Growing up in Buffalo, N.Y., Colonel John Lakso had Army posters on the walls of his bedroom and a collection of small plastic Soldiers, but he never seriously considered a military career until college.

“My father served during the Korean War period as a military police officer,” Lakso, who is the new director of the U.S. Army Operational Test Command’s Maneuver Support and Sustainment Test Directorate, said, “and I was always the organizer of ‘playing Army’ in our neighborhood.

“But it was attending college on an ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) scholarship that helped make up my mind that I wanted an Army career,” he said. “I love the Army because of the people.”

His family moved to Florida during Lakso’s high school years. After graduation, he majored in criminal justice at the University of South Florida, thinking he would get commissioned as a military police officer.

“But the Army’s chemical branch was short of officers,” he said, “so my first assignment after the Chemical Officer Basic Course was as a battalion-level chemical officer at Fort Bliss, Texas.”

After that, Lakso served as a decontamination platoon leader, smoke platoon leader and company executive officer with the 92nd Chemical Company, 3rd Infantry Division, in Germany. Upon completion of the Chemical Officer Advanced Course, Lakso was assigned as brigade chemical officer and Headquarters and Headquarters Company commander for 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division. He was a combat service in Operation Desert Storm.

“As a chemical officer, you get integrated into all kinds of different units,” Lakso said.

His overseas assignments included operations officer for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, in Belgium; division chemical officer for 3rd and 1st Infantry Divisions, Germany; operations officer, V Corps Chemical Section, Germany, which included a deployment to Bosnia in support of Operation Joint Endeavor; division chemical officer for 1st Infantry Division and 1st Armored Division, Germany, which included a deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Stateside assignments included Force XXI digital training developer, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood; chief, Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Section of North American Aerospace Defense Command, Colorado Springs, Colo.; and commander, 2nd Chemical Battalion, Fort Hood.

“My next assignment was to be a division chief in the Maneuver Support and Sustainment Directorate here at OTC,” Lakso said, “but after I arrived here, General MacWillie (Brig. Gen. Don MacWillie, USAOTC commander) pulled me up to be the director before I was promoted, due to a shortage of colonels within the command.

“Right after that, I found out I made the colonel’s promotion list, so it all worked out,” he said. On Friday, Lakso was promoted to colonel.

Lakso joins OTC with some hands-on operational testing experience.

“As a battalion commander,” he said, “I participated in a couple of tests for OTC. I had always been a warfighter, so my first contact with testing was a huge learning experience that gave me an appreciation for what OTC does.”

“I’m joining OTC at a critical time,” Lakso said. “My directorate has many tests on the books that include big systems like the MRAP and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and new engineering equipment like flailing and route clearing systems.

“Our chemical testing is primarily done at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah,” he said, “and our truck tests are conducted at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, and Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. I try to visit each test for at least one day, so I see a lot of TDY (temporary duty).”

Lakso will also spend a lot of time at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., during his tenure at OTC, since that’s where the U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center and the Test and Evaluation Coordination Office are located.

Lakso said he anticipates he may also get a shot at commanding a Forward Operational Assessment Team.

“I want to be wherever OTC needs me to be,” he said.

OTC’s new director is married and has two sons, John Jr., a student at Duke University, and Conrad, a sixth grader at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Temple. His wife, Wendy, is the Fort Hood health promotion officer as part of the III Corps/Fort Hood team.