Air Force News, news from Iraq - Air Force Times

Top Air Force JAG recalls childhood in Ark.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Richard C. Harding remembers how he walked into his senior English class at Fayetteville High School and “met a girl.”

He married that girl, whose name was Linda Ziser, shortly after high school and together they have traveled the world.

The journey they’ve shared led recently to Harding’s investiture as the Air Force’s 16th judge advocate general, making him the highest-ranking officer in the Air Force legal system.

With his selection came a promotion to lieutenant general. He was nominated by President Obama in December and confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 2, according to the Air Force.

“I was very honored and very humbled,” he said after his promotion, nomination and subsequent installation. “It’s a great responsibility.”

As the top legal representative, he is responsible for the oversight of more than 2,200 judge advocates, 350 civilian attorneys, 1,400 enlisted paralegals and 500 civilians in the Total Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps worldwide. He oversees military justice, operational and international law, and civil law functions at every level of command.

“They are all over the face of the world,” Harding said, noting some 108 are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, where the legal team is involved in targeting decisions, providing advice and legal counsel to personnel in the field, and conducting detainee review boards.

“It’s big business in the combat zones,” he said of the job for the legal staff.

“We support the Air Force and Marines. The last thing they need to worry about are legal issues,” Harding said. “We are a full-service legal operation.”

In his new role, he will provide counsel to the Air Force chief of staff and the secretary of the Air Force.

Harding joined the Air Force after graduation from the University of Arkansas Law School in 1979. Since, he has served at bases in Germany, Texas, Alaska, Illinois, Nebraska, Louisiana, Colorado and Virginia. His last assignment before his appointment was at Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C., where he served as commander of Air Force Legal Operations.

University of Arkansas Chancellor G. David Gearhart, who graduated from Fayetteville High School a year ahead of Harding, remembers him as “studious.”

“Having the judge advocate general as an alumnus is a huge honor for the university and all of Arkansas,” Gearhart said. “I remember him as bright, hard-working and a serious student who knew where he was going. We are all very excited for him and the university. He will inspire all of our students to reach as high as possible.”

Harding grew up as an Air Force dependent and stayed in Fayetteville when his father was on assignment where the family couldn’t go. Harding’s uncle, Arthur Harding, was president of the University of Arkansas from 1941-49.

Some in the FHS class of 1971 said they remembered Harding slightly but were more familiar with his wife, Linda, who had deep roots in Fayetteville. She attended Root Elementary School, Woodland Junior High School and Fayetteville High, Harding said.

Durenda Nelson Brunner of Fayetteville said she and Linda Ziser Harding were “awesome friends” from their days together at Woodland Junior High School.

Harding spent summers in Fayetteville with his grandparents and even belonged to a Boy Scout troop here. His time in school was broken up with living elsewhere. He attended Fayetteville High School as a sophomore and again during the last semester of his senior year.

Members of the Harding family have been well represented at the university, Harding said. His grandfather’s name is etched in the concrete sidewalk in front of Old Main with other names in the Class of 1915. The grandfather had 11 boys and two girls, all of whom graduated from the University of Arkansas.

A turning point for Harding came during his second year of law school when he met a lieutenant colonel visiting the law school from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. He was impressed because the officer told him he could try cases right out of law school, and there was an opportunity for travel with “an occasional weekend off.”

Harding recalled the man as Lt. Col. Martin, but couldn’t remember the officer’s first name. In the Air Force, “his first name became ‘Sir,’ ” Harding quipped.

Harding and his wife return to Northwest Arkansas occasionally. His aunt, Virginia Phillips, still lives in Fayetteville as does his mother-in-law, Ann Ziser, and two brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law.

He still calls the Hogs and is joined by a few other Arkansas natives who are in the JAG corps.

The university sidewalks aren’t the only place in Fayetteville where the name Harding is etched in concrete.

With a hearty laugh, he recalled the sidewalk in front of the family homestead on Washington Avenue at Lafayette Street was etched with the family name, “Harding.”