Joint Service Provider director promoted to major general

Air Force Brig Gen Brian T. Dravis, director of the Joint Service Provider (JSP), and mobilization assistant to the director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), received his second star in a ceremony held in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes on Sept. 12.

The promotion was hosted and officiated by Air Force Gen Joseph L. Lengyel, chief of the National Guard Bureau, and was attended by friends and family from around the country.

Dravis, who has more than 34 years of military experience, primarily served in the Air National Guard, remarked on the joint representation throughout the room, and reminded guests of the nation’s recent natural disasters and the National Guard’s response.

“The real blessing we have is with the writing of our Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11: The value of our citizen soldiers and airmen who, once again, muster to the sound of the needs of our citizens and go straight into danger to lend aid to our fellow Americans,” said Dravis. “So I stand here a proud guardsman.”

Lengyel said the Air Force’s newest major general is in exactly the right job at the right time. He said it started in 2002, when Dravis was selected to be the inaugural commander of the 177^th Information Warfare Aggressor Squadron.

“He came in to be the Kansas Aggressor Squadron commander when cyber was a new and emergent set, and he had the vision to see, back then, that we needed people in the unit to test systems and find vulnerabilities,” said Lengyel. “When we started sending him and his guys into full-scale exercises, people started saying, ‘Who are those guys? They’re everywhere!’”

Dravis told the packed room that he did not reach his newest rank on his own, specifically thanking his wife, Kathy.

“I love you; I need you at the end of each day,” he said. “Of all the people who’ve gotten me here, none have done more of the heavy lifting than you.”

Bringing the ceremony to a close, Dravis spoke directly to the men and women of the Joint Service Provider, highlighting their task to incorporate legacy organizations; integrate the Joint Staff’s information technology assets; onboard 43 individual department components; operate and maintain $1 billion of National Capital Region information technology infrastructure; innovate, modernize, downsize, enable command and control, and operate and defend the department’s most heavily targeted cyber space. 

“No one in this department has been asked to change and adapt like you under the most trying circumstances,” said Dravis to his workforce. “You did it in ways that I’ve never seen in my very long career. You did it against enemies who know no sanctions, no geographic limitations … And you were asked to bring significant savings back to the department, and you did. I could not be more proud of anything I’ve done in my career.”

JSP is slated to transition to become part of DISA on Oct. 1. Dravis used the occasion of his promotion ceremony to share JSP’s updated vision statement.

“When people ask you about JSP and what it is you do, remember these three words:  Enable every mission.”

Posted Sept. 14, 2017