Bio
Sergeant Major (SGM) Ernest K. Tabata was born on Oahu, Hawaii, in 1930, the son of Japanese immigrants. He began his military career at age 15 in the Hawaiian Territorial Guard. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1949, and with the 1st Cavalry Division during the Korean War, afterwards with the 11th and 82nd Airborne Divisions.
In 1961, he began his Special Forces (SF) career with 7th SF Group (SFG), and served extensively throughout Asia. He deployed to Laos with WHITE STAR, with three tours of duty in Vietnam, including Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG), and four years in the Republic of China on Taiwan. Tabata had tours of duty with the 1st, 5th, 7th and 10th SFGs, and retired from active duty as a SGM in 1981, after thirty-one years of service. He later became the first civilian instructor on parachute status at the SF Engineer Sergeants Course, and was an SF engineer and demolitions instructor for twenty-nine years.
He was named the 2004 US Special Operations Command Bull Simons Award recipient, and a Distinguished Member of the SF Regiment. Passing away in 2015, he was honored by having the SF Engineer Training Facility named for him in 2018. SGM Ernest K. Tabata’s legacy lives today in the SF Engineer Sergeant Course, and the high standards and excellence that he demanded of himself and his soldiers.
