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I was born and raised in South East Idaho, on the west side of the Teton National Park area.  I Graduated from Idaho Falls High School in 1966.  From high school, I attended a local college at the request of my parents.  Most of my friends were either going to college or joining the National Guard to keep from being drafted.  It didn't take long for me to see that college was not for me and my grades plummeted.  Rather than being asked to leave, I resigned and within a few weeks, my draft notice arrived in the mail!  It said "Greetings and Merry Christmas, your friends and neighbors have selected you to represent your community in the Armed Forces of the United States......You are hereby ordered to report....."  On the 20th Day of January, 1967, I reported to active duty at Ft. Lewis, Washington and basic training.

Rather than be drafted, I elected to enlist so I at least had a few options available to  me.  All of my friends who had joined the Guard or were still in college thought I was so stupid.  Maybe they were right, but I had only a few days left on my first tour to Vietnam when the entire Idaho National Guard was deployed to Vietnam....I was on my way home, and they were just arriving.  I think I had the last laugh.  Not only that, after only twenty years, one week, and four days of duty, I began drawing a nice retirement check, at the age of 38.  How many of those guys could retire at the age of 38?

Highlights of my military career include three (one was cut short by the bad guys) tours of Vietnam, several to Germany, and a number of stateside assignments.  My favorite assignment was to Germany from 1981 to 1984.  I had a lot of chances to travel and because I lived off base,  picked up a lot of the language.  My worst assignment was three long, long years on recruiting duty in Western Wyoming.  The area was great, but the duty couldn't have been worse!

The days and hours that I spent flying in the OV-! "Mohawk" Surveillance Aircraft as a T.O. (Technical Observer) were some of of the best memories I have of my military duties.

Grumman OV-1 Mohawk from the 73rd Avn Co (SAC) Landing in Vung Tau, Vietnam

I retired in 1987 and relocated to South Central Virginia.   There was a lot of industry in this area so getting a job was not a problem.  I went to work in Dan River Mills, a textile plant, worked my way up from hourly wage to shift supervisor.  When a new owner came on board, I was released, new man in, first out....  To make a long story a little short, I ended up with the North Carolina Department of Correction as a correctional officer.  After nearly 8 years in the prison system, I was diagnosed with a serious spinal cord injury.  I underwent surgery in October 2002 to repair the damage to the spinal cord.  The spinal cord surgery went fine but three days following the spinal cord surgery, my stomach ruptured with its contents spilling into my gut.  The resulting acids, gasses, and infections caused both kidneys, and my  liver to shut down.  Within a few days, both lungs had collapsed.  After being on the brink of death for five weeks, I finally began to improve.  I spent a total of 7 months and two days in three hospitals before being released.  Once healthy, I was left with a deep feeling that I had been allowed to live for a reason

Within two days of being discharged from the Veterans Hospital Spinal Cord Injury Unit in Richmond VA, I flew West  in May to meet my sister in Salt Lake City, Utah.  From there we headed North back to my home town to see my dad who was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease.  From the moment we arrived in Idaho I knew Idaho was the place I needed to be.

Dad Took a turn for the worse in early November 2003 and I drove back to Idaho to be near him.  I knew then that eventually I would settle back in Idaho, somewhere near Idaho Falls, and spend the rest of my days here as the voice in my head was telling me I needed to be here.  In August 2004 I was able to make the move to Idaho.  I chose to settle in the Pocatello area which is about a 45 minute drive from the old home town.  Pocatello is centrally located making trips to the VA hospitals in Salt Lake or Boise much easier.

I have had a dream of traveling and visiting every National Park in the United States and finally have the chance and means to do it a little at a time.  Two years ago I purchased a 2004 GMC Sierra  truck and a Sprinter 292 FWRLS "LA" 5th wheel travel trailer and have already started on fulfilling my dream.