Robert Zackery path was never a carefully plotted campaign. He calls it “luck and stumbling into it.” He grew up between two Americas: weekdays in the projects of Chattanooga, Tennessee, with his mom, weekends in the suburbs with his dad, then a jarring move to a small, mostly white rural town.
A flashy Marine Corps commercial with a knight fighting a dragon had him headed one direction until an Air Force recruiter in blues popped in a VHS tape of Airmen jumping out of planes and sneaking through the jungle.
“Sign me up,” Zackery remembers saying.
It was on. His first time in an airplane was his ride to basic training. Zackery flew to a few other places as he continued to excel and graduate from different training programs before being sent to Germany for two years.
He was part of the U.S. Air Force Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) and Special Warfare Airmen embedded directly with conventional and special operations combat units.
By the end of that tour, he was deployed to Bosnia.
“It was great. After a while, a buddy of mine suggested that they try out for a Tier 1 unit. We were young and in shape and passed the initial PT screening and first three assessments,” Zackery said.
They were given their orders for the final assessment for the Tier 1 unit and just as both were about to be transferred to selection, 9/11 happened. Zackery declined his orders for assessment in order to go to Afghanistan for the initial invasion.
The combat and deployments to Afghanistan were relentless in those early years, and Zackery was also part of the initial Iraq invasion with the 2nd Ranger Battalion.
“In 2005, I finally had the opportunity to serve with the Tier 1 unit in combat that I had selected for years earlier. It was amazing! Years later the Air Force wanted me to transition out of Special Operations and sent me to South Korea. I’ll admit I went kicking and screaming,” he said.
Looking back, he admitted stepping away from Special Operations and seeing the bigger picture of the Air Force was the best thing that could have happened. Ultimately, Zackery was selected to be a Command Chief Master Sergeant, which are only 5% of the 1% of the Chief Master Sergeant’s in the Air Force.
“I learned a lot about leadership, predictive analysis, and how to manage competing interests. After my Command Chief tour, I was going to retire so my son could graduate from one high school,” he explained. “I got a call from SOCOM leadership to lead special programs within SOCOM headquarters in Tampa and I took the job.”
“It was an amazing experience,” he added.
When a general officer asked if he would consider being the Command Chief for a new unit under him, he turned it down. His priority was his son, so in 2023, he retired and eagerly leaned into entrepreneurship as he transitioned. He’d set up a business six years prior in preparation.
“I took risks for this country doing some of the most dangerous missions in the most dangerous places with the most elite unit. What’s going to happen I retire and my business fails? OK, I’m going to get a full-time job instead. I can handle that. ” Zackery said.
The business didn’t fail.
Zackery joined various boards of nonprofits that he is passionate about and became a Senior Fellow for the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress that same year. After his years of service he wanted to find a way to lean into his story and bring new possibilities to at-risk youth. Serving his country is the American story and many communities aren’t shown that people like him who have served this nation since the Revolutionary War also have those same opportunities.
“We have a lot of operators of color but one knows our story. When you think of Navy SEAL or an Army Green Beret, you don’t always think of someone who looks like me. So hey, you know what? Let’s tell our story,” he said.
That same year, he linked up with likeminded individuals and they later all founded the BLK-OPS Foundation and through their work met not yet MOH recipient, retired Maj. James “Jim” Capers.
The BLK Ops Foundation joined other groups and individuals who had been working for years to get retired Maj. Capers the Medal of Honor. He and “Team Capers” met weekly for two years working on this project.
“I connected with members of ‘Team Capers’ and I flew up to the Capitol to cold knock on doors of senators and congressmen and women to tell solicit support for the House bill to award retired Maj. Capers his Medal of Honor,” Zackery explained.
June 18, 2026, nearly 60 years after Capers distinguished himself, President Donald Trump put the Medal of Honor around his neck. The feeling was hard to describe, but Zackery was determined to make it happen.
So, what’s next for this multitalented operator? Growing his leadership and business consulting firm, Primer Development Group, while continuing to teach how to think not what to think. Zackery is also enjoying his newfound hobby of painting.
“I want to continue impacting youth and working with the BLK Ops Foundation. I also volunteer in the prison system because helping meaningful to me,” Zackery shared.
“Life is difficult enough. Those of us who know better, who have some of the answers, we owe it to reach back and help others because you’re not only changing that persons life but the generations that come after.”
To learn more about Robert Zackery, follow his journey and connect with him on LinkedIn.
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