Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Kirschman

Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Ronald L. Kirshman was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He enrolled at Western Michigan College in 1953 and entered its Quartermaster ROTC Program. During his third year, he received the Association of the United States Army medal as the outstanding Military Science III cadet. Following the 1956 summer camp at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, he was appointed cadet Colonel and Commander of the cadet regiment. LTC Kirshman graduated in 1958 as a Distinguished Military Graduate with a Bachelor degree in Business Administration. He commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Regular Army Quartermaster Corps.

After a two-year combat arms detail with Armor, Infantry, and advanced marksmanship units, LTC Kirshman was trained in Petroleum Supply and Analysis and given command of the 959th Petroleum Laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia. He was promoted to Captain and appointed Officer in Charge of a Petroleum Distribution Command installation in Kaiserslautem, Germany.

In 1965, he returned to the United States to attend the Quartermaster Officer Advanced Course. Upon graduation, he received a one-year graduate scholarship for a Master of Business Administration degree at Western Michigan University. He as promoted to Major and assigned to Headquarters, 1st Logistical Command in Vietnam, as Chief of Field Services.  LTC Kirshman was assigned to the Department of the Army Staff as a General Staff Officer. He attended the Command and General Staff College where he was retained at Fort Levenworth, Kansas and assigned to classified duties with the Institute of Combined Arms and Support.

In 1972, he returned to Vietnam as an advisor with CORDS Advisory Team 48, in Binh Tuy Province. In 1973, he was assigned to the Quartermaster School as Chief of the Systems Engineering Division. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1975 and became the Executive Officer of the Quartermaster School Brigade. In 1976, he was appointed Professor of Military Science at Western Michigan University, a position he held until his retirement from active duty at the end of 1981.

In 1982, he began a new career with the 9th Judicial Circuit Court of Michigan, when Governor Milliken appointed him to the Friend of the Court. In 1988, he was promoted to the court's top non-judicial position, in which he served as its chief administrator.

LTC Kirshman's decorations include: the Army Commendation Medal; two Meritorious Service Medal; two Bronze Star Medal; the Department of the Army General Staff Badge; and several awards from the Republic of Vietnam.

In 1956, he married the former Aurelia Alaria. They have two children, Laura and Ronald, and two grandchildren, Veronica and Cody.