Master Chief Smith entered the Navy’s Delayed Entry Program during his junior year of high school and subsequently enlisted on 5 Jun 1984 following graduation from Mingus Union High School in Cottonwood, Arizona. Following basic training at RTC Orlando, FL, he reported to NTTC Corry Station, for Basic CTR A-school.

Upon completion of CTR A-school, he reported to NAVCOMSTA Diego Garcia (DGAR), B.I.O.T., for duties as a manual Morse intercept operator. Following DGAR, he attended Analysis & Reporting (A&R) School at NTTCD Goodfellow AFB, San Angelo, TX, and subsequently reported to NSGA Edzell, Scotland, for initial duties as a Morse intercept operator and eventually served as an A&R analyst/reporter. After arduous duty in Scotland, then CTR2 Smith reported to USS TEXAS (CGN-39), via OUTBOARD II School at NTTCD Corry Station, as an OUTBOARD II operator and collection supervisor. While onboard USS TEXAS, he qualified ESWS and participated in Operation DESERT STORM and numerous Counternarcotic deployments.

CTR1(SW) Smith reported to NSGA Northwest, VA, for duty as an instructor at Cryptologic Readiness Group (CRG). During this tour, he qualified as a Master Training Specialist, selected for and Initiated as a Navy Chief Petty Officer, and completed a TAD assignment aboard USS KIDD (DDG-987). After NSGA Northwest, CTRC(SW) Smith reported to NSGA Ft. Meade, MD, as an instructor at the National Cryptologic School (NCS) teaching various courses in Traffic Analysis. While stationed at NSGA Ft. Meade, he volunteered for and successfully completed an ad-hoc deployment as a Morse intercept operator onboard an Atlantic Fleet combatant supporting COMSUBLANT. In 1999, he was selected as Honorable Mention for NCS Teacher of the Year and selected for Senior Chief.

CTRCS(SW) Smith transferred overseas and assumed duties initially as Assistant Officer in Charge of NSGD Digby, UK. Midway through the tour, the billet was recoded as Senior Enlisted Advisor and he transferred in 2002 back to NSGA Ft. Meade. CTRCS(SW) Smith served as the Senior Enlisted Representative for the Information Warfare Support Center at NSA an as an Action Officer for the Americas Branch Combat Support Team providing Information Operations/Information Warfare and Targeting Support to Combatant Commanders. During this tour, he was selected for and graduated with honors from the Navy’s Senior Enlisted Academy. In 2005, he was selected for Master Chief and subsequently transferred to then COMNAVSECGRU (CNSG).

CTRCM(SW) Smith served as the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Director, Navy Cryptologic Office (NCO) and as an Action Officer advising the Director NCO on all matters affecting enlisted Sailors working in the NSA and associated sites worldwide. CTRCM(SW) Smith retired in May 2008 following 24 years of service.

Following retirement, JW worked as a Contractor for The Kenjya Group and performed analysis and as a Task Lead for Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS), and finished his time with Kenjya as a Strategic Planner providing support to the NCS. JW subsequently was hired on as a Navy Civilian at NIOC Maryland (formerly NSGA Ft. Meade) in 2012 as a Senior Reporter and currently serves as the Reporting Mission Manager and Senior Reporter for the Fleet Information Operations Center (FIOC) Maryland within the Cryptologic Warfare Maritime Activity 61 (CWMA-61) [previously known as N3/Operations Department in NSGA Ft. Meade]. CWMA-61 is a sub-command under Cryptologic Warfare Group Six (CWG-6) [previously known as NIOC Maryland].