Paratrooper in perspective:
Devil paratrooper, Special Forces commander focused on mission in JROTC programFort Bragg opens gates to veterans during Heroes Homecoming

By Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod
1st BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. PAO

November 24, 2011

	Huckabee

SENECA, S.C. — It’s the perfect follow-on mission for an old Special Forces Soldier and former 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper — work with an indigenous group, speak their language (mostly) and understand their culture (mostly).

Welcome to the Seneca, S.C., High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program and its senior instructor, Lt. Col. Bob Huckabee.

“Using the curriculum developed by the Army, we concentrate on motivating our cadets to be better citizens.  What greater calling?” he asks.

Over his 17-year tenure at Seneca High, the 66-year-old former “A-Team” commander has seen 74 cadets enlist in the military, six receive commissions and 98 percent graduate on time for those in the program four years.

Huckabee’s Army career might best be described as serpentine, weaving in and out with his other two loves — athletics and teaching. At Furman University in Greenville, S.C., he played football and joined ROTC, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in physical education.

Huckabee received a regular Army commission in 1969 and was soon in Vietnam with the vaunted 173rd Airborne Brigade.

After his tour, he resigned his commission, earned a master’s in sports administration degree, and was soon engaged in bringing a National Football League expansion team to Tampa Bay, Fla. Huckabee was the Buccaneers’ first director of sales. Later, he served as the business manager for athletics at the University of South Florida.

While in Florida, he joined the National Guard’s 20th Special Forces Group. In 1980, while America’s Army was still struggling with its transition to an all-volunteer force, he was recalled to active duty.

Huckabee’s first assignment was at Fort Bragg with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, a component of the 1st Brigade “Devils in Baggy Pants.” In a matter of weeks, he was the battalion operations officer, one of the more important staff positions in any unit.

“I was there when (retired Gen. Matthew) Ridgway came back to review the troops in the early ‘80s,” recalls Huckabee. “The old veterans stumbled out to the field to march, but by the time they got to the reviewing stand, they were in step with the rest of the troops. Ridgway had tears streaming down his face.”

Ridgway was the first commander of the newly-designated 82nd Airborne Division during World War II when many of the veterans served.

Huckabee was also there when the airborne community regained the right to wear the distinctive maroon beret, an international symbol of elite airborne forces since the British adopted it in 1942.

After a few years, Huckabee moved on to a full career with the 5th Special Forces Group, where he stayed until his retirement from active duty in 1995. In that time, he performed over 1,000 static-line and free-fall jumps.

At Seneca High, the students love him, says the school orchestra director, David Warlick.
Huckabee moves at ease among the students, who are the age of his grandkids. In spite of being several generations removed, Huckabee still manages to connect. “He carries the ‘mission first’ attitude into education, so his students do really well. They take his classes seriously,” says Warlick, a recreational triathlete.

Huckabee and Warlick both participate in a three-day, 300-mile, mountains-to-the-sea South Carolina Ride For Life cycling event, one of many charity rides the lieutenant colonel participates in every year in spite of his aging knees. Huckabee said he enjoys the camaraderie and working for a higher purpose, something he learned to appreciate in the Army.

For the time being, the old paratrooper stays fit by cycling 25 to 40 miles a few times a week and teaching high schoolers about the benefits of military service.

“This job is a perfect follow-on mission for a retired Special Forces guy like me,” says Huckabee. “It is classic unconventional warfare training.”

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