News from April 10, 2003 issue

Woodall has unique war perspective
BY ALLISON EVANS
Walton "Woody" Woodall has watched the war in Iraq unfold with a unique perspective.
Not only did he engineer a portion of the invasion of Iraq during the first Gulf War, he has a daughter serving with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne that's back in Iraq.

Retired in 1994 as a command sergeant major, Woodall advanced through his career to become one of the Army's highest-ranking non-commissioned officers. His last assignment was head of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. In that position, he was responsible for all of the training and doctrine manuals used at training centers throughout the country.

During the climax leading up to the first Gulf War, Woodall studied a layer of barriers erected by the Iraqi government and developed the plan soldiers would use to penetrate them in their assent from Kuwait.

"They had five layers of barriers of sand berms, land mines, barbed wire and ditches of oil designed to be unpenetrable," Woodall said. "After the plan was practiced, our guys could get through the barriers in 20 minutes. It actually took our guys 16 minutes to get through each one.

"They found out their ground barriers weren't near as good as they thought."
Woodall's interest in the War in Iraq is intensified by his daughter's involvement in the conflict.

Cpt. Wendy Woodall, a University of Kentucky graduate stationed at Fort Bragg, is a RN with the 82nd Airborne's Combat Support Hospital.

"They can set up their tent and 26 beds and be operating on people in two hours," Woodall explained.

Wendy phoned her parents nearly every night from Kuwait before the conflict started three weeks ago. Their most recent call was taken by her stepmother Regina on Friday.

"She couldn't say where she was, but she said the last time she'd showered was when she was in Kuwait 13 days ago," Regina said. Since that phone call, the 82nd Airborne took control of Saddam International Airport and renamed it Baghdad Airport.

"She's wanted to be a nurse since she was this big," Woodall says, using his outstretched arm to indicate the height of a four- or five-year-old child.

"She was born in an Army hospital, moved all over the world, and I had a hard time understanding how a kid who grew up in it would want to stay in it," Woodall said.
Nonetheless, Woodall is proud of his daughter and is confident of her safety.

"The soldiers they have now are a whole lot more intelligent than they were when I was in the Army," he said.

Woodall was drafted in 1962, was trained as a combat engineer and served his first tour in Vietnam in 1965. He was hit with shrapnel in the jaw, neck and back and returned home. During his second tour, Woodall was shot with an AK-47, lost part of a lung and part of a kidney and was hospitalized in Vietnam, Japan and finally at Fort Knox for a total of six months.

He received two Purple Hearts for his injuries during the war, plus a Distinguished Service Medal, five Meritorious Service Medals, several Army Commendation Medals and 10 Good Conduct Medals ­ one for every three years he served his country.

While some retired military officials have criticized Gen. Tommy Franks' war strategy, Woodall has nothing but good things to say about the plan.

"I think he is playing it just right, perfect really," Woodall said. "I hear people saying, 'They should have done this' or 'they should have done that,' but I think they've done exactly what they wanted to do."

Woodall's story has another interesting note. When Gen. Franks was earning his first star en route to being a four-star general, Woodall was there. In fact he held the star in his hand just before it donned Franks' lapel.

He also says the war is well justified.

"This man is worse than Hitler," he said. "He's killed so many and so many of the things he's done show you he has no value for human life at all."

Agencies moving into Ed/Tech Center

An inspection of the new Ed/Tech Center Tuesday took the "better part of a day," said architect Mike Barton.

Barton, of Madisonville, said the "punch list inspection" is typical when a building is "substantially complete, meaning it is to the point where the owner can occupy it.
We're just making sure there aren't any major problems."

There weren't any, according to Crittenden County Economic Development Corp. president Steve Davidson, who accompanied Barton on the facility tour of the officially named Marion/Crittenden County Technology-Economic Development Training Center.

"This is one of the final steps before completion... he will actually climb up in the rafters," said Davidson, who plans to begin moving the CCEDC offices Friday. "I have great faith in Mike Barton."

The CCEDC, along with the Chamber of Commerce, have been housed most recently in the former Chrysler dealership now owned by Crittenden Health Systems. Chamber director Jeanne Hodge said she plans to begin moving Friday, as well.

The economic development council met in a special session Monday to discuss several issues pertaining to the center's opening and ongoing operations.

Arguably the top priority is money. Hoped-for financial assistance from Murray State University and Madisonville Community College that didn't materialize forced planners to shave almost $70,000 off the originally hoped for $163,000 annual operating budget.

Board members were given a list of potential local donors Monday, but are also giving a close look to a long-distance phone service plan that could help pad the center's coffers.

The center could benefit financially if CCEDC agrees to become an agent of Touchstone Communications, a long-distance carrier based in Paducah. According to Dwane Tucker, a former BellSouth executive who now works as a consultant, the plan is "pretty straight forward."

Businesses and individuals who sign up for the service could wind up saving money by changing long distance carriers while helping the center.

For example, said Tucker, with $10,000 a month billing, the center's profit would be $7,000 annually.

"We're just pursuing a means of raising revenue," said Davidson. "The good thing is that it doesn't cost us anything to become an agent, and if we decide that we're dissatisfied with it or there are customers who are dissatisfied, we can get out immediately and not lose anything,"

Tucker said businesses that consider signing up for the service can have current phone bills analyzed to see if a savings would occur with a switch.

The center will provide continuing education and college credit courses, in addition to housing the Chamber of Commerce and the economic development director.
In March, the board appointed a subcommittee ­ Davidson, Dulcie Hardin and Alan Stout ­ to formulate a policy for public use of the building.

The resulting two-page draft facility use regulations for business, organizations, governmental agencies and schools was presented to the board Monday. Among items discussed were prohibiting alcohol, tobacco and firearms and deposits and fees required for CCEDC members and non-members.

"This is a living document," said Stout. "It's something that can be changed as we see the need."

In other business, the board voted to table indefinitely a proposal by the city of Marion to rename the Ed/Tech Center after U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, and discussed plans to make the July 15 Annual Meeting a combined meeting with Marion's Western Kentucky Industrial Foundation.