Rich Anderson

Rich Anderson is an active duty U.S. Army officer and combat veteran that has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, earning two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. As a Platoon Leader with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment during a deployment to Mahmudiyah, Iraq in 2006, he led over 100 combat patrols throughout a hostile region commonly referred to as the “Triangle of Death.” Rich then served as the Assistant Professor of Military Science at the University of Notre Dame. Following that assignment as an Army ROTC instructor, he deployed to eastern Afghanistan as the Battalion Fire Support Officer for an Attack Aviation unit within the 101st Airborne Division. He returned to Afghanistan in 2011 with the Screaming Eagles to take Battery Command of a 100-man firing battery located near the Afghan-Pakistan border. Following that deployment, Rich was selected to serve as an Army Congressional Fellow. As a member of this cohort of Army officers embedded into Congress, Rich’s mission has been to advise and work on matters pertaining to defense, homeland security, and veteran’s affairs. Since January 2013, Rich has served as the Defense Fellow for Senator James M. Inhofe (R-OK), and is scheduled to be assigned to the Army’s Senate Liaison Division in 2014. He graduated from Niagara University with a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, and he holds a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Boston University and a Master’s degree in Legislative Affairs from The George Washington University. He is a current student at the Naval War College, where is he pursuing a Master’s degree in National Security & Strategic Studies.