Leadership Profiles
This page contains a brief description of the responsibilities various leadership positions have and short profiles of each leader. You will find the top two tiers of leadership—Lt. Col. and Major—on this page. The Captains can be found on page 2.
Lieutenant Colonel
The Lt. Colonel’s Responsibilities
The ALERT Cadet Commanding Officer, who holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, will maintain responsibility for overall vision and direction of the program and ministry. He will also focus on broadening the reach of ALERT Cadet to assist more fathers to win and keep the hearts of their 8 to 17-year-old sons.
Col. John Tanner
John and his wife, Janet, have been married for 39 years with three sons and seven grandchildren. John and Janet trusted Christ for salvation shortly after their wedding in 1972. John worked for AT&T 17 years in Mesquite, Texas while also working with youth groups in several churches, serving as a youth director for seven years. He earned his B.A. degree with his major in Bible at the Criswell College in Dallas, Texas.
In 1993 the Tanner family went to Moscow, Russia for nine months, teaching Biblical principles and character in the public schools of Moscow. Upon returning from Moscow in 1994, John began serving in the newly developed ministry of ALERT. John was given the responsibility to develop the emergency response phase of training and he taught Search and Rescue (SAR) to all units of ALERT, applying it with nearly 100 SAR missions. During the first nine years of the program he carried the responsibility of more than 40 disaster relief deployments including the space shuttle Columbia recovery.
In August of 2002 John became the Director of the International ALERT Academy which now has the ALERT program, ALERT Cadet, STEP, Quest, and 31:10 (mother/daughter program), as well as the Camps and Conferences division. The Tanners live at the International ALERT Academy in Big Sandy, Texas.
Majors
The Major’s Responsibilities
ALERT Cadet Regional Leaders, who hold the rank of Major, will focus on broadening the impact of ALERT Cadet on fathers and sons. They will spearhead work to improve the program, personally share the vision with various community groups and churches, plan and execute regional service projects and camps, and work to strengthen existing units and leadership. Regions will typically be large areas of states (in the US), a large country, or a large group of smaller countries.
Southeast US Leader – Major Gary Reckner
Northeast US Leader – Major Bill Waddell
Bill and his wife Sharon have been married for 27 years and have been involved in homeschooling their 5 children: Gabe (26), Holly (23), David (20), Daniel (16) and Heidi (14). Bill accepted Christ while on board the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Persian Gulf in 1980, and met Sharon in 1982. As a Naval Aviator Bill spent his Navy career flying off carriers, retiring in 1994 and accepting a position at the Army War College where he continues to serve as Director of the Command, Control and Cyberspace Operations Group. The Waddell’s have been involved in Officers Christian Fellowship and the Institute in Basic Life Principles including the Advanced Training Institute (ATI). Bill has additionally been involved in church and community activities including leading worship and singing in the annual community presentation of Handel’s Messiah. They were introduced to the ALERT Cadet program in 2001, and started the PA 1st Bravo unit through their church. In 2005 Bill was asked to assume regional responsibilities, and he continues to lead the North East region. He and his sons enjoy a host of outdoor activities including hunting and fishing, and reside in Carlisle, PA.
South Central US Leader – Major Randy McDonald
Randy and his wife, Gayle, have been married for 21 years and have six children: James (16), Laura (14), John (12), Lisa (10), Joel (7) and Leah, born in December 2007.
The McDonalds have been involved in ALERT Cadet program since 2001 and helped found the Texas 6th Bravo unit in 2005. Randy served as the first unit leader of the Texas 6th Bravo and became State Coordinator for Texas in 2007. He desires to assist ALERT Cadet leaders in their quest to build active and thriving units. Randy is an attorney in private practice and also serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves – Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
The McDonalds home-school their children and reside in the east Texas community of Ben Wheeler, near Tyler.
Austral Asia Leader – Major Sreedhar Subramaniam
Sreedhar and his wife, Lee-Yen, have been married for over 19 years. They have four children, Sharmaine, Sherman, Shawn and Shane. Both Sreedhar and Lee-Yen accepted Christ in Malaysia in their respective high school Christian fellowships.
Sreedhar runs an internet site that promotes good values in Malaysia at www.goodtimes.my. He is also a Character First consultant and serves on the board of a number of companies in Malaysia. Sreedhar and his two older sons have been involved in the ALERT Cadet program since 2004. The Sreedhar family resides both in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia and Dunedin, New Zealand.
Gary and his wife Kathy have been married for 31 years. They have eleven children. Bryce, their oldest son (26) has completed ALERT Cadet and ALERT Paramedic training, Tyler (20) has completed ALERT Cadet and ALERT Phase 2 ERT, Timothy (18) has completed ALERT Cadet as a Warrant Officer and completed ALERT Basic Training this past fall, while their other sons Emery (13) and Wesley (9) and Clayton (6) continue in the Cadet program. Gary and his sons have been active in the Cadet program since 1998 when Gary accepted the position of 2nd Lieutenant for 2nd Florida. He accepted the duties and responsibilities of Captain for the SE Region in 2006, and then Major for the SE Region in January of 2010.
The Reckners have home schooled their children from the beginning of their formal education using the ATI program. They have been involved with the Character First! Education program, teaching biblically-based character to public and private school children. Gary has been active in The Navigators, Child Evangelism Fellowship, and the Institute in Basic Life Principles. He is employed with the US Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service and relocated with them from Florida to Sebree in Western Kentucky in 2005. The Reckners enjoy Civil War re-enacting, being out-of-doors and living a rural life with many animals, to train the children and teach life lessons.