Hometown Hero Promoted to Rank of Chaplain Colonel in U.S. Army

U.S. Army Chaplain Lieutenant Colonel Bill Hawkins, whose military career has carried him to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, returned home Saturday for a promotion ceremony and reception. Hawkins has been promoted to the rank of Chaplain Colonel.
The ceremony was held at the Smithville First Baptist Church, Chaplain Colonel Hawkins’ hometown place of worship. Members of Hawkins’ family, many friends, and veterans were in attendance. Military officials participating in the program were U.S. Army Chaplain Colonel Brent Causey, Retired Chaplain Lieutenant Colonel Will Bearden, and Chaplain Captain Robert Sterling.
Chaplain Colonel Hawkin’s father, Billy Hawkins, Sr., his wife Trudy, and their daughter and son, Sarah and Ben pinned the Colonel insignias on his service dress coat during the ceremony.
“I’m just overjoyed and excited about being here in Smithville and getting to celebrate a promotion that has been long in coming but to do that with my family has been outstanding,” Chaplain Colonel Hawkins told WJLE after the ceremony.
Hawkins is a graduate of DeKalb County High School and Middle Tennessee State University. He began his Army career in 1985 when he simultaneously entered the ROTC program at Middle Tennessee State University and the Tennessee Army National Guard in Smithville. He received a reserve infantry Officer Commission in 1987 upon graduating from MTSU. After serving three years in both the Tennessee and Indiana Army National Guard, he transitioned to the Chaplain Candidate Program while studying at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. After a total of eight years of commissioned service in the Army National Guard and the Army Reserves, he entered Active Duty as a Chaplain at Fort Drum, New York in 1995.
Chaplain Hawkins’ multiple assignments, both overseas and within the United States, include tours of duty in New York, Germany, Macedonia, Washington D.C. (2 assignments), Texas, Iraq, and Washington. The units he served include Corps Support Battalion, Air Defense Artillery, Army Medical Centers (3 tours), Field Artillery, Wounded Warrior Ministry, and his current assignment as the Garrison Chaplain at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
His awards include the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Ribbon (3 Oak Leaf Clusters), the Army Accommodation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal (2 Oak Leaf Clusters), the Air Assault Badge, the Combat Action Badge, and other Service, Campaign, and Superior Unit Awards.
His marriage to Trudy Hawkins spans 26 years, and they have two young adult children, 22 year old Sarah and 20 year old Benjamin.
Asked how long he plans to continue his military service, Chaplain Colonel Hawkins told WJLE he is leaving that up to God. “I am going to stay in the military until I feel called to do something else. That’s God’s calling. He’ll let me know when it’s time to leave,” he said