Donovan Watts

I was stationed at FT Benning and CSM Watts was at the 1-507. What a great soldier, leader and a great guy. All these years I just found out today. RIP buddy!!!

I was already at C 3/325 when he arrive we share room together we were tight, did everything together never forget you D. 77-81

Spoke with General Scaparrotti and you came up in the conversation, imagine that! Now both of us (old Paratroopers) are retired but your preference is still with us today. As always, thanks, my brother!

I have worn a bracelet bearing his name 24 hours a day since early 2008. I speak his name out loud every day. May his sacrifice and that of his family be remembered forever

I have one wonderful memory of Donovan I will be sharing in new book called Leading Rangers in the summer of 2020 that has always brightened my faith in human nature:

A couple weeks into arriving in the desert in 1990 during Operation Desert Shield, we were still acclimating to observing the host of etiquette rules suggested to us as guests of Saudi Arabia, to include showing no outward signs of Christianity in a Muslim country.
SFC Watts was checking on troops on a task as was I...

I will never forget the time when I found out what happened. However, I will also never forget the times we spent together in the field and on other training events, when we laughed together and cracked up! I've always looked to you as my example as a leader, mentor, and person during the years we were together. Until that day we meet again my friend.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, I was actually preparing for the holiday when I got that knock on the door on Nov 21,2006 coming to tell our daughter (charlee) that her father had passed away. I check this website often to read the comments, it is like meeting a new friend of his that i did not know and i get a glimpse into your experiences with him. I cannot explain the feelings i get when Nov 21 nears for me I always get a deeper feeling of missing him. We were together...

On a whim, I searched online for my old First Sergeant while I was in Korea. I never expected to be reading about his death. I am truly saddened. I remember many mornings before PT talking with him. All he talked about was wanting to be a CSM with the 82nd. I never seen a man smile about his future like he did. He was an awesome guy.