Major General
Ray E. McCoy

Ray E. McCoy, born 11 March 1942 in Walters, Oklahoma, graduated from Oklahoma State in 1965 and was commissioned through ROTC. Detailed to the Infantry, he served assignments as a company executive officer and S-1 in mechanized infantry battalions at Fort Hood, Texas, and in Vietnam. Returning to the United States for his first Ordnance assignment in 1968, he commanded the Headquarters and Main Support Company, 265th Maintenance Battalion, Fort Riley, Kansas. He next served, from 1970 to 1972, in the 171st Support Battalion of the 171st Infantry Brigade at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, as Brigade Maintenance Officer. He also took command, on an emergency basis, of the Brigade's 58th Transportation Company, guiding it through a Command Materiel Management Inspection with the highest score.

From 1972 to 1974, as Production, Planning, and Control Officer, Installation Maintenance Division, Fort Bliss, Texas, McCoy reconstituted battalions brought from Forts Lewis and Meade to form the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, accomplishing all materiel readiness goals in 90 days. From 1975 to 1977, he was Personnel Distribution Officer at the US Army Military Personnel Center, Alexandria, Virginia. He was then assigned as Logistics Staff Officer, later Assistant Executive Officer, in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, US Army, from 1977 to 1979. Remaining in Washington, DC, he then served as Assistant Director of the Army Staff, Office of the Chief of Staff.

McCoy went to Korea in 1980 to take command of the 702d Maintenance Battalion, 2d Infantry Division, where he maintained the highest materiel readiness rating despite personnel shortages and excessive delivery times for repair parts. He returned to Washington in 1982 to serve as Staff Officer, Emergency Actions Branch, Joint Chiefs of Staff, J-4 (Logistics). In 1984, he was appointed Chief of the Combat Service Support Division, US Army Military Personnel Center. In 1986, he took command of the 61st Ordnance Brigade at the Ordnance Center and Schools, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, where he activated the Noncommissioned Officer Academy, improved the Field Training Exercise sites, and established a command inspection program. In 1988, McCoy was assigned as Director, National Inventory Control Point (Supply Operations), Defense Industrial Supply Center, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), Philadelphia, PA. He then returned to Washington in 1989 to serve as Executive Officer to the US Army's Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics. From 1990 to 1991 he served as Executive Director, Quality Assurance, in DLA's Defense Contract Management Command in Alexandria, Virginia, administering 560,000 contracts valued at over 760 billion dollars.

From 1991 to 1993 McCoy returned to the Defense Industrial Supply Center as commanding general, reorganizing it from a functional to a commodity basis, greatly enhancing customer support. He next served, from 1994 to 1995, as Chief of Staff, Army Materiel Command, Alexandria, Virginia. In his final assignment, he returned to DLA as Principal Deputy Director, overseeing the operation of five Defense Supply Centers, five Service Centers, and two Defense Distribution Regions. MG Ray McCoy retired in 1997 after more than 32 years of distinguished service.