Major General Anthony Woods received an early commission as a Second Lieutenant in 1984 through the ROTC program at the University of Texas at Arlington. He received a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Texas Christian University in 1987 and an M.S. from the United States Army War College in 2010. He served in several leadership positions in 1st Battalion 112th Armor, Dallas, Texas. These positions include serving as the Battalion Executive Officer during Operation Noble Eagle.  Noble Eagle was the first deployment of troops to protect America’s infrastructure from Terrorist attacks after 9-11. In 2005, MG Woods became the first African American Commander of the 1st Battalion, 112th Armor, leading his unit in the first American training exercise in the country of Romania after the fall of the Soviet Union. In 2006, MG Woods served as Deputy Commander for Operation Jump Start (OJS), an initiative started by President Bush to secure the Southwest border. He also served as the Deputy Commander of the Joint Interagency Task Force (JI-A-TF). JIATF was Texas’s first attempt to establish a dedicated task force designed to support Law Enforcement during a manmade or natural disaster.  MG Woods commanded the 136th Combined Arms Training Regiment in 2010, leading it to be awarded the Institution of Excellence by the Army Training and Doctrine Command. In 2012, MG Woods deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, as the Task Force Commander of the Security Force Agency Task Force (S-FAT). SFAT was given the task of overseeing and mentoring Brigade and Kandak staffs throughout Southern Afghanistan. From 2015 until now MG Woods has served in various positions with the State Guard to include his current position as Commanding General. As a former Dallas Police Officer and Special Agent (SA) with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), SA Woods served in the Los Angeles Field Division before moving to the Houston Field Division Waco Resident Office in 1999.  In 2005, SA Woods transferred to the Houston office where he served on several High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area teams (HIDTA) before moving to the technical group. MG Woods retired from the DEA in June 2018.

MG Anthony Woods is married to Cecilia, formerly Cecilia Durham of Dallas, Texas. They have been married for 14 years and have seven children. Tony, a graduate of Tarleton State University; Amanda and Christen both graduates from Sam Houston State University; Dalton, a graduate of North Texas State University; Ciara, a medical assistant student at the College of Health Care Professionals; David is in the United States Air Force stationed in Alaska; and Daniel is a Senior at Lamar University. MG and Mrs. Woods have one grandson, Marcellus Marquise Pullom.