Col. Jerry Baird To Address Veterans Day Event

STANLEY––He’s an officer and a gentleman.

He’s Col. Jerry Baird, Jr., and he’ll be the keynote speaker at the second annual Veterans Day celebration at Stanley Pentecostal Holiness Church on Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. (See related coverage, only here in The Herald.)

A native of McDowell and a member of the McDowell High School class of 1987, Baird earned a bachelor of applied science degree from Mars Hill University in June, 1995, and he was commissioned that August as a second lieutenant through the officer candidate school at the North Carolina Military Academy at Fort Bragg. In 2012, he earned a master’s degree in education from N.C. State University. Baird is the N.C. National Guard’s director of Counterdrug, as well as the brigade commander for the 2,500 soldiers assigned to the 130th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade. He is also an adjunct professor at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

During his 34-year military career, Baird has commanded units at every level. He is a recognized combat leader, having led more than 500 soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines as a theatre internment facility commander in Operation Iraqi Freedom III. At the Pentagon, he has served as a senior law-enforcement officer, anti-terrorism officer, provost marshal, civil unrest liaisonofficer and the protection division chief for the National Guard Bureau.

Baird is a graduate of the United States Air Force War College in Maxwell, Ala. and the executive-level joint combined warfare school at National Defense University. He has completed the U.S. Department of Defense anti-terrorism courses at levels one through four and its security engineering course, as well as the Harvard Kennedy School’s executive leadership course in crisis management and homeland security. 

His personal awards include the Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, six Meritorious Service Medals, the Combat Action Badge, the U.S. Army Commendation Medal and the Army Staff Badge. He is qualified for both airborne and air-assault duties. He has been awarded the Moldovan Army Fraternity of Arms Service Medal, the Valley Forge Cross for Heroism and various other personal and service awards. Baird is a Fort Bragg Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame member.

Baird and wife Leslie reside in western North Carolina. Their two sons, Chase and Seth Baird, respectively 21 and 18, are both U.S. Army ROTC Ranger cadets at East Tennessee State University.