Bob Echols grew up moving constantly — eighteen states by his own count — following his father’s career with the U.S. Forest Service and the shadow of a war his father never talked about. Bob’s dad had flown transport missions out of Australia during World War II, ferrying supplies into newly taken islands and flying the wounded out in depressurized cabins, but he rarely spoke of it and wouldn’t watch war movies. Still, Bob grew up wanting to serve. A childhood vision problem — undiagnosed until his mother realized he needed glasses — cost him a nomination to West Point and a shot at the Navy, so he found his way into the Army through ROTC at UC Davis instead.
After Ranger School and jump training, Bob was assigned to an atomic demolition munitions unit in Cold War Germany, training to defend against a Soviet invasion that felt very real at the time. He later spent months mapping every bridge on the Rhine River for a nuclear demolition contingency plan that, thankfully, was never needed. It was in Germany that Bob developed the leadership philosophy that would define the rest of his career: treat the people under you with respect and trust, regardless of their rank, because everyone deserves to feel like their effort matters.
Vietnam came next, where Bob worked as an engineering advisor to the Vietnamese Chief of Engineers in the war’s final years — traveling the country by helicopter and jeep, inventorying military assets, and coming away with a deep respect for the Vietnamese people and their history. But as his tour wound down, Bob faced the hardest decision of his career: his wife didn’t want a military life, and his other lifelong dream — working for the Forest Service, like his father before him — was calling. He resigned his Regular Army commission, a decision so unusual the Army flew an officer from the Pentagon all the way to Vietnam to try to talk him out of it.
Bob spent the next decades split between two callings — first back with the Forest Service, and later rejoining the military through the National Guard, where he built training programs, oversaw millions of dollars in construction, and helped launch the selection site for Delta Force. His commitment to service didn’t end with him: one son became a Navy quartermaster and later a police commander, and the other grew up around Delta Force operators at his father’s guard post and went on to join the Navy SEALs. Looking back, Bob’s takeaway is simple — the respect and trust he tried to give everyone he led came back to him tenfold, in both of his careers.
Episode 56 of Ask A Vet is available now on YouTube, Spotify, and everywhere you get your podcasts. If you’re a veteran who’s struggling, dial 988 and press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line.