As a high-ranking officer in the U.S. Air Force, Judge Rick Maughmer dealt with national secrets and traveled the world serving his country.

Last month, the Cass County native brought his military career to a halt after nearly 37 years. Maughmer recently discussed his experiences in the intelligence and security trades, as well as his plans for the future.

The military drafted the Lewis Cass High School graduate in 1973. Due to being born and raised in a small, rural Indiana community, Maughmer started as an intelligence analyst in the underground complex at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.

“Because I was a kid from Cass County who had never been anywhere in my life, it was relatively easy for the FBI to determine that I was who I said I was because my family has always been here,” Maughmer said.

Maughmer remembers the FBI coming to Walton to speak with his teachers, friends and family as part of a background check. An encounter with the school nurse was later relayed to him and his mother. The agents wanted to know if Maughmer had ever done anything wrong.

“Not that he’d ever been caught,” he recalled the nurse saying.

At the base made famous by the Stanley Kubrick movie “Dr. Strangelove,” Maughmer tracked the surface-to-air missile sites in China, North Korea and Vietnam as the Vietnam War came to an end. He also managed information secured in top-secret missions.

Maughmer continued his military career by obtaining an undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska. After a failed attempt at becoming an Indiana State trooper due to poor eyesight, he returned west to join the Nebraska Air National Guard, who paid for most of his law degree.

In 1979, he graduated and returned to Indiana so his three daughters could be closer to their grandparents. He joined the forces at Grissom Air Reserve Base, dabbled in private practice and joined the Cass County prosecutor’s office, where he served as prosecutor for 17 years.

Through the years, Maughmer acquired the titles of communications squadron commander, security forces commander and deputy director of security forces, which is the No. 2 person for all security forces for the Air Force Reserve. He retired with the rank of colonel.

In 2000, Cass County residents elected Maughmer to serve as judge of the newly created Cass Superior Court II. Less than a year into his judgeship, terrorists attacked the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon.

After Sept. 11, 2001, Maughmer left the courtroom for Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, where he spent 13 months.

Maughmer admitted that he felt guilty about splitting his time between the military and his elected position. After returning from Robins, he worked out a deal with the Air Force and Garrett Palmer, the special judge who steps in for Maughmer when he is away one week out of each month.

Maughmer says he has always handled sentencing in felony cases.

“I’d still do that because I feel an obligation to the taxpayers. They hired me to the job,” Maughmer said.

The judge tried to retire in 2005, but the Air Force offered him a job in recruitment.

“It was an attractive offer that I could not refuse,” he said.

Maughmer never thought he’d be in for more than 36 years, but he said the military was good to him. His service paid for an education, helped raise a family and opened doors he could not have imagined.

“It just gave me an opportunity for my life,” Maughmer said.

Maughmer’s plans for the future include devoting time to his children, his wife of 36 years and the courtroom.

“I want to be the best judge I can be, spend more time with the family and get involved in the community to the extent that I can as a judge,” said Maughmer, who is considering a second job as local farm hand.

As for his future as judge, he will hold the position “until the people fire me,” he said.

• Kevin Lilly is news editor of the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at (574) 732-5117 or kevin.lilly@pharostribune.com