With almost 35 years of combined military service, El Reno Attorney Fletcher D. Handley, Jr., retired from the Oklahoma Army National Guard, effective January 9, 2008.

Lieutenant Colonel Handley began his military career in 1966 as an Air Force ROTC cadet at the University of Oklahoma. He enlisted in the US Navy in 1969 and spent four years on active duty, attaining the rank of Petty Officer, 3d Class. After attending Anti-submarine Warfare school in Norfolk, Virginia; and Flight School in Patuxent River, Maryland, Handley was assigned to Navy Patrol Sqaudron 11, in Brunswick, Maine, as an airborne Radar and ECM operator aboard a P-3 Orion aircraft. He flew over 1000 hours and completed numerous tours of duty throughout Europe, the Mediterranean and the Carribean, before completing his active duty in 1973.

Handley was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1975, and enlisted in the Oklahoma Army National Guard in 1981. After attaining the rank of Sergeant, E-5; Handley accepted a direct commission as a First Lieutenant in the Army Jag Corps in 1983. Progressing through the ranks, he served as trial/defense counsel in the 45th Infantry Brigade, and as Staff Judge Advocate of the 45th Troop Command. He completed his career at Joint Force Headquarters in Oklahoma City, where he served for several years as the Deputy State Judge Advocate for Oklahoma and was assigned as Military Judge.

He was honored at a retirement party in October of 2007 in Oklahoma City, in anticipation of the January deployment of many of comrades to Iraq. At that ceremony, he was presented the Army Meritorious Service Medal, and an officer’s Silver Sabre inscribed with his name and rank. Those attending the ceremony included Brigadier General (ret.) Thomas Walker of Ardmore; Colonel Kyle Goerke of Watonga; Air Force Colonel Lynn D. Fees of Kelleyville; Chief Warrant Officer Mark Mishoe, of Edmond, and many other current and former members of the Oklahoma Army National Guard JAG Section.

In his civilian life, Handley has practiced law in El Reno continuously since 1978. He was a member of American Bar Association Standing Committee on Armed Forces Law, 2001-2004; and the ABA President’s Working Group for Protection of the Rights of Service Members in 2004. He was most recently nominated to the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security.

Handley Judge picture