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| Photo by Sgt. 1st Class James McGuire |
After 30 years of service, Brigadier General Greg Porter is just getting warmed up.
“I just turned 50,” he says, “but I feel like I still have more to give. I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, but I am still inspired to serve Wyoming or the nation in some way.”
Since his promotion on Jan. 20, 2015, Porter became director of the joint staff, the second-highest full-time position in the Wyoming National Guard. Normally, he leads a team of nearly four dozen full-time military personnel but, in times of domestic crisis—like the floods that ravaged Lusk, Wyo., in 2015—he can assume command of up to 3,100 National Guardsmen to provide help to those who need it.
“It feels amazing,” the one-star general says of his recent promotion. “I never thought I’d serve at this level.”
Despite the tradition of top-ranking officers given nicknames by their soldiers, Porter doesn’t have one.
“A lot of our pilots have them,” he says, “but I am a field artillery guy, and we don’t really have nicknames. If there is one, no one is telling me—at least not to my face.”
For country and family: Born in Waco, Texas, Porter moved to Cheyenne when he was 9 and eventually moved to Laramie to study political science at University of Wyoming.
In 1985, Porter moved into the Kappa Sigma fraternity house, where he was elected grand master of ceremonies and grand procurator. That year, he also enlisted in the U.S. Army to join the university’s Cowboy Battalion Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) and began what would become a three-decade career in the military.
During his time at UW, he met his future wife, Robin Janette, also a UW graduate. They have now been married for 26 years. Their oldest son, Alec, currently serves in the Wyoming Army National Guard, and their son Drew will start at UW this spring.
Porter became a full-time career Army officer in 1990 and never looked back.
“I got a sense of service from my parents,” he says. “It is deeply personally satisfying to serve our state and the nation. I’ve been lucky to help other people.”
Tough decisions: Despite decades as a military leader, he says the potential for fatal decisions never lets up.
“I think any soldier would tell you that the hardest decisions you make are the ones that affect people,” he says. “When a leader makes tough choices that result in a soldier getting injured or killed, I am not sure you ever get over it.
“I count it as one of the greatest blessings of my chosen profession,” Porter adds. “I get to work with exceptionally dedicated, passionate and committed people who know full well what the ultimate cost can be—and they still do it. If that doesn’t get you going every day—to ensure that you are being the best soldier, leader and human being you can be—I don’t know what does.”
Only in Wyoming: Porter says he enjoys staying busy but works hard at enjoying Wyoming’s lifestyle.
“I just finished bow hunting south of Saratoga in the Sierra Madres,” he says, explaining that, after 10 years of bowhunting, “I wish I’d started sooner.”
