Born in Elk City, Oklahoma, Broadwater graduated from Paden City High School in West Virginia and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from West Virginia University in 1972 and a Juris Doctor from West Virginia University College of Law in 1977.
He was a Hearing examiner for the West Virginia Worker's Compensation Fund from 1978 to 1981.
Among his many assignments, General Broadwater volunteered for duty in Iraq where he commanded the Joint Interagency Task Force for High Value Individuals (JIATF-HVI) from mid 2005 to early 2006.
At his death, he was a Brigadier General in the West Virginia National Guard.
Broadwater died on December 18, 2006, at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center of complications of cancer.