LTC Loyd held a lifelong fascination with aviation, space flight and rockets. He received his commission as a lieutenant in the US Army Air Defense Artillery branch in May of 1970. Following his basic Air Defense officer training, he was assigned to the HQ Battery of the US Army Air Defense Command (NORAD). Thus began a military career focused, in large part, on the highly technical field of missiles and air defense systems. LTC Loyd was trained and qualified in a number of ADA systems to include Nike Hercules, iHawk, Chaparral and Redeye. He served as a company commander in a Chapparal/Vulcan battalion, as operations officer for an iHawk missile battalion, and as the Division Airspace Management Officer for the 101st Airborne Division. He also held a number of staff training and operations positions culminating with his USAR retirement in 1996 as Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations of the 125th ARCOM headquarters.