Holt commands 3,800 Tennesseans

  • Published
  • By Raquel March
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  
There are approximately 3,800 guardsmen serving in the Tennessee Army National Guard's 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, headquartered in Knoxville, under the new command of Col. Warner Holt II. He is a branch manager with the Aerospace Testing Alliance Mission Support Department at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex.

Holt recently took command of Tennessee's largest Guard unit, consisting of six squadrons spread across 43 Tennessee counties and contributes approximately $41 million to local communities. The regiment is one of 16 Armored Brigade Combat Teams in the Army inventory.

"The mission of the 278th ACR is to fight and win our nation's wars and it is a formidable fighting force," Holt said. "The ACR stands ready to respond to any state or federal mission assigned which includes protecting and preserving the communities in which we live to traveling to a foreign land to protect and preserve the livelihood of others."

Holt is the first artilleryman to take command of the 278th Regiment and he considers this opportunity to be a high point in his military career.

"It is a great honor and privilege to have been selected to command the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment," Holt said. "I am humbled to have this opportunity to be the 12th colonel of the 278th ACR and to be the first artilleryman to command the regiment makes it that much more special. To be given the chance to lead such a fine organization is the goal and pinnacle of any combat arms Army officer's career."

Holt will lead training events in the months to come that will include a brigade warfighter, a brigade eXportable Combat Training Capability event and a culminating engagement with an opposing force at the National Training Center. At the NTC the 278th will engage an enemy in a mock battle designed to test every aspect of the regiment.

Holt has 32 years of service with the Tennessee Army National Guard. He has served as an artilleryman, an artillery officer and a cavalry officer.

"I enlisted when I was a senior in high school and haven't looked back since," Holt said. "It has truly been an honor to be able to serve my community and country in many different ways including two deployments; once as an embedded trainer and advisor for an Afghan Infantry Kandak in support of Operating Enduring Freedom and once as a Garrison Battalion Commander in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom."

Holt credits his years of service to the "grace of God" and the support of his family. He also recognizes ATA for supporting his military career.

Holt said, "ATA has supported my family and me through two deployments and a stint at the U.S. Army War College. ATA is a fine example of how our employers and citizens-soldiers and airmen can, and should, work together for the benefit of this great nation."

-AEDC-