Veteran of the Week: Randy Herd
Randy Herd (Record Photo/Nick Sellers)
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By Nick Sellers | Staff Writer
MADISON – When Randy Herd was working part-time as a radio disc jockey in the late 1970s, he tended to be on auto pilot most of the time in the studio.
However, one night, a public service announcement piqued his interest. It was a PSA for the United States Air Force, which informed Herd of the military’s ability to pay for graduate school.
Already teaching at a vocational trade school and married with a son, Herd soon enlisted for active duty with the Air Force and was sent to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
Herd was commissioned as a second lieutenant and sent to Rome, N.Y., where he spent three years until the Air Force paid for him to earn a master’s degree in Computer & Information Systems at Georgia Tech.
“For that, I was very appreciative of the Air Force,” Herd said.
After earning his degree, Herd was sent to Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery, his “first taste” of Alabama. Gunter has since been consolidated into Gunter Annex as part of Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery.
During Operation Desert Storm, Herd was instrumental in helping the Patriot missile systems intercept the Scud missiles launched by Iraq towards Tel Aviv, Israel and the U.S. troops built up in Saudi Arabia.
After the Gulf War, Herd served at a classified location in Colorado and later at the Naval Air Station Keflavik in Iceland.
“I set up the first email account for my wing commander in Iceland. That was a pretty big deal at the time,” Herd said, laughing.
Herd moved 12 times in his 24-year active duty career, last serving at Joint Base Langley-Eustis near Hampton, Va.
After he retired in 2003 as a lieutenant colonel, Herd became involved in the Air Force’s Transition Assistance Program (TAP), which informed him of a JROTC program starting at Bob Jones High School.
“I really did love working with children, and I got to still wear the uniform, so it was a win-win,” Herd said.
Together with Chief Master Sergeant Ellis Clark, Herd has been running the Air Force JROTC program at Bob Jones for 12 years.
