Episode 9 - Guest: Col (R) Walter Herd; Director TAP Human Resource Command
Don’t Wait To Plan Your Transition.
Join us this week as we have a conversation with Walter Herd, the Director of the Transition Assistance Program Human Resource Command located in Ft. Knox, Kentucky.
Walter comes with a wealth of advice as he leads the Army’s TAP (Transition Assistance Program). He shares the importance of advance planning, networking, and promoting your “assets” regarding transitioning careers from the military to the next chapter.
In August 2010, Walter Herd accepted the position and immediately faced the challenge of re-engineering the Army’s Transition Assistance Program. Under Herd’s leadership, the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) was transformed into a robust, fully comprehensive transition program offering counseling, education, and employment assistance to Soldiers, DA Civilians, and retirees. Now mandated, TAP has transitioned over 1,000,000 Soldiers, with an additional average of 100,000 eligible Soldiers to transition annually over the next five years.
Walter Herd was commissioned into the Regular Army in June 1983, becoming the sixth generation of his family to serve in America’s military. He has served in over 25 countries and spent most of his career in Special Operations. He served in the 1st Ranger Battalion and later commanded a Special Forces A-Team, three Special Forces Companies, a Special Forces Battalion of some 350 “Green Berets,” and ultimately, a Special Forces Group in combat. That group was Colonel Herd’s first brigade-level command. The third Special Forces Group (forward) was the 4,000-man, 7-nation Combined Joint Special Forces Task Force in Afghanistan. He later commanded another brigade at Ft. Knox, KY, from the summer of 2005 until his retirement in the summer of 2007.
He has a BA in History from Centre College of Kentucky and three master’s degrees, one from Marymount University in Human Resource Development and the other two from Staff College and War College in Strategy and Military Science. Colonel Herd's professional education includes the USMC Command and Staff College, its second-year School of Advanced Warfighting program, and the Joint Professional Military Education Program, Armed Forces Staff College at Norfolk Naval Base. He graduated from the Army War College in Carlisle Barracks, PA in 2002.
Colonel Herd is a published author with his book, “Unconventional Warrior,” published in 2013 by McFarland Press.