Command Sergeant Major, Retired
John D.
Gipe
Immediate Past President, Enlisted Association of the National Guard of Kentucky
Executive Director, Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States
Service
Cavalry scout to
the Pentagon.
A native of Owensboro, Kentucky, Command Sergeant Major Gipe enlisted in the Kentucky Army National Guard as a cavalry scout in 1982. He served with the 238th Regiment and with 2nd Battalion, 123rd Armor, and held every leadership position in the noncommissioned officer corps through command sergeant major.
He came from a family of service members. His father was a Guardsman and his siblings all served. He spent his first nineteen years in a traditional drilling status, a period when the Guard was still treated as a strategic reserve and rarely deployed.
On 11 September 2001 he was serving as Commandant of the 238th Regiment, Kentucky's Regional Training Institute, and as Command Sergeant Major of the state's regional training site, where he was tasked with preparing Kentucky Guardsmen for deployment.
He became Command Sergeant Major of the Kentucky Army National Guard in 2002. In late 2004 the Director of the Army National Guard, Lieutenant General Roger C. Schultz, selected him as the 8th Command Sergeant Major of the Army National Guard, succeeding Command Sergeant Major A. Frank Lever III. He reported for duty in January 2005 and deployed in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom before assuming the position later that year.
As 8th Command Sergeant Major of the Army National Guard he was the principal advisor to the Director on training, personnel policy, and family programs, with responsibility for the well-being of 372,800 Soldiers and their Families. He served in that position until July 2009.
He then served as the 9th Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, his final position before retirement. In that role he advised the Assistant Secretary and staff on enlisted affairs affecting 1.1 million personnel across the Army and Air National Guard and the reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.
CSM Gipe was appointed Executive Director of EANGUS in April 2025 and assumed those duties on 1 June 2025. He served as President of EANGKY until August 2025 and continues to serve on the Executive Council as Immediate Past President, where under the By-Laws he chairs the Committee on Nominations.
In civilian life he was a locomotive engineer for CSX Railroad in Louisville, taking a military leave of absence to serve full time with the Kentucky Army National Guard. He is now retired.
Notable achievement
He got the Guard
into the Best Warrior
Competition.
Working with Command Sergeant Major (Retired) Leon Caffe, he persuaded Sergeant Major of the Army Kenneth O. Preston to let the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve field their own individual qualifiers for the U.S. Army Best Warrior Competition. Within two years of the program starting, the Guard won NCO of the Year and the Army Reserve won Soldier of the Year.
The record
Senior assignments
and service.
Senior assignments
Also served as Command Sergeant Major of Kentucky's regional training site, preparing Kentucky Guardsmen for deployment following the attacks of 11 September 2001.
State Command Sergeant Major for the Kentucky Army National Guard.
Principal advisor to the Director of the Army National Guard on training, personnel policy, and family programs. Responsible for the well-being of 372,800 Soldiers and their Families.
Advised the Assistant Secretary and staff on enlisted affairs affecting 1.1 million personnel across the Army and Air National Guard and the reserve components of all services.
Association and community service
Enlisted Association of the National Guard of Kentucky
Enlisted Association of the National Guard of Kentucky. Chairs the Committee on Nominations under Article VI, Section 3(l) of the By-Laws.
Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States
Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States
State committee, ESGR
Kentucky National Guard Memorial
Additional duties as Senior Enlisted Advisor
Education