Colonel Royce M. Powell, Jr. was commissioned an Infantry Officer upon graduation from Officer Candidate School Class 52-12, 28 April 1953. His first duty assignment was as a Platoon leader, 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry, School Troops, The Infantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia, and further assigned to Tactics Committee for team leading school  troops in Scouting and Patrolling. | His subsequent duty assignments include: Platoon leader and Executive Officer, Love Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, Korea;  Instructor and Primary Instructor, Tank-Recoiless Rifle Committee, The Infantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia;  Wrote Field Manual and supervised Training film for 106mm Recoiless Rifle; Trained and graduated on Nuclear weapons assembly, Honest John, Corporal, Man tube fired and man portable weapons, air dropped weapons, further assigned as instructor tube fired weapons systems, Army missiles; Commander, 517th Ordnance Detachment (SWS), 111XV Airborne Corps, 3rd Missile Command, Air Transportable, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Nuclear Weapons Inspector for Operation Readiness Inspections, 57th Ordnance Group, Germany; Air Defense Missile coordinator, Cuban Missile Crisis, Homestead Air Force Base, Florida; Military Advisory Command Vietnam, Advisor, II Corps Tactical Zone, II Area Logistical Command, Qui Nhon, Vietnam;  Commander, 2nd Battalion, Aberdeen, Maryland; Commander, 191st Ordnance Battalion, Munitions Depot, CamRanh, Vietnam; Branch Chief, Munitions Directorate, Missile and Division, Washington, D.C.; Commander, U.S. Army Supply and Maintenance Depot (Rebuild), Japan; Director of Logistics, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; G4, I Corps, Korea; Commander, U.S. Naval Munitions Depot, Hawthorne, Nevada; Director, Munitions, U.S. Forces, Korea.