Andersen ready for new legislative mission

Above: A young Sen. Bob Andersen and canine companion Abbey during his late-1990s military posting in Okinawa, Japan.

You might not guess it to meet him now, but much of Omaha Sen. Bob Andersen’s youth would have made a great spy novel.

The freshman senator, who was raised just outside of Detroit, signed up for the Air Force straight out of high school at age 19 and soon found himself working in intelligence behind the Iron Curtain.

After joining the military, a series of tests determined that Andersen had an aptitude for Slavic languages. Within 12 months he was speaking, reading and writing Russian at the 12th-grade level through an immersion program taught by people who had escaped from the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

His first posting was Berlin, which at the time was still divided into four occupation zones controlled by the US, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. It was known as the “spy capital of the world,” Andersen said, in part because the subway system still connected East and West Berlin.

“It was an exciting place to be and you can imagine the fun I had there at 20 years old,” Andersen laughed. “In the intelligence business at the time, you worked hard and you played hard. I didn’t sleep much. Let’s just say I’m glad nobody had camera phones back then.”

Andersen was in Berlin when President Reagan made his famous speech in 1987 calling on Soviet leader Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” and was still there in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell.

Although he admittedly didn’t realize the historic significance of events as they were happening, Andersen still has a piece of the former dividing wall between Eastern and Western Europe that he cut down himself and took with him around the world during the remainder of his time in the military.

That career involved stints in Okinawa, Japan, and more than 900 days in the Middle East, among other postings. Andersen credits that exposure to different cultures and perspectives for his ability to adapt to new places and experiences — including Nebraska.

“I’m an outlier in almost every way,” Andersen said. “I’m not from here, I don’t have generations of my family that went to the same high school and I don’t have a background in agriculture.”

So why did he put down roots here after retiring from the military?

“I stayed in Nebraska because of Julie, my lovely wife of 30 years,” Andersen beamed. “She’s an Irish Catholic girl, born and raised in Omaha.”

The couple’s two sons, Joe and Jack, are both students at UNL, and Andersen says they are happy to have him nearby when lunch time rolls around. He said the Capitol cafeteria is a good excuse for them to ”have a free meal on dad” and that Julie joins when she can.

Andersen sees his role in the Legislature as another mission like the many he completed during his time in the Air Force. Once he decided to run, he never looked back. When you accept a mission, he said, the only question is how hard or easy it’s going to be: “surrender is not an option.”

Now that he’s representing District 49, Andersen said he’s looking forward to making a difference for his constituents. Constituents like a woman that his office recently helped who was having difficulty obtaining veterans’ benefits after her husband died.

“The thing about this job — people think you do it because it comes with status and a lot of perks, but that’s not leadership,” Andersen said. “Leadership means that you’re the last person in line. Your constituents are first. That’s what matters, not that I get called ‘senator.’”