Dennis Devery

Dennis Devery served in the United States Army from 1981 to 2012, retiring at the rank of Colonel. He was a member of the New Jersey Army National Guard (NJARNG) and deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. During his thirty-one years in service, he accrued numerous honors including the Legion of Merit, the Joint Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the NATO Afghanistan Service Medal, and the US Air Force Commendation Medal.

As a junior in high school, Devery enlisted in the US Army Reserves, opting to participate in the Split Training program. Before his senior year, he attended Basic Combat Training and after graduating, he completed Advanced Individual Training as an infantryman. Devery then decided to attend college, where he participated in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) and commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant through the Early Commissioning Program. Despite commissioning as an Infantry Officer, Deverey attended the Armor Basic Officer Leader Course at Fort Knox, Kentucky. However, he ultimately decided to become a helicopter pilot.

After meeting the requirements to attend flight school, Devery went to Fort Rucker, Alabama to start his training. He explained that there were different phases of flight school, beginning with foundational skills like hovering and autorotation before progressing to more advanced skills. Trainees started out flying the TH-55, a training helicopter, before upgrading to the UH-1. Upon completion of flight school, Devery took up a full-time position as a Training Officer with the New Jersey Army National Guard’s 150th Aviation Regiment. There, he flew “Mike” model Hueys before switching to AH-1 Cobra, both of which are gunships. Devery then went to AH-1 Cobra instructor pilot school at the Western Army National Guard Aviation Training Site in Marana, Arizona to become an instructor pilot for the AH-1 Cobra.

After his time as an instructor pilot, Devery returned to New Jersey and became the Executive Officer (XO) for the 5 Squadron, 117th Cavalry Regiment. He worked as the XO for three years before leaving full time service in the NJARNG to work for a computer company. Devery recalled that he worked in the Netherlands for a year and would travel back to the US on weekends to attend drill and see his family.

In 2001, Devery returned to the NJARNG full-time as a Supervisor Instructor Pilot at Mercer County Airport. On the morning of September 11th, he recounted that he was giving a brief when the terrorist attacks occurred. In response to the emergency, Devery dispatched Black Hawk helicopters to pick up state police in Buena Vista, New Jersey and bring them to Liberty State Park. He explained that unbeknownst to him and his team at the time, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had shut down all aircraft operations in the country. Thus, the Black Hawks carrying state police made it as far as Princeton before they were intercepted by fighter planes, which threatened to shoot them down if they went any closer to New York. In the end, Devery was able to contact the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and obtain clearance to travel through New York airspace.

Devery recalled that the NJARNG Aviation branch assisted the emergency response to 9/11 in many important ways, including the transportation of cell phone tracking equipment from Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, which could help find people in the rubble. NJARNG helicopters also transported footage from Newark Airport to the FAA Technical Center, where the footage was enhanced to identify the terrorists responsible for the attacks. Additionally, NJARNG helicopters flew anthrax samples to Fort Detrick, Maryland so they could be identified.

Devery then became a Public Affairs Officer (PAO) working out of Lawrenceville, New Jersey. He explained that his first task as PAO was managing a rumor that Al Qaeda had plans to attack the Salem Nuclear Power Plant in southern New Jersey. From there, Devery became the Commander of Recruiting at Fort Dix in New Jersey, where he began the Educate the Educator Program. The objective of the program was to educate students about the National Guard. In fact, to garner interest, Devery arranged helicopter rides for students who joined the National Guard, accompanied by a friend. The students would be picked up at their high school during school hours and flown to Fort Dix. For a time, in the midst of two wars, New Jersey became the best state in the Mid-Atlantic region for recruiting.

After his recruiting job, Devery worked in Homeland Security for New Jersey as part of the Guard, developing emergency response plans for dangerous events such as hurricanes, floods, and forest fires. From there, he became the Chief of Staff of the New Jersey Army National Guard, where he was in charge of all full-time Army personnel in New Jersey. In 2010, Devery deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

In his interview, Devery explained that the people who blew up the World Trade Center were in Afghanistan, not Iraq, so that’s where he volunteered to go. Initially, he signed up to be a training liaison with an Afghan two-star general in Kabul, until President Barack Obama announced that security would be transitioned to the Afghans, constituting a change in policy. Devery learned that he would no longer be a Liaison, but the Chief of Staff for the Afghan Development Assistance Bureau (ADAB), which did not yet exist at the time. He and his staff were tasked with starting the bureau and figuring out how to man, equip, and train the Afghan military and policy so they can take over security in Afghanistan.

During his time in Afghanistan, Devery was primarily stationed at Kabul International Airport, which was partially a base under the control of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces. He explained that different countries had different roles on the base. For instance, the Belgians were in charge of security of the perimeter, and the Bulgarians provided a Rapid Reaction Force. Furthermore, a different country was in charge of the base every three months. Devery recalled that, in total, there were thirty-nine allied forces in Afghanistan along with the US, and Afghanistan itself was broken up into sectors that were controlled by a different country. Interestingly, every country operated under its own rules of engagement, thus the rules could change depending on what sector you’re operating in. Devery explained that he had a book over four hundred pages long detailing the rules of each country.

During his time as Chief of Staff of Afghan Development Assistance Bureau, Devery realized in dealing with the Afghans that “they were not really a partner.” The year of his deployment, the budget for Afghan defense was eleven billion dollars. He stated, “It never seemed to me that they were doing what they needed to…to actually win and allow us to leave. They were certainly taking our money.” Devery even recalled being asked by Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) officials what improvements could be made and he responded, “Stop sending money over here…It’s corrupting the whole place, and that’s all they want is our money.” He continued to list several examples of theft and corruption in his interview. For instance, Ahmed Wali Karzai, half-brother to the former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, ran convoy security operations in southern Afghanistan. Devery explained that when the US paid Karzai to secure convoys, allied forces weren’t attacked. But if the US didn’t pay him, the convoys would be attacked. Additionally, when the Afghan Minister of Interior resigned in 2010, a hundred million dollars in assistance aid disappeared.

There were many other barriers to transitioning security to the Afghans, as Devery points out. Most importantly, there wasn’t a strong national identity amongst Afghans. He stated, “I think when we transitioned from killing bad guys to trying to establish a new government and everything, that’s where it kind of went off the rails, because they had no interest in what we thought would be a way of them having their own nation…It’s really very tribal.”

Six months into his deployment, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Commander, General Stanley McChrystal, was dismissed by President Barack Obama and replaced by General David H. Petraeus. Given his experience as a Public Affairs Officer (PAO), Devery was called upon to do interviews about McChrystal’s dismissal with news outlets. He also put his PAO skills to use in an interview with the Financial Times, where he talked about the development of the Commander’s Unit Assessment Tool (CUAT). CUAT changed the way to assess the operational capabilities of the Afghans, as it reached beyond equipment needs. Devery provided the following example: “They have ten trucks, but they don’t have any truck drivers.”

Although Devery was primarily stationed at Kabul International Airport, the nature of his job allowed him to travel the country. In fact, he was at Bagram Air Base in May of 2010 when it was attacked by infiltrators dressed in American uniforms. The assault started with a rocket attack before the infiltrators were able to breach the first and second layers of security surrounding the base. Thankfully, no insurgents were able to get inside the base. This constituted one of the biggest attacks on Bagram Air Base during the War in Afghanistan.

Overall, Devery described his experience in Afghanistan as “disheartening,” explaining, “…in 2010, I kind of realized this is not going to work out.” He further expressed that he was “disappointed” seeing the Taliban take back Afghanistan after the withdrawal in 2021.

After returning from Afghanistan, Devery became the Commander of the Joint Training and Training Development Center at Fort Dix and ultimately retired at the rank of Colonel in 2012. During his time in the military, he continued to pursue education and received two master’s degrees: one from Thomas Edison State University and one from the US Army War College. After retiring from the NJARNG, Devery completed his doctorate degree in Education. He now works as the Vice President for Enrollment Management at Thomas Edison State University.

In his closing remarks, Devery emphasized that the military, and the National Guard especially, have provided him with amazing opportunities and experiences. He concluded, “I’ve been blessed. I’ve had an amazing life.”

Additional Resources:

General 

• Trentonian.com – College official, military man and Hall of Famer
• TESU – Dennis Devery
• Guardlife – New Jersey Guard Wrapup
• JBMDL – J2TDC welcomes new commanding officer
• JBMDL – J2TDC change of command
• National Guard – Ten states conduct one mission in Afghanistan
• Burlington County Times – Business people, firms making waves
• Monmouth University – Meet the New Members of the Business Council

Afghanistan

• DVIDS – Army Col Dennis Devery
• DVIDS – Army Col Dennis Devery
• The Philadelphia Inquirer – America’s Longest War

Bagram Attack

• Long War Journal – US troops repel complex Taliban assault on Bagram Airfield
• The Guardian – Taliban insurgents attack Bagram airbase in Afghanistan

McChrystal

• Rolling Stone – The Runaway General: The Profile That Brought Down McChrystal
• BBC News – US Afghan commander Stanley McChrystal fired by Obama
• DW – Container: US Army General Afghanistan

Interview with Financial Times about CUAT

• Financial Times – Afghan troops overrated, audit to show
• DAWN – Afghan forces overrated: report

Recruiting

• The Trentonian – Whirlwind tour in the National Guard Black Hawk whirlybird
• Fox News – National Guard Holds On to Recruits
• Deseret News – New Jersey National Guard turns to educators to help with recruitment