EXPERIENCES AND MEMORIES Army helped Randy Black hone leadership skills

Randall “Randy” Black spent 28 years in the Army and National Guard where he continually developed his leadership skills and served in areas, such as Germany and Korea, during the Cold War.

Black joined the Army in 1976 after three years of JROTC training in high school. He attended basic training at Fort Dix, N. J.

Black’s father served in the Air Force, but his JROTC background led him to join the Army.

“The Army seemed more appealing doing four years of Army JROTC,” he said. “I imagine I would have gone a different route if it was Air Force JROTC.”

Black’s leadership capabilities were recognized early on, even during basic training, where he was placed in charge of a platoon soon after leading a squad.

“You got to wear a neat little thing on your arm, imitating a Sgt. or a Corporal, something like that,” he said. “One week after we started, they called us (guides) back in and asked us to turn them over, so we’re thinking, ‘Oh. What have we done wrong here?’

“In essence, they swapped them and gave me the platoon guide (position), as opposed to the squad guide. Now, I was in charge of 30 people instead of just 10.”

He said he performed his duties no matter the supervision or job, which he said may have a factor of him being named the Trainee Leader of his cycle.

Black attended his advanced training at Fort Belvore, Va., for four months. He trained in architectural mechanical drafting. He was able to transfer information taken by surveyors and create “blueprints” for construction projects.

He was then assigned to Fort Hood, Texas, with the D Company of the 62nd Engineer Battalion. It was here he was promoted from an E3 to an E4.

Though he worked with construction, Black said he learned a lot that would help him become a successful leader later in his career.

“The thing is, you learn a lot,” he said. “I carried (this knowledge) with me, but it became more important (to be) dependent, timely, honest. If you say you’re going to do something, you better make sure you’re going to do it.”

Black remembered “humorous” stories from his time at Fort Hood, including stories about having guard duty and being named supernumerary.

“We had to stand inspection for guard duty, so when they needed x-amount of guards, they always had one extra,” he said. “This was the motivation that everybody come out decked because if you were picked supernumerary, then you got credit for guard duty, but you didn’t have to do it.

“I never actually had to pull guard duty because I always got supernumerary.”

Following his 16 months in Texas, Black was stationed in Germany from 1979-1982, where his unit was responsible for the Fulda Gap, the route that many thought would be used by Soviets and East Germans during the Cold War.

Black’s unit was responsible for demolitions along the Gap and slowing down enemy forces if they attacked. He said the unit used the natural landscape, as well as building demolition tools throughout the route.

“The bridges were hollow,” he said. “We’d drive up to the bridges, climb up the ladder, unlock it, go inside and drop down a long set of jumper cables and hook them to the batteries of the trucks, which lighted up the insides. Then, we would start hoisting up charges, and we’d fill up the whole charge. When we’d practice it, you’re sitting here in the hollow bridge, and you can hear the trucks (going over the bridge), but it was all practice.

“The funny thing about it was, they put the access (to the hollow part of the bridge) on the wrong side. That was the humor, that we were basically cannon fodder, trying to slow them up, but it was a realistic thing.”

While in Germany, Black’s leadership skills were recognized once again.

According to Black, after receiving an E4 rank with an engineering MOS, soldiers are then ranked as specialists.

“Back then, we had Specialist 5,” he said. “E5 in the Army is a sergeant. The difference there is, a sergeant is considered a leader. A Specialist 5, even though they are the same grade and get paid the same, a Specialist 5 is not considered a leader.”

When he was first stationed in Germany, he received an Acting Jack promotion to serve as an acting Non-Commissioned Officer.

“To get things done, because I worked in the headquarters company, when we had to go do motor stables and stuff like that, we had no NCOs in our section, except the E7,” he said. “We had no E5s, or first line leaders. So, I was given what they call an Acting Jack. I was paid as an E4; on paper, I was an E4, but I got to wear E5 stripes.

“Looking at maturity, experience and credibility, they trusted me enough to do that, even though we had a bunch of other E4s.”

Eventually, he was promoted to a Specialist 5, but his Sgt. Major allowed him to keep his NCO status.

“Sgt. Major Bacon came by and literally yanked the (Specialist 5) pins off my collar,” he said. “He reached out his hand, and he dropped my hard stripes back on there and said, ‘Put these back on.’ Sgt. Major Bacon thought it was important enough to keep me as an NCO, so that was, again, flattering.”

Black was eventually accepted into Fort Rucker’s flight school, so he traveled to Alabama for 10 months of training. While at Fort Rucker, he was promoted to Warrant Officer 1.

Black said his goal was to become a pilot throughout his military career.

His first assignment out of flight school was in Korea in 1983, where tensions were still high during the Cold War.

He served as airmobile transport, moving troops as safely and swiftly as possible across Korea. He also served as an administrative officer.

“The whole idea is, when you’ve got to move troops, our job was to pick them up here and deliver them there so they could do their job,” he said.

While in Korea, Black said he honed his flying skills and his decision-making process.

Some of the situations Black found himself in as a pilot included having to be aware of possible missile strikes by anti-aircraft weapons around Seoul, Korea.

“You’d be flying along, and these buildings would have big billboards on all four sides that fall down, and you’d have a gun looking at you,” he said. “They also had radar.”

The aircraft Black piloted had “radar detectors” alerting those on board that radar was monitoring the craft. There were moments, however, where the situation became more stressful.

“They had this little light, called an MA (missile activity) light,” he said. “When that light came on, those people had just switched the switch, and all those people had to do was (push a button).”

He said there were a few moments when an MA light would come on while he flew over Seoul.

“All of a sudden, you hear that tone in your helmet and you look down and see that MA light come on,” he said. “You’re saying, ‘uh-oh.’ You never knew.”

While also serving in Korea, Black had an interesting experience involving international aircraft.

At Camp Page, Black said a three-engine, Chinese aircraft landed hard on the camp’s runway.

According to Black, an individual hijacked the Chinese airplane that was en route to North Korea.

“(The plane was) running down; we see this, and everybody goes running,” he said. “It gets to the very end of the runway, and there’s a road, which has wire. When he gets to the end, he basically turns his front wheels. He ran off into the dirt.”

He said the individual received asylum in South Korea, and the plane and those on board were eventually allowed to return home. He deadpanned that he had joined the “International Hijacking Reception Committee.”

Following his time in Germany, Black was stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., where he was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer 2 and served as an air ambulance pilot.

He said his work helped Army Rangers, other soldiers and even civilians at times.

In 1987, however, the Army reduced its forces, causing Black to join the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) from 1987-1995.

During this time, he served as an instructional pilot at Fort Rucker. He was also promoted to Chief Warrant Officer 3.

Following his time in the IRR, Black joined the National Guard 31st Support Battalion and the 167th Infantry Battalion. He retired from service with the National Guard in 2004.

Today, he works as an assistant flight commander, handling the administrative aspects of flight school and occasionally performing quality evaluations for flight students.

His area of responsibility has grown from overseeing two students to overseeing 11 instructional pilots and 22 flight students.

He currently has over 10,000 hours of flying under his belt, with no major incidents on his record.

“The worst I ever had was a bird strike and a hydraulics failure,” he said.

He is the father of two sons, who both served in the National Guard, and two stepchildren, who he says he considers as his own. He also has seven grandchildren.

He is also an active member of the local VFW Post 6683, where he serves as the Sr. Vice Commander. He holds the same position for VFW District 7.

“One, it gives me something to do that is rewarding,” he said. “Two, (I’m) helping those that basically have given as much as they have. Some gave all, all gave some. For those who gave all, they need to be remembered.”

The VFW provides lobbying efforts on behalf of veterans at a national level and provides services to veterans locally.

Black said he is proud of his service, and if he were to have been given the chance to fight in combat, he said he believes he would have made his fellow soldiers and country proud.

“In certain criteria, I can’t speak as a combat veteran because there are things you experience in combat that you will not experience anywhere else, so to put me in that same league would be totally unfair to them, but with my experiences and stuff like that, it’s not too far fetched to say that I would not have embarrassed myself, my unit or the United States if I had to go,” he said.

“Overall, I’ve enjoyed the whole time I spent in the military because while active duty, they treated me well. There were lumps and bumps in the road, but overall, I’m very satisfied. I enjoyed it very much.”