MADISON – Brady Rogers enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1974 at the end of the Vietnam War. 

“I spent four years in active duty and entered the Air National Guard for 26 years,” he said. “My last position in the guard was Chief of Quality Assurance. I retired from Tennessee Air National Guard as a Chief Master Sergeant in 2004.”

After Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, Rogers trained at Bomb Navigation Systems Engineering School at Lowry AFB in Denver, Colo.

He then was stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB in Goldsboro, N.C. “back when they had B-52s. We received the last airplanes coming back from Guam after Vietnam. There was a lot of sand,” Rogers said.

With Palace Chase, he transitioned to Air Guard and served another 26 years. He belonged to 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing in Birmingham and the Engineering and Installation function of Air Force Communications Command in 272nd EIS in La Porte, Texas.

“I retired from 241st EIS in Chattanooga, Tenn. I achieved the level of Team Chief … and led installation teams across the United States and Europe. We were essentially the ‘Ma Bell’ of the Air Force,” Roger said.

Rogers studied at San Jacinto Junior College, University of Houston and Clear Lake. He completed a bachelor’s degree in computer science/information systems at Athens State University. He now works as Project Manager (PMP) with Dynetics’ Vehicle Information Technology Department. 

Huntsville is his hometown, along with Houston after military and Intergraph assignments. He and wife Pam returned to Madison In 1986 with Intergraph.

“My wonderful wife Pam has put up with me since high school 44 years ago,” he said. “She kept me going and was just as much in the Air Force as I was.” Pam, an accomplished Certified Financial Planner, has held Stock Broker and Insurance licenses, along with work as a licensed cosmetologist.

Their daughter Anna earned a master’s degree in counseling at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and works as Program Coordinator/Case Manager for Piper Place, a Crisis Center branch in Birmingham.

An aerial photographer, Brady ranks as Lieutenant Colonel with Civil Air Patrol. He and his team assessed damage with surveillance of 2011 tornadoes and after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico for FEMA. He flew with CAP to South Carolina for Hurricane Florence flooding. 

Brady and Pam worked in the technical crew for Community Ballet and Huntsville Ballet Company, even after Anna focused on school full-time.

Travel buffs, Brady and Pam have seen Argentina, Taiwan and Brazil during work assignments. “Porsches have resurfaced as part of my life,” he said. “Pam and I have gotten an RV to do more traveling.”  

Rogers asks anyone with a 117th Tactical Recon Wing patch to contact him.