Colonel Chester Kowalczyk

Chester A. Kowalczyk was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan on July I4, I932. His military career began when he received a Second Lieutenant commission from Western Michigan University's College of Education in 1954 as a Distinguished Military Graduate. His education continued with the Quartermaster Officer Basic Course, the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) Basic Officers Course, The Quartermaster Officer Advanced Course, the Command and General Staff College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University. He attended Harvard University's Program for Senior Managers in Government of the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Western Michigan University’s College of Education, Kalamazoo, Michigan and a Masters in Science Degree in Management from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

He has held a variety of command and staff positions. He served as Platoon Commander and Executive Officer of a Nike Battery, Chicago, Illinois; a Staff Officer, U.S. Army Subsistence Center, Chicago, Illinois; Procurement Officer, Military Subsistence Supply Center, Chicago, Illinois; Sub-Post Quartermaster and Commissary Officer, Heilbronn, Federal Republic of Germany; Assistant S-4, 4th Army Security Agency, Kagnew Station, Asmara, Ethiopia; Division Chief, Subsistence Division and later Deputy Director of Food, 1st Logistical Command, U.S. Army, Vietnam; Chief, Supply Operations Division, Subsistence Regional Headquarters, Oakland, California; Division Chief, Theater Army Support Command, Worms, FRG; Commander, 56th Supply and Services Battalion, Kaiserslautern, Federal Republic of Germany; Staff Officer, Executive Officer and Division Chief, Transportation, Energy and Services, ODCSLOG, HQDA, Washington, DC.; Commander, Defense Subsistence Region Europe, Zweibrucken, Federal Republic of Germany; and again in ODCSLOG, HQDA, Directorate of Transportation, Energy and Troop Support (TRETS), as Chief, Water Resources Management Office, Division Chief Troop Support Division and Deputy Director TRETS.

Upon his retirement in 1984 from the Uniformed Army as a Colonel (0-6), he was selected to serve as the Assistant Director, Energy and Troop Support. He was sworn into the Federal Senior Executive Service in October 1984, and he retired from Civil Service as an SES-4 August 30, 1997.He is married to former Leona M. Lobodzinski (RN), Chicago. Illinois. They have five children and 12 grandchildren.