-Farm News photo by Darcy Dougherty Maulsby
Brad Black and his wife, Rachel, are shown here with their four children (left to right) Emma, Oliver, Aiden and Alex.

On the fateful morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, Brad Black was in a music history class at Iowa Central in Fort Dodge when a fellow student said a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. Little did Black — or anyone else — know that the world had changed forever.

“My first thought was, ‘Who would do that?'” said Black, 40, a 2001 Manson Northwest Webster High School graduate. “I was thinking of the smaller type of planes like my grandpa [Gene Black] flew.”

It wasn’t long before the instructor announced that class was canceled. Black, like millions of other Americans, turned on the television and watched the horror unfold in New York City, Washington, D.C. and beyond.

Nearly 3,000 people died in the shocking attacks. Less than a month later, Operation Enduring Freedom began on Oct. 7, 2001, with American and British bombing strikes against al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan. This first stage of the Global War on Terror would impact Black’s life nearly a decade later, when he was serving in the U.S. Marine Corps.

While thousands of young men and women enlisted in the U.S. military in response to 9/11, Black pursued a different path for a few years. He attended Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa to study agriculture and religion. In 2004, he married his wife, Rachel, whom he’d met in the music/drama department at Iowa Central. He drove a truck for Martin Bros. Distributing Co., a Midwest food distributor, before he decided to enlist in the military at age 24.

-Submitted photo
Brad Black served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2007 to 2013. For part of this time, he served in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Black is also a member of the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association.

“I needed a challenge and discipline and figured I might as well join the best military branch that exists,” said Black, who farms in Calhoun County and Webster County. “My stepbrother was already in, and I’d never hear the end of it if I joined another branch.”

After enlisting in September 2007, Black completed his training (“the toughest boot camp in the military,” he noted) at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California. He worked with General Support Maintenance Company at the Rock Island Arsenal. During his service, he was proud of his dress blues, the distinctive uniform Marines wear that incorporates the red, white and blue colors of the American flag and represents the values that Marines live by.

Those core values of honor, courage and commitment also tapped into something profound that changed Black’s perspective on life.

“When I was growing up on a farm, I took this lifestyle for granted,” he said. “It took moving away, pursuing other interests and enlisting in the Marines to give me a real appreciation for rural Iowa and help me know for sure that farming is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

Serving in Afghanistan

-Submitted photo
Brad Black enlisted in the military at age 24, saying he "needed a challenge and discipline."

Farming would have to wait, though. While Black moved back to Iowa in the spring of 2010 to farm full-time, he left in October 2010 for additional training prior to his deployment to Afghanistan. “I missed 13 months in all due to my deployment,” Black said.

During his service in Afghanistan, Black was part of a security detachment for logistic convoys.

“I drove a vehicle that helped to protect the other vehicles of the convoy, like fuel tanker trucks and resupply trucks,” he said.

For Black, being away from home was the toughest part of being a Marine.

“I was married before I enlisted,” he said. “It was an extreme challenge to be apart for so long with little to no communication.”

Black is grateful for the camaraderie of the Marine Corps.

“Sometimes it seemed like almost everything sucked, even the ‘fun’ stuff,” Black said. “Experiencing this with friends made it more enjoyable.”

Black achieved the rank of corporal by the time he was honorably discharged from the military in October 2013 and returned to rural Iowa. “I’m grateful I have a family who was willing and able to help me move home and start a career in agriculture.”

Black feels blessed that he had a smooth transition back into civilian life. “I know there are plenty of veterans out there who struggle,” he said. “I have friends who fight post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other ailments every day.”

Memorial Day has also taken on a new importance to Black. “I have friends I served with who are no longer with us. Remembering and honoring them means the world to me.”

Living life to the fullest

with farming, flying

Today, Black farms with his father, Perry Black, and uncle Dean Black. He raises corn and soybeans and has a part-time job trucking feeder pigs from barn to barn.

“Sometimes I take my kids along,” said Black, whose family includes Aiden, 10; Oliver, 8; Alex, 7; and Emma, 5. “They love every chance they get to ride with Dad in the semi.”

Through his actions, Black teaches his kids important lessons he learned on the farm and in the Marine Corps, including the discipline to follow through and finish projects, and the importance of giving back. He serves as the voting delegate for the Calhoun County Farm Bureau board, volunteers at his church (Harvest Vineyard Church), and is a member of the Marine Corps League Fort Dodge Detachment.

Black is also a member of the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association. “I grew up with a Piper Cherokee 235B on the farm. Grandpa would take me up as often as I could convince him to go.”

Early in 2020, Black started taking flying lessons in Fort Dodge and earned his pilot’s license by November 2020.

“I earned my Instrument Rating in September 2023 and will continue training to earn my Commercial Rating and my Instructor’s Rating so I can teach others the joy of piloting airplanes,” said Black, who is a part owner of a Piper Saratoga 6/300.

Black stays in touch with his friends from the Marines Corps and attends reunions with his fellow veterans.

“The camaraderie you experience with your brothers and sisters to the left and right of you are what make the Marine Corps so great,” he said. “Some of those relationships become very close and deep through shared experiences with deployments and such. No one else knows what we went through or experienced together. Maintaining that connection with them is important to me.”

While Black is glad he could serve his country during Operation Enduring Freedom, he isn’t looking to be thanked.

“We did our jobs,” he said. “We did it for the men and women standing beside us, and for our families. We did our best to make sure we all made it home. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to farm with my family and raise our kids here.”