaders to continue to spread awareness about the opportunities available in the National Guard and the value of service.
"We need to promote it more as a nation," he said. "The long-term gains of us as a nation are going to come from people who understand that they have to invest in what they want to see in the future."
"And I know they're out there," he said. "I see them all the time."
