Top Army sergeant from Paterson prepares to retire after a long career

Fresh out of high school in 1985, 18-year-old Earnest Williams Jr. wasn’t sure what to do next in his young life or in what direction to go.

He joined the Army, and next year, after more than three decades, top Army Sgt. Williams will retire. It was a great career, he said, as he contemplates what to do next. Whatever his next move is, he said, it will be in New Jersey.

Why the Army?

Partying like a rock star that summer after high school didn’t present much of a future, and the Paterson neighborhood where he lived posed risks to his health and safety.

But he was luckier than many of his friends. After demonstrating his prowess on the basketball court and in track and field at Passaic County Technical Institute for four years, Williams earned a partial athletic scholarship to attend college in Virginia that fall. But it was not to be.

“In my senior year, I was fully involved in sports and working, and quite a few other things,” Williams said. “But before college started, I realized I wanted to do something different. I didn’t know if school was going to be the way for me.”

Clarity would come, though, when he and his friend Gary saw a recruiting commercial for the U.S. Army on TV. The slogan was “Be All You Can Be.”

“At that moment, we decided to go downtown to the post office where the recruiters were, and the first door we came to was the Army,” Williams said. “They separated us and gave us a bunch of tests … I did pretty well. But when I finished, Gary was gone. He later told me that he couldn’t get in because he didn’t have a GED … I told him I was set to leave for the Army in two weeks.”

Responding to the Army’s recruiting slogan at the time proved fortuitous for Williams, who recently marked his 35th anniversary of serving in the U.S. Army and the New Jersey National Guard. But it wasn’t completely by chance that he enlisted in the military on Sept. 2, 1985. He remembers, as a kid, seeing his uncle, who served in Vietnam, in uniform and how it impressed him, and he recalls his fifth-grade teacher, Ms. Dudley, who served in the National Guard, making a big impression on him, as well — one that would stick with him over time.

“She was one of those teachers who went beyond what’s expected. She was a mentor to us young kids, and took us roller-skating after school,” Williams said. “I remember she would often come to class in uniform when she had ‘drill’ that day, and we would ask her about it and what the military was like. She was definitely one of the reasons why I chose to enlist.”

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The most significant influence in Williams’ life, though, was his mother, Bernice Williams.

“She was the backbone of our family, and I was terrified to tell her I had enlisted. She wanted me, my brother and sister to go to college, and I didn’t tell her I was leaving until the night before. She didn’t believe me,” Williams said, “and when the recruiter came to pick me up at 7 o’clock the next morning, she cursed him out really bad! She didn’t believe I made the decision [to enlist] on my own. But, as time went on, she understood why I did it — the environment was really bad and a lot of my friends were getting into trouble. It was just a matter of time before something bad would happen to me or someone I loved dearly.”

Today, Earnest Williams Jr. is the top-ranking non-commissioned officer in the New Jersey National Guard. He is the state command sergeant major, a rank only six non-commissioned officers before him attained in the nearly 75-year history of the New Jersey National Guard. He is responsible for 8,000 Guardsmen and women — 6,000 soldiers and 2,000 airmen — ensuring everything is in place for them to complete their mission.

“I’ve always been the type of person to take care of the underdog … take care of people … and the military has provided that outlet as I’ve gone through my career. Being a ‘big brother’ to everyone has been my career path since day one,” Williams said — and that path began in the Artillery, where he relied on his math skills to fire artillery shells at targets with pinpoint accuracy. That, and the words and phrases he learned in the German language classes he had at PCTI, led to his first overseas deployment in Germany, from 1986 to 1989.

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“It was during the Cold War, and the Berlin Wall hadn’t come down yet,” Williams said. “We spent a lot of time on border patrol, walking up and down fences. We were on this side and they were on that side.”

Later deployments in the Army and then the National Guard would include 18 months in Korea, where his unit helped secure the DMZ between North and South Korea; volunteering for duty in Iraq and Kuwait in 2003; and returning to Iraq and Kuwait in 2008.

“I raised my hand and wanted to go,” Williams said about volunteering for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. “They were looking for volunteers for a 186-man team to be a part of the first wave to go in there.”

In preparation for the deployment, Williams and his fellow team members were trained in Military Police tactics at Fort Dix, and then departed for Kuwait in January 2004. Within days of their arrival, the team was transported to Baghdad, where they worked with local police to protect the Iraqi people and carried out combat missions.

“It was intense from the day we got there to the day we got to leave,” said Williams, who served as the platoon sergeant in a smaller 32-man unit. “The level of threat was extremely high. We ran over 600 combat missions in the one year we were there. That was unheard of at the time and something we wouldn’t do in this day and era.”

Williams’ platoon and a second platoon in the 186-man team each had two men killed in action, and many others wounded. “Out of my guys, we had quite a few Purple Hearts presented,” said Williams, who received a Bronze Star for combat service in Iraq. “Those guys are dear to my heart to this day. It’s a bond that can never be broken.”

In addition to his military deployments overseas, Williams served the nation during 9/11 and Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina.

“When 9/11 hit, we were called into action. It was one of the first major call-ups we [in the New Jersey National Guard] had in a long time,” he said. “I was a young staff sergeant at the time and was assigned to security at Terminal B, Newark Airport, manning checkpoints and screening people. Our team had guys from several different agencies, including the Army, U.S. Border Patrol and the New Jersey State Police. That gave me a sense of brotherhood, because we all had a common goal — helping citizens.”

Similarly, responding to the needs of citizens who would lose homes and loved ones during Hurricanes Andrew in Florida and Katrina in New Orleans would affect Williams, as well. “The gratitude we received from citizens for helping them was immediate every day. They were so appreciative … it just warms your heart.”

Promoted to the rank of state command sergeant major in 2017, Williams is a full-time, active-duty member of the New Jersey National Guard.

“It’s an honor and a privilege … and the best job in the world,” he said, crediting the team of soldiers, airmen and individuals around him. “Having a great supporting cast got me to where I am today.”

And giving back to the community, particularly Paterson and the surrounding area where he grew up, is paramount in Williams’ life as a U.S. Army veteran and a New Jersey National Guardsman.

“As a boy, I always wanted to escape, travel, see the world and explore. The military has given me the opportunity to do that — meet different people, experience different cultures and speak different languages,” he said. And sharing those experiences and “the best career choice” he could have made with local students is rewarding for Williams.

“For me, it’s the most rewarding thing when I get the opportunity to go back to my neighborhood, talk to those kids and say to them, ‘I am just like you … I used to hang on the corner of that street right there. But I had to make a leap of faith … and if other people could do it, I could do it … and you can do it, too’ ” Williams said. “Going back and doing that — I never turn those offers down.”

Williams also speaks to disengaged young people who serve as cadets in the New Jersey Youth Challenge Academy, which focuses on reclaiming their lives through education, mentoring and empowerment to improve their academic level and employment opportunities. “My passion is teaching,” he said, “and doing anything that’s going to help youth.”

During his 35-year career, Williams never forgot his mother’s wish for him to earn a college degree. Although he did have to postpone it until 2018, Williams earned two — a bachelor’s degree in leadership and a master’s degree in organizational leadership management.

And like his mother’s hope for him, Williams expressed a similar hope for his five children — three boys and two girls. ”My wife and I always wanted a better opportunity for the children. So we gave them two options — join the military or go to college — but always work hard,” he said. “They chose college. But while they were in school, I got a call from two of my sons who attended the same college, saying they wanted to join the National Guard, too. It’s paid dividends for them, so far — both graduated, and my younger son bought a house.”

Williams’ third son is also about to join the National Guard. “It’s become the family business now,” he said. “I couldn’t ask anything more of them. As a dad, just graduating from college was enough.”

Williams and his wife have been married for 20 years, and he says his family has always been his “cornerstone” of support. “I’ve been home most of those years. But with soldiers deploying, it puts a lot of weight on the family. As I get older, I’ll do all the things a dad does with his kids. But for me, it will probably be with my grandkids.”

He also intends to continue supporting veterans through speaking engagements and by participating in medal ceremonies. “The Veterans Affairs Services in New Jersey is second to none,” he says. “I consider myself an average Joe. But getting the opportunity to have a conversation with a WWII veteran — what they’ve been through — and Vietnam and every era is amazing to me. Supporting veteran agencies and veteran homes is something that everyone should be able to do.”

The National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey is the home of the Center for U.S. War Veterans’ Oral Histories. It is the center’s mission to collect and preserve the memories of veterans and Gold Star family members through recorded oral history interviews.

For further information on access to this collection, or to participate in the program, visit or contact Carol Fowler at the museum in Sea Girt at 732-974-5966 or carol.fowler@dmava.nj.gov.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Top Army sergeant from Paterson is proud to be a career soldier