British officer serves with 'Big Red One' continues family military tradition

Overseas, the United States military works closely with soldiers from allied military forces toward common goals. The same is true at home, where soldiers like Maj. David Docherty work with the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, representing their home military while serving with the historic American division.

Docherty, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, serves in the military as part of a five-generation family tradition.

"My family had always served," he said. "My family comes from Ireland and the west coast of Scotland; there's a very long tradition of serving in the army in those communities."

At age 16, Docherty joined a college run by the British Army and at 18 started officer training at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, located 30 miles outside London.

Growing up in Belfast at the height of "The Troubles" - a common name for the nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted from the late 1960s to the late 1990s - Docherty saw firsthand the fallout from terrorist attacks.

"To me, joining the military was the only profession that was worthy of following," he said. "It was a worthwhile career choice, as I saw it."

Serving in the British Army's Royal Logistic Corps, the major said his time in the military has been fantastic.

"I've traveled all over the world," Docherty said. "I've worked with armies from all over the world, and I don't think there's one job that I ever regret doing.

"It's very useful to just see a lot of the similarities - issues that armies face regardless of what flag they have on their sleeve."

Docherty began serving with the "Big Red One" in January 2012 as an exchange officer. He quickly deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan, with the division and served there for a year as a planner for Regional Command-East. After redeploying to Fort Riley, the British major served as a maneuver planner for the 1st Inf. Div.

"To me, that's one of the best opportunities you could ever wish for," he said. "I'm very impressed with the quality and the character of U.S. Army Soldiers and officers."

Big Red One Soldiers who have worked with Docherty mirror his sentiments.

"I met Dave when I first got to Afghanistan," said Maj. Tim Tyner, 1st Inf. Div. strategist. "I had never worked with a foreign officer in that type of environment."

Tyner said he enjoyed seeing how a foreign military officer thinks.

"They look at a problem completely differently than I would," Tyner said. "They attack the problem, but then the result's the same - the mission gets accomplished."

The strategist said he hoped the exchange program with the British Army continues.

"It's very advantageous," Tyner said. "It gives you a different perspective on how to see something."

Now serving the 1st Inf. Div. with a planning team augmenting United States Army Africa in Vicenza, Italy, Docherty will complete his service with the Big Red One this June. "I'll close out from Vicenza and then return back to the U.K. from there," he said.