David Combs was reared by his grandparents in the Appalachian Mountains. He entered the U.S. Army at 19 and served in Vietnam and as a correctional officer in the stockade at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
After his discharge, he earned an associate degree in police science and a bachelor’s degree in corrections from East Tennessee State University. He was first employed at Tennessee State Prison prior to beginning his career with the federal prison system.
Combs worked at six federal prisons, one regional office and with the United States Parole Commission. He served as a correctional officer, correctional counselor, case manager, case analyst, unit manager, and region CIM coordinator. During the last 10 years of his career, he was the camp administrator for a minimum-security federal prison.
