Farris retires after three decades of service to the nation

Soldiering is a special calling

JOINT BASE LEWIS MCCHORD, Wash. - “Service to the nation is an affair of the heart, a calling of noble purpose for only a very small percentage of the American people,” according to Brig. Gen. Billy Don Farris.
Farris answered that calling for 30 years, serving in command and staff positions around the world, fighting and leading soldiers over six deployments in four different operations.
Surrounded by his family, friends and colleagues, Maj. Gen. Stephen R. Lanza, commanding general of the 7th Infantry Division, honored the Lone Star native’s extensive military service in a ceremony at French Theater on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, June 28.
“We are really here to honor and celebrate a father, a husband, a warrior, a soldier, a leader, for three decades of unparalleled service to the nation and I’m just honored to be up here. You are the elite warrior, the elite soldier, the elite family man, and all of us in here that have had the benefit, the privilege of knowing you whether it be personally or professionally know that about you,” Maj. Gen. Lanza said.
In his last official duty position, Farris served as Maj. Gen. Lanza’s deputy commanding general for operations, responsible for the development and implementation of training for a newly reactivated division with seven subordinate brigades — the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Teams; the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade; the 17th Fires Brigade; the 555th Engineer Brigade; and the 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade.
“When the chief [General Raymond Odierno, Chief of Staff of the Army] called me and said, ‘We are moving you to JBLM, Joint Base Lewis McChord to take over the 7th ID’ I was obviously ecstatic at the opportunity, and the trust he placed in me to do this,” Maj. Gen. Lanza. “Then we talked about DCG’s and he said ‘What do you think about Farris?’ I just smiled, and at that point that was the end of the discussion, because I had the best soldier, the best warrior, the best leader, the best trainer that I could possibly ever imagine for this division.”
Farris began his military career as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science and was commissioned as a second lieutenant May 25, 1983. The son of Lt. Col. (Ret.) B. Don Farris, a transportation corps aviator who served in the Vietnam War, military service ran in the family. Farris’ younger brothers also served in the Army and deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“Soldiering is a special calling,” he said. “The American people view the American soldier with a sense of awe, tremendous respect and enormous trust.”
Following his commission, Farris served as a rifle platoon leader in the 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and, later, as an aide-de-camp to the division’s assistant commander for support, Brig. Gen. Herbert Wassom, where he first met his wife, Tara.

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