Fort Belvoir, VA –
What does 20 years of service to your country look like? Of the millions of Americans who decide to serve their country by enlisting, less than 20% of those Soldiers remain in the armed forces for 20 years. It’s an incredible feat of service and sacrifice, dedicating yourself to the grueling rigors that are required of Soldiers at home and abroad for two full decades.
Yet for Master Sergeant Randall “RJ” McComb, a distinguished career in the U.S. Army is not an endpoint but a stepping stone to new ambitions.
Randall McComb’s career with the Army began on January 7, 2007, when he first enlisted. At the time, McComb had been working as an assistant golf professional and assistant general manager of a golf course after having earned an associate’s degree from Costal Carolina University.
“It was a conversation. We were just shooting the breeze and he says, ‘So what do you do in the offseason?’” McComb recalled when sitting down to talk about his decades of service to his country. “He basically offered me some insight to what the Army offered, and I took him up on it a week later.”
At the time, McComb would travel the Southeast of American playing in professional golf tournaments during the Michigan golf offseason, something that could get fairly expensive for any player if they didn’t play well. When he decided to enlist, McComb joined with the premise of serving a 3-year contract with a $20k signing bonus and paying back his student loans.
Almost 20 years later, McComb is finally getting ready to hang up his uniform for good.
It’s been a long and impressive career for the Michigan native, with an enlistment tour that has seen him go across the world and back multiple times over. His service record is a testament to his commitment. MSG McComb has deployed to South Korea, serving at Camp Hovey, and returned a decade later as the Operations Sergeant Major. He completed two tours in Iraq, where his duties ranged from training Iraqi military units to assisting with State Department security in Mosul. He also served in Afghanistan, where he was present for the 2014 elections and the Bowe Bergdahl handover.
But when reflecting on what his favorite time in the Army was, it wasn’t being part of any historic moment that came to mind. Instead, it was the moments where he got to work directly with younger Soldiers and help groom them into future leaders.
“When I joined, the only job that I wanted to do was to be a First Sergeant. And when I finally got to be a First Sergeant it was the best job I ever had,” McComb said, recalling his time at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, about 45 minutes south of Seattle. “It’s the most impactful you get to deal with at an enlisted level outside of a Sergeant Major, because you are directly impacting upwards of 110-120 Soldiers on a daily basis. Working with them, deploying with them, and grooming them to be future leaders.”
“To me, that was the pinnacle of leadership and what I wanted to achieve.”
Despite his long list of injuries from his time of service, McComb has absolutely no plans of slowing down once he’s retired or letting those injuries get in the way of his plans for the future.
“I want to get back into professional golf, or high-level amateur golf to some extent,” McComb said of his post-Army retirement plans. “At 50, I’m eligible for the senior PGA Tour, so I want to try that. Within the next two years, my intent is to try and qualify for the U.S. Mid-Amateur and try to possibly qualify for the PGA or Senior PGA Tour in the future.”
“I’m 40 right now, so I have 10 years for the Senior Tour. But I am probably a year and a half away from where I think my golf game could be ready for a PGA Tour event once I have time dedicated to being able to practice.”
Not that McComb plans to spend the rest of his days on a golf course. He’s already got a work plan in the months immediately after his official retirement later this year… and more than a few companies bidding for his experience and expertise. “I want to lean towards a senior program manager or director of operations role and hopefully impact an organization at a higher and more impactful level moving forward in a civilian capacity,” McComb said of his future work plans. “While also being able to grow out some facial hair.”
When asked what advice he has for young Soldiers just beginning their journey, his guidance is clear: “Invest money. Get your education. Go to every school you can go to, and take every opportunity to cross-train. If you do those things, you will be successful.”
Master Sergeant McComb’s career is a powerful example of leadership, resilience, and unwavering patriotism. While he will soon hang up his uniform, his drive to achieve, lead, and inspire is far from over.