Col. Harold B. Woods, Chairman
&
CEO of the Volunteer Army for Aid & Assistance Corp., is a
highly
respected retired Air Force officer and humanitarian. His
conviction
to “do the right thing” meant serving almost 50 years, in one capacity
or another, in the United States Air Force.
The top ranking management
positions
that he found himself in in three wars (W.W.II, Korea & Vietnam) as
well as his advisory role for transportation logistics in the Persian
Gulf
War, earned him a chestful of medals, including the Presidential Legion
of Merit, 3 times. Col. Woods served with distinction in
the
following roles:
· Division Chief
· Operational Requirements
Division
· Directorate of
Operations,
834th Division, Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Republic of Vietnam;
· Chief of the Management
Engineering Division
· Directorate of Manpower
and Organization
· Deputy Chief of Staff,
Plans, Headquarters Tactical Air Command, Langley Air Force Base, Va.
· Charter member of the
American Society of American Law
· 17 years as chief
defense
counsel for the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense in personnel
cases.
Woods is a charter member of the
American Society of International Law. His career in the
Air
Force involved traveling the world, living in many different countries
and truly experiencing many different cultures. The horrors of
war
opened his eyes to the evil in the world and made him determined to
make
a difference, when possible, in the lives of the people in the war
theaters
in which he fought. There were incidents like the time during the
Korean Conflict in which Woods flew repeated round trip missions to
rescue
nearly 3,000 children from the war zone, depositing the children in a
USAF
hangar in Japan, providing food and shelter. Events such as this
were the highlights of his career.
Colonel Woods has seen the
amazing
results of a concerted effort by a group of like-minded people.
His
belief in the fundamental goodness of people around the world has led
him
to embrace the cause of the Volunteer Army for Aid & Assistance
Corp.
(AoV). Having witnessed despots in power and the control by
warlords
of local communities, Col. Woods understands, in a real and personal
way,
the inability of the common man to fight for his rights and that of his
family. His experience in transportation logistics and methods of
distribution in places of oppression are crucial to the success of the
AoV.
Woods Bros. Industries, Inc., of
which Woods is CEO, became involved in the plastics recycling business
over 20 years ago. They were instrumental in developing an extraction
and
utilization method for plastics that had been buried in
landfills.
In tandem with their transportation division, WBII, using 100 trailers
and 30 truck tractors moved as much as 1 million pounds of recyclables
per month. The recycling business was the beginning of the WBII
environmental
division, as Col. Woods recognized both the importance of working on
behalf
of the environment for posterity and the profit potential.
Over the years, Woods, with his
primary interest being industrial engineering, has exposed himself to
many
highly innovative and relevant technologies which are under funded and
under appreciated. Woods is a driven individual, working
tirelessly
to see that many of these technologies do get developed.
Implementation
of these new technologies in developing countries can help them to
avoid
many of the environmental mistakes of our past. Woods has embraced the
new, all composite
building system as yet another way to reduce reliance on our
dwindling
forests and is working to successfully introduce this new building
system
on a global level, providing affordable yet durable shelter to those in
need.
Colonel Woods has spent his
life
on “missions”. The mission he is now on is to make a constructive
and lasting contribution to this fine planet.