Spokesperson Bios

Command Sergeant Major Cynthia A. Pritchett served as the Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan Command Sergeant Major beginning on 9 May 2004 and relinquished her duties on 5 April 2006.  She is now assigned to USCENTCOM as the Senior Enlisted Leader for the US Army Element USCENTCOM.

A native of Concord, New Hampshire, CSM Pritchett entered the Army on 2 July 1973 as a supply specialist. During her career she has served in a variety of leadership positions to include: Squad Leader, Section Sergeant, Platoon Sergeant, Operations Sergeant, First Sergeant, Battalion Command Sergeant Major, Installation Command Sergeant Major, Student and Faculty Battalion Commander and Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth Command Sergeant Major and as the Command Sergeant Major at the sub-unified level - Combined Forces Command -Afghanistan. CSM Pritchett has also served as a Drill Sergeant, an Army Recruiter, and an Instructor at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy (USASMA).

Her duty assignments include Supply Clerk and Drill Sergeant at Fort McClellan, AL; Supply and Property Book Sergeant, 37th Transportation Group, Kaiserslautern, Germany; Station Commander, Hamilton Square Recruiting Station, Philadelphia, PA; Materiel Storage Section Sergeant, 19th Support Command, Camp Carroll, Korea; Platoon Sergeant, 406th Support Company, and Commandant, Basic Leadership Course, 1st Corps Support Command, Fort Bragg, NC; Operations Sergeant and First Sergeant, 299th Support Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, Goeppingen, Germany; Instructor, USASMA, Fort Bliss, TX; Battalion Command Sergeant Major, 561st Corps Support Battalion, Fort Campbell, KY and Mogadishu, Somalia; Student and Faculty Battalion Commander, US Army Sergeants Major Academy, Fort Bliss, TX; Installation Command Sergeant Major, Fort Belvoir, VA, Command Sergeant Major Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth, Fort Leavenworth, KS and Command Sergeant Major Combined Forces Command -Afghanistan.

Her military education includes Drill Sergeant School, Recruiting School, the Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course, the First Sergeant Course, the Battle Staff Course, and the Master Fitness Course. She has completed the Defense Institute Security Assistance Management Course.  She has completed the Senior Executive Seminar at the Near East South Asia Strategic Studies Center. She is a graduate of Class 37, United States Army Sergeants Major Academy.

CSM Pritchett’s awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, three awards of the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, three awards of the Meritorious Service Medal, five awards of the Army Commendation Medal, two awards of the Army Achievement Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the United Nations Medal (Somalia), the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, as well as Drill Sergeant and Army Recruiter Badges.

CSM Pritchett is a member of the U.S. Army Europe Sergeant Morales Club, and was a member of the Women’s All-Army Softball Team 1979 and 1984. On 18 June 1998, she was appointed as a Distinguished Member of the Quartermaster Regiment and awarded the Distinguished Order of Saint Martin.  On 24 August 2001, she was awarded the Distinguished Order of Saint Maurice by the Infantry Center and School.  She was appointed to serve on both the Secretary of the Army’s Task Force on Extremist Activities, and Senior Review Panel on Sexual Harassment. She served as the Army’s Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) from 1995-2001.  On 24 March 2009, CSM Pritchett will be inducted in the Army Women’s Foundation Hall of Fame at a luncheon in Washington DC.

Until 5 April 2006 Command Sergeant Major Pritchett was the principle advisor to the Commander, Combined Forces-Afghanistan on all matters concerning joint/combined force integration, utilization and sustainment of over 20,000 U.S. and coalition forces serving in CFC-A Joint Area of Operations.  She provides clarity to the Commander's war-time and security cooperation guidance and intent through service functional component and a combined, joint task-force.  She was hand-picked by Lieutenant General Barno to be on his command team and to assist him in managing this demanding theater of operations which involves a full-spectrum of effort from tactical engagement to re-construction of the country to include infrastructure, government and the Afghan National Army.  To sum up it up she is a full-spectrum leader, from warrior to diplomat.