The Washington Times:
Brig. Gen. Randy McIntire, commandant of the Air Defense Artillery (ADA) School and chief of the ADA branch, makes a powerful case for his branch, both to young soldiers thinking of it as a career and in terms of equipping it for the future.
The chief of the Army’s Air Defense Artillery branch took an unusual path to get where he is.
He started his military career in the Illinois Army National Guard, according to The Lawton Constitution (http://bit.ly/1LD0zus ). His father, who flew search and rescue missions while he was in the Air Force, had joined the Guard, and he escorted Brig. Gen. Randy McIntire and five of his closest friends to the recruiter’s office when the general was a junior in high school. They all enlisted under the buddy program in 1983.
Being a Guard member entitled him to go to any state-funded school for free, but a year’s service is required to claim that privilege. That’s why his father was so adamant that they all sign up as juniors.
It worked out extremely well for McIntire. He went to boot camp the summer between his junior and senior years and came back fit enough to excel in athletics during his senior year. As a result he earned some scholarships and wound up playing basketball his first two years of college. He came to realize that basketball wasn’t going to pay the bills, so he invoked his Guard scholarship and switched to ROTC his last two years of college. He was commissioned upon his graduation from Western Illinois University in 1988.
His Guard outfit was converting from a quartermaster unit to ADA, and McIntire said he wanted to be an air defender.
“I was supposed to be one of the first lieutenants of the organization once I had gotten my commission to be air defense. So I went to Fort Bliss, (Texas,) as a National Guard officer, and back then they had this thing called the Commandant’s Program. The commandant could put one National Guard officer on active duty, kind of as a direct commissioning source.
“So my small group instructor came up to me and said, ‘Hey, Randy! Have you ever thought about coming on active duty?’ And I really liked what I had been doing the last three months, the camaraderie and I had a decent paycheck,” McIntire said. He was hesitant at first because he had grown up with the Guard and knew the people, “but for some reason I said yes.”
Now McIntire is the commandant, and he would like to reinstate that program if the budget permits. He says his first five years in the Guard really grounded him with an appreciation for being a soldier and an understanding of the non-commissioned officer corps.
He signed up for three years, and since the commandant had picked him, he could choose where he wanted to go. He picked Fort Campbell, Kentucky, because it was the closest air defense unit to his home state. He didn’t realize he would be assigned to the 101st Airborne Division.
“Once I did my homework, I was a little bit terrified, quite frankly,” he confessed.
He tried to switch to Fort Riley, Kansas, but it was too late — his future boss had been notified he was coming. Worse still, his battalion commander was on post and wanted to meet him.
“So, long story short, he did find me, and I still had my National Guard patch on . I had a mustache. And of course no wings or anything on my chest, and he looked like a field marshal with everything on. And he said, ‘Well, before you show up at Fort Campbell, make sure you’ve been to Ranger School (and) Airborne School. Don’t worry about Air Assault School. We’ll take care of that at Fort Campbell for you. And for heaven’s sake, get rid of that mustache because that gets in the way of parachute cords.’
“So at that point, a brand new second lieutenant, I’m just pretty much terrified, and ‘what have I just signed up for?’ But it was the best thing that ever happened to me,” McIntire said.
He didn’t get into Ranger School because slots were too hard to come by, but he did everything else his battalion commander told him. He’s proud to have deployed with the 101st to Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm and has gone on to a very rewarding career in the active Army.
“They’re still waiting for me to come back to the Guard unit, and I’m still here,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.
He tells young cadets who are considering the ADA branch it’s a very exciting time period because the demand for air defense artillery is really, really high.
“We’re from mud to space in terms of where you can find yourself working. And highly technical, progressive. But we find ourselves being a big part of the deterrence package. So when you understand at the strategic level what we actually bring to the fight, I’m always in awe and impressed with the responsibility we put on our young leaders at a very early stage of their careers. It’s not uncommon for a battery commander or a lieutenant to be out on point for the nation in a foreign country, who’s dealing with dignitaries (and) senior military officials,” McIntire said.
