Command Sergeant Major Phillip R. Cantrell assumed responsibility as the Senior Enlisted Leader of the West Virginia National Guard on November 1, 2018. As the Senior Enlisted Leader, he advises The Adjutant General on all matters pertaining to the nearly 6,400 enlisted Soldiers and Airmen of the West Virginia National Guard.
CSM Cantrell enlisted in the Army in May of 1988, attending infantryman training at Fort Benning, Georgia. CSM Cantrell has served at every level of NCO leadership to include team and squad leaders, platoon sergeant, First Sergeant, operations sergeant major and battalion and brigade CSM.
CSM Cantrell served in the 82nd Airborne Division from 1988 to 1996, participating in Operation Just Cause and Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm before being reassigned to Fort Leonard Wood to serve as a Drill Sergeant. Upon his completion of drill sergeant duty, he returned to Fort Bragg where he was deployed on a peacekeeping mission to Kosovo with the 3/504th Infantry Regiment.
In 2005, while First Sergeant of D Company, 2/505th Infantry Regiment, CSM Cantrell was deployed in support of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, and subsequently deployed two companies to Iraq in 2006 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was promoted to Sergeant Major in 2008, and after completion of the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy, was assigned as the 8th Army Operations and Protection Sergeant Major in Yongsan, Korea.
CSM Cantrell later served as the Battalion CSM of 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment at Fort Myer, and in 2012 was selected as the Brigade CSM of the 3rd Infantry Regiment ("The Old Guard"). He has also served as an Army Congressional Fellow in the office of Senator Joe Manchin, and most recently as a Congressional Legislative Liaison in the Army Senate Liaison Division.
CSM Cantrell holds a Master’s Degree in Legislative Affairs from George Washington University and a Bachelor’s in Human Resource Management from American Military University.