LT. COLONEL DONALD A. COE
Lieutenant Colonel Donald A. Coe is a native of Salt Lake City, Utah. He was commissioned in the Regular Army through the ROTC at the University of Utah 1978. After completing the Ordnance Officer Basic Course he attended the Explosive Ordnance Disposal School at Indian Head Naval Ordnance Station, Maryland. His assignments have mainly been in the bomb disposal and ammunition management fields.He commanded the Fifty-second Ordnance Detachment (EOD) at Vancouver Barracks, Washington. After completing the Ordnance Officer Advance Course, he spent five years in Germany, serving first as the division ammunition officer for the Eighth Infantry Division in Bad Kreuznach. He next activated and commanded the Thirty-third Ordnance Company. Following command, Coe was the S2, S3, and the material officer to the 191st Ordnance Battalion in Mannheim, Germany. Upon returning to the United States, he earned an MBA from Babson College in Boston and attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth.
Returning to Germany, Coe was an operations officer at the Headquarters, U.S. Army-Europe in Heidelburg. He then commanded the 168th Ordnance Detachment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal Control Team) in Mannheim, Germany. He served three years in the Exercise and Oversight Branch, Defense Special Weapons Agency, in Alexandria, Virginia, working in counter nuclear terrorism.
His next assignment was as the commander, Third Ordnance Battalion (EOD) at Fort Lewis, Washington. He then served as the professor of military science at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, in 1998. Coe was then selected to attend the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. He is currently serving as the state inspector general for the Wyoming National Guard in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Coe married Debra Oaks in 1976. They have five children; their daughters Amber and Charity are both students at Brigham Young University. They have three sons still at home: Marshall, Sterling, and Lincoln.
His decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (with three Oak Leaf Clusters), the Army Commendation Medal, and Master Explosive Ordnance Disposal Badge.
