Colonel Ronald R. Combest was commissioned an Infantry Officer upon graduation from Officer Candidate School Class 30-67, 22 May 1967. His first duty assignment was as Training Officer, A Company, 10th Battalion, 2nd Brigade, United States Army Training Center, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. | His subsequent assignments included: Company Commander, Company  B, 10th Battalion, 2nd Brigade, United States Army Training Center, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Platoon Leader, and later the Executive Officer, Company D, 3rd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, Vietnam; Operations Officer, 297th Military Intelligence Detachment, 12th Special Forces Group, 63rd Army Reserve Command, Fort MacArthur, California; Team Leader/201st Special Operations Detachment (Airborne), and later the Chief of Special Security Element/Electronic Warfare, Electronic Warfare Staff Officer, Company Commander of Headquarters Company, Battalion Executive Officer, 309th Army Security Agency Battalion, 63rd Army Reserve Command, Patton United States Army Reserve Center, Bell, California; Company Commander, 734th Military Intelligence Detachment (Counterintelligence), 63rd Army Command, Pasadena, California; Detachment Commander, 337th Military Intelligence Detachment (Counterintelligence), 63rd Army Reserve Command, Pasadena, California; Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 and Division Mobilization Officer, 91st Division (Training), Fort Baker, California; Deputy Commandant, and later served as the Commandant, 6th United States Army Intelligence Training Army Area School, Armed Forces Reserve Center, Los Alamitos, California. | Colonel Combest retired on 25 April 1994.