Charles R. Herrick

Raised on a farm outside Lodi, California, I decided on a military career early in life. I was appointed to the U. S. Military Academy at West Point in 1970 and graduated and was commissioned into the Infantry in 1974. After earning the Ranger Tab, my first assignment was with the 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. That was followed by a series of assignments to mechanized infantry, airborne and straight infantry units, as well as various schools and alternate specialty jobs. I earned the Combat Infantryman Badge as the Operations Officer of the 193rd Infantry Brigade during Operation JUST CAUSE (that was back in the relatively peaceful 80s and 90s when small conflicts were relatively big deals - before the Long War eclipsed such events). Throughout these years I had the honor to serve with some of the finest, most memorable, and in some cases, the quirkiest people you could hope to know.

After retiring in 1996, I worked as a contractor for a number of defense-related firms until fully retiring in 2018. I now hide out in my basement, trying to control my book buying problem.