CW5 Sharon T. Swartworth
Killed in action near Tikrit, Iraq, November 7, 2003
The Post-9/11 Wartime Crucible
CW5 Sharon T. Swartworth became Chief Warrant Officer of the Corps (6th CWOC) in 1999. Known throughout the Regiment as the “five-foot-two giant” for her indomitable personality and uncompromising standards, she began her tenure focused on modernization and mentorship. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the deployments to Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) and Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom), her mission changed. Under her leadership, the legal administrator evolved from an office-bound technical supervisor into a mobile, tactically proficient manager able to direct legal logistics in combat.
Early Life and Career
Born Sharon T. Mayo on November 8, 1959, in Warwick, Rhode Island, she enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1977 at age 17. She trained as a Personnel Administration Specialist and advanced through the enlisted ranks as a legal specialist and certified military court reporter. As a Sergeant First Class, she was appointed a Warrant Officer in 1985.
Early in her warrant career she served as a Training, Advising and Counseling (TAC) Officer at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, where she was known for rigorous standards, exceptional fitness (consistently scoring a perfect 300 on the Army Physical Fitness Test) and her ability to instill leadership discipline.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, she helped Donnie Hughes and Mitch Ford design a 30-hour training curriculum for Army Reserve legal administrators.
In May 1998, under The Judge Advocate General, Major General Walter B. Huffman, she led the relocation of OTJAG from the Pentagon to commercial space in Rosslyn, Virginia, during Pentagon renovations. Her coordination of that move led to her selection as Chief Warrant Officer of the Corps in 1999.
The relocation likely saved her life. On September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the wedge of the Pentagon where her permanent office had been, and the general officer then occupying that space was killed. In the weeks that followed, she helped victims’ families with the administrative and emotional aftermath of the attack.
Key Contributions
- Education and training overhaul. She led the redesign of the Warrant Officer Basic Course (WOBC) and the Warrant Officer Advanced Course (WOAC), and was the first to systematically include civilian attorneys, judge advocates and paralegals in the training, preparing legal administrators to work with the full legal team in combat zones.
- A permanent recruiting pipeline. She chartered the Warrant Officer Leader Development Council and won approval for a dedicated Warrant Officer Recruiter within U.S. Army Recruiting Command, which led to a permanent Warrant Officer Branch Manager at Human Resources Command.
Final Mission
In late 2003, after a 26-year career, she was preparing to retire. She chose one last mission: a theater-wide Article 6 legal inspection tour of Iraq to check on the welfare, safety and equipment of roughly 400 JAG personnel. On November 7, 2003, the UH-60 Black Hawk carrying her, Regimental Command Sergeant Major Cornell W. Gilmore and four other crew members was shot down by a surface-to-air missile near Tikrit. She was killed in action one day before her 44th birthday.
CW5 Swartworth was buried with full military honors in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, the first active-duty female Army warrant officer killed in Iraq and interred there. Her leadership remains the Regiment’s standard.