Assistant Chief of Staff, G5 - 8th Theater Sustainment Command

Colonel Roy W. Speaks is currently serving as the Assistant Chief of Staff, G5 Strategy, Plans and Exercises at the 8th Theater Sustainment Command, USARPAC, located at Fort Shafter, Hawaii. He is responsible for planning and synchronizing operational and strategic sustainment and readiness across the Indo-Asia Pacific Region. He provides best strategic military advice to the TSC and USARPAC Commanders while informing and articulating Army theater sustainment requirements to all elements in the Pacific. Colonel Speaks also oversees the seamless integration of plans, exercises, and Security Cooperation ensuring our Pacific ally countries are assured continuous support from the Army Pacific.

Colonel Speaks was commissioned through Officer Candidate School as an Ordnance Officer and assigned as Platoon Leader/Shop Officer in 407th Forward Support Battalion, 82d Airborne Division. In 2000 he assumed command of B Company, 225th Forward Support Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Colonel Speaks was then assigned to the United States Army Special Operations Command with duty at Special Operations Command Pacific from 2003-2006 where he deployed serving as Liaison to the Coalition Forces Land Component Command G4 in Kuwait/Iraq and J4 Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines. In 2006 he was assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington where he served as the Support Operations Officer for 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) until 2008. In 2009 Lieutenant Colonel Speaks deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn as the Log Plans Officer in the J35. After attending the Army Command and General Staff College at Ft Leavenworth, Kansas, Lieutenant Colonel Speaks was selected as an Army Fellow at the RAND Arroyo Center in California. There he contributed to strategic studies directly related to Army Lean Equipping Strategies and Non-Standard Logistics Support to Special Operations Forces. In 2013 LTC Speaks assumed command of the 4th Battalion, 401st Army Field Support Brigade at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan. Colonel Speaks’ battalion was directly responsible for the retrograde and recovery of over $6.2 billion of United States equipment from Afghanistan.

Colonel Speaks is married to the former Ms. Catherine Todahl of Bakersfield, California. They have two sons; Anthony, a contractor in Afghanistan and Mason, a High School Senior. They reside in Honolulu, Hawaii where they enjoy traveling and all water sports.