My Story

I’m a man in his early sixties leading a quiet retired life in Folsom, California.  I spent the first 43 years of my life in the United States Air Force as both the dependent of an Air Force non-commissioned officer and then as an officer.  I moved constantly during this time living overseas and practically in all four corners of the US.  I attended Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIUE) on a four year ROTC scholarship graduating in 1977 with a BS in Physics.  While in the Air Force, I received an MA in Business Management in 1986 from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.  I also graduated from Squadron Officers School, Air Command and Staff College, Air War College as well as numerous other specialty programs.

Upon graduation from SIUE, the Air Force placed me in air traffic control as an air traffic control officer.  After initial training, I attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterrey, California, completing a seven month course in Castilian Spanish in preparation for an assignment to Zaragoza, Spain.  Spanish language proficiency was a requirement to work in the international control tower in Zaragoza where I was certified as part of my duties.  While there, my two daughters, Aubrey and Jessica, were born.  From there I moved to Sacramento, California and assumed the position as Chief of Air Traffic Control at McClellan Air Force Base.  It was there my son, Daniel, was born.

After that, I worked on the staff of the Air Force Communications Command, at Scott Air Force Base in southern Illinois as the Chief of the Air Force Air Traffic Control Training  Branch.  Next, I was assigned as the Airfield Operations Flight Commander at Tyndall Air Force Base, Panama City, Florida.  My last two assignments in the Air Force were in the Pentagon as an action officer and program element monitor and finally the XO of the 57th Operations Support Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Las Vegas, Nevada.  I retired from the Air Force in 1998 as a Lieutenant Colonel.

After the Air Force, I became part owner and CEO of a dial-up internet service provider in El Dorado County, California called Direct Connect.  This was an opportune time in a fast growing sector of the economy.  Eventually, the telephone and cable companies squeezed most all the smaller operators out of business (AT&T and Comcast in my case).

After seven years running Direct Connect I sold the business.  Next, I tried my hand at teaching middle school as a substitute teacher where my wife, Celeste, taught.  After two years, I came to the realization I did not have the temperament to continue teaching in the California School system which in my opinion gives troubled kids too much leeway to the detriment of the majority of good kids who want to learn.  Perhaps my military background influenced me in this regard.

My wife and I are now both fully retired (1998) and are enjoying time spent with our three grown children, Aubrey, Jessica, and Daniel as well as our grand kids.

As I have related stories to my family about my time in the Air Force and in business, some have recommended that I capture these experiences in written form so that they can know what I have accomplished in my life.  That was the genesis of this blog.