Chief Warrant Officer 5
Cecil E. Hutson

Serving several years as a Gun Crew Chief, Cecil Hutson transferred to Missile Maintenance serving both with the AJAX and the Nike Hercules. He attended the Army Nuclear Weapons Assembly Course at Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1962 and spent three years as NCOIC of the Nuclear Weapons Assembly Team with the 137th Ordnance Co, Okinawa. Due to his exceptional service in that assignment, he was selected as the Nuclear Weapons Advisor the Chief of Maintenance, DCSLOG, 5th U.S. Army. His responsibilities included development of Policy and Procedures for all subordinate elements of the 5th U.S. Army as well as insuring implementation of Policy and Procedure of higher headquarters.

Mr. Hutson applied for and was appointed a Warrant Officer in February 1967. It was after this that he made his most significant contributions to the Ordnance Corps. His first assignment as a Warrant Officer was Nuclear Weapons Officer and Technical Inspector for XVIII Airborne Corps. He made significant contributions to the Corps Nuclear Planning and Maintenance Programs. He wrote Policy and Procedures that outlined compliance and Inspections Responsibilities for all XVIII Airborne Corps elements. He was then assigned as Quality Control Officer, Assistant Operations Officer and Nuclear Weapons Assembly Team Chief in 1972 for the 69th Ordnance Company. Not only did he ensure efficiency in his areas of responsibility, but spent many hours of extra time to manage a COMSEC account as well as use his managerial experience in the units motor pool and supply operations. His quality control program enabled his unit to score very high during USAREUR TPI inspections with his areas receiving excellent ratings. After his exceptional service to the 69th Ord Co., Cecil went to HQ, SETAF for a short time where he conducted Technical Assistance/Surety Evaluation visits to USASETAF units. His vast knowledge and experience aided unit commanders and significantly contributed to upgrading the mission capability of SETAF custodial commands.

He was assigned to HQ AMCCOM, in June 1980 where he became the Army Maintenance Manager for the fielded M422 and the experimental XM753 eight-inch Nuclear Weapons Systems.

He effected flawless monitoring of the Army World Wide Readiness Posture for these critical Nuclear Weapons Systems. By detailed analysis of CONUS weapons systems distribution and maintenance accomplishment reporting procedures, he astutely determined that Army received limited readiness data on numerous Army systems stored by Navy. Following inter-service coordination, he personally caused return of these systems to Army custody and subsequently complete operational readiness reporting.

He returned to HQ, AMCCOM in April 1984 after a short tour to Korea's 8th Army as the Chief Nuclear Surety Team Chief. He was instrumental in ensuring that the surveillance manual was accurately written and technically correct. According to the maintenance technical manuals. His efforts resulted in 71 recommended changes to the 8" Technical Manual. His work involving the return of over 400 items from overseas Cecil devised a repair procedure for the training H1343 shipping and storage container that had an estimated first year saving of over $180,000.

Mr. Hutson was assigned to HQ, 4th Army in Jan 1990 where he provided nuclear weapons assistance to reserve units assigned to the 4th U.S. Army. He also assisted the disbanding of the 4th U.S. Army and transfer of functions to other Army elements. He was assigned duties at AMCCOM in October 1991 that put him directly responsible for the retrograde and demil of items returning from overseas. He was the Army's last nuclear weapons technician to be directly involved with the removal of weapons from overseas. He performed this function without error. He published and provided instructions, which assisted the nuclear weapons draw down at the installation level (e.g., nuclear PRP, termination guidance, rescinding the depot's mission capability statement, and achieving instructions for nuclear mission records). He has proved to be the Army's expert on Nuclear Weapons.

His reputation had preceded him. He was becoming known as the Army's expert on Nuclear Weapons and an exceptional officer capable of performing a myriad of functions with excellent results. Cecil Hutson served more than 45 years in the United States Army with over 35 years in the Nuclear Weapons Field. He was recognized in April 1996, by General Dennis Reimer, Chief of Staff, Army, as the last active duty soldier who served in the Korean War.