COL Lawrence Sowa
25th White Sands Missile Range Commander
02 May 2003 – 17 July 2003
Colonel Lawrence J. (John) Sowa assumed command of White Sands Missile Range on 02 May 2003 to serve as the 25th Commander. He served in that capacity until 17 July 2003.
Prior to assuming command of the Missile Range, COL Sowa’s duties were as Chief of Staff of the US Army Developmental Test Command beginning on 06 August 2001. Prior to that assignment he was the Commander of US Army Munitions and Armaments Command, Rock Island, Illinois.
COL Sowa was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on 29 August 1950. He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, with a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Government. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Field Artillery in 1974 after completing Reserve Officer Training Corps as a distinguished military graduate and subsequently branch transferred to the Ordnance Corps in August 1982. He has a Master’s Degree in Procurement and Contracting from the Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida. His military education includes the Airborne Course, the Field Artillery Officer Advanced Course, Ordnance Advanced Munitions Materiel Management, Logistics Executive Development, Command and General Staff College, DSMC’s Program Managers Course, and the Army War College.
His key assignments include: Commander, US Army Munitions and Armaments Command, Rock Island, Illinois; Commander, Crane Army Ammunition Activity, Crane, Indiana; Strategic Planner, US Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania; Commander, Louisiana and Longhorn Army Ammunition Plants, Marshall, Texas; Chief, Production and Logistics, Director, Conventional Ammunition, Alexandria, Virginia; Executive Assistant to the Director of Operations, Defense Nuclear Agency, Alexandria, Virginia; Nuclear Weapons Materiel Management Officer, Defense Nuclear Agency, Alexandria, Virginia; Commander, 510th Ordnance Company, Gunzburg, Germany; Tank Ammunition Program Manager, US Army Munitions Production Base, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey; Field Artillery Staff Officer, Combat Developments, Fort Sill, Oklahoma; S-3 and Battery Commander, HHB, Field Artillery Center and School, Fort Sill, Oklahoma; Battery Commander and Platoon Leader, 1-32 Field Artillery, Hanau, Germany.
His awards and decorations include the two Legions of Merit, two Defense Meritorious Medals, five Meritorious Service Medals, the Army Commendation Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, two National Defense Service Medals, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon and two Overseas Service Ribbons.
Colonel Sowa and his wife Gale have two daughters, Samantha and Katy.