Dr. Richard B. Armstrong

Richard B. Armstrong (Ed.D., Indiana University, 1993) had an illustrious career as the Director of Training and later the Deputy to the Commandant of the U.S. Army Ordnance School.

In 2006, Dr. Armstrong became Deputy to the Commander at the U.S. Army Ordnance Munitions & Electronics Maintenance School (OMEMS) at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. He relocated to Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia, in 2010 when OMEMS merged with the Ordnance Mechanical Maintenance School (OMMS) to become the U.S. Army Ordnance School.

Dr. Armstrong served as the Director of Training at the Ordnance School, where he was instrumental in securing an Institution of Excellence rating for five consecutive U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) accreditations. He also led the school to successful Council on Occupational Education (COE) accreditations in 2012 and 2018.

From 2012 until the end of his career in 2019, he worked as the Deputy to the Commandant/Director of Training for six Chiefs of Ordnance. During that time, he directed a workforce of 900 Military and Civilian employees that provided training and education to approximately 18,000 students annually, including Officers, Warrant Officers, NCOs, Advanced Individual Training (AIT) Soldiers, and Department of the Army civilians across seven different installations. He also played a pivotal role in creating and resourcing the TRADOC Capability Manager for Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and the Ordnance School’s Office of the Commandant (EOD).

Dr. Armstrong helped establish 13 credentialing programs over 20 Military Occupational Specialties (MOS), enabling over 9,000 AIT Solders to be credentialed annually through civilian agencies such as the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence. Additionally, he established an academic program through the University of Arizona that provided Ordnance School instructors with 24 hours of college credit in instructional design and development.

Dr. Armstrong’s most notable awards include the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Award, the Department of the Army Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the Department of the Army Superior Civilian Service Award, and the Performance Improvement Quarterly article of the year (awarded by International Society for Performance Improvement).

Dr. Armstrong retired in January 2019 after 36 years of dedicated service as a Department of the Army civilian.