Colonel Richard B. ("R.B.") Davis, Hamilton County Court Judge, was presented the United States Army's Legion of Merit and the Florida Cross by Brigadier General Michael Fleming, Assistant to the Adjutant General of the Florida National Guard. Col. Davis retired from the Florida Army National Guard upon completion of twenty-five years of active and reserve military service and was honored at a Command Retreat Retirement Ceremony on Friday, Nov. 4, at St. Francis Barracks in St. Augustine.

As the senior attorney for the Florida Department of Military Affairs, Col. Davis served as State Judge Advocate for the Florida National Guard - a position that is equivalent to a General Counsel to a Department of the State Government.

The Legion of Merit and the Florida Cross were awarded to Col. Davis by Governor Jeb Bush for his many years of work in the Guard and emphasized his service to the Dept. of Military Affairs during a time of high operations tempo during the Global War on Terrorism and the busy hurricane seasons over the few years.

In a military career that covers five decades, Col. Davis began in 1967 with Basic Training at Ft. Dix, NJ. He then attended Officers Candidate School at Ft. Benning, Ga. and became a rifle platoon leader with the 9th Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta. He has served as an Instructor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point where he taught combat tactics until he was released from active duty in 1970. He remained in the Individual Ready Reserve until leaving the Army in 1974.

After completing law school at Florida State in 1972 and establishing his law practice in Jasper, Col. Davis applied for, and in 1983 received, a direct commission in the US Army's Judge Advocate General's Corps, the Army's Lawyers.

Col. Davis was awarded the Silver Star for heroism while in the Infantry in Viet Nam for rescuing a platoon that had been ambushed. He was also awarded the Bronze Star and Army Commendation Medal both with "V" (for Valor) device for other combat actions.

While in the Florida Army National Guard, Col. Davis served as a prosecutor, a defense counsel and a military judge, the latter since 1989. He also was the Staff Judge Advocate (SJA) for the Camp Blanding Joint Training Center, a 72,000 acre National Guard training site in Clay County, east of Starke. During his time there he performed the same type of duties as a city or county attorney.

Col. Davis was again called into active duty to serve in war, when 9/11 occurred. He was the SJA of the newly formed 32d Army Air and Missile Defense Command.

"Less than three weeks after 9/11, I got the call. I packed and left my wife and home and law practice in Gainesville, flew in a C-130 cargo plane - very loud and very slow (an inauspicious start) - to Ft Bliss, Tex., from which we had been told we would deploy directly to Kuwait." True to Army tradition, however, they did not go immediately but, "we waited and waited and waited."

While waiting Col. Davis participated in some interesting missions, real world operations and some very large and complex exercises. The operations included the Defense of the National Capitol Region on the first anniversary of 9/11, and Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

"I got to do some very interesting things, and I worked with some really fine soldiers," said Col. Davis. "It's really the people who serve who make our military great."

"It was to protect my family that I decided to re-enter the military, and it is to protect our families that our military exists," Col. Davis explained. "We can be proud of the good things our Army does. When things go wrong or soldiers do wrong we can be proud that our military goes to great lengths to disclose the errors and repair the damage done. That is unlike almost any other military in the world," Davis pointed out.

As an example Judge Davis cited the 507th Ambush Investigative Board for which he was legal adviser. The board members went into Iraq repeatedly while things were still hot, and were shot at and had to have US Marine tanks protecting them while they questioned local citizens about what happened during the ambush.

According to Col. Davis, one of the heroes of that investigation was a Florida National Guardsman, a Miami Beach police detective who was also the intelligence officer for the 32d. His actions are still classified, but they resulted in the Army, and soon afterward the world, getting a clear picture of what occurred. The lessons learned from the investigation resulted in a change of training and training policy in the Army.

"That can only happen in an open democracy, like ours," Col. Davis noted.

In a touching moment during the ceremony, Col. Davis' three-year old triplet grandsons broke free from their "handlers" and "ran onto the parade field where the Davis' were sitting with the General.

"Nathan casually climbed up in General Fleming's lap, Jeffry Jr. climbed up in Cecil's lap, and Sammy came and sat at my feet," Col. Davis related.

Gen. Fleming later said, "When the boys came out onto the field I sat there trying to decide whether I should react as a general or as a father. I decided to react as a father, because, after all, the Florida National Guard is about families."

Col. Davis commented. "My wife and children have been my most important motivators and anything I have achieved or accomplished I owe to their love and support and encouragement. My participation in the Guard played a large role in both of my sons graduating from the US Military Academy at West Point and serving our country."

"I have gotten to do everything I wanted to do in my two military careers, except go to jump school and serve in the same unit with one or both of my sons," Col. Davis continued. "It was a pleasure for me to serve ... most of the time. I had a great career as a full and part-time warrior, and now I am enjoying a new career as a judge. I am humbled and blessed to have been able to do both."

Col. Davis and his wife, Cecil, recently returned to Jasper after living in Gainesville for many years. They have two sons, Jeffrey, who is deceased, and Heyward, and three grandchildren - Jeffrey Jr., Nathan and Sammy.