After graduating from Grand Junction High School in June 1964, I received notification for induction physical in August. Considering all factors and always wanting to be in the Air Force I joined in September 1964.

From there it was boot camp at Lackland AFB Texas. Staff Sgt. Robins was our flight training instructor. His primary AFSC was that of Command And Control as a crew member on C-121 at that time. I never got a pass to go to San Antonio. I could not remember all the pieces parts of an M1 carbine when it came to my turn.

Next I was off to tech school at Chanute AFB, Illinois. My AFSC was now that of a Aircraft Fuel Systems Mechanic. So I was schooled on C-135 and B-52 aircraft. After tech school my first duty station was, wow, Hickman AFT Hawaii for 2 1/2 years. There I was assigned to the 1502 Military Air Lift Command (MATS) soon to be changed to 62nd FMS MAC. There I worked on numerous aircraft types but primarily C-124 and C-130 aircraft.

My next duty assignment was at Sewart AFT, Tenn. There I was assigned to the 62nd FMS TAC and worked primarily on C-130 aircraft with the exception when we were TDY to Mildenhall, England, our squadron also maintained EC-135 aircraft. While with the 62nd TAC I got to see a lot of the world, England, Azores, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Germany. In fact I got stuck in Ankara, Turkey, for an extra week or so when the USS Pueblo was captured by North Korea.

My tour of duty was about up and I had not yet served in Vietnam so I extended my enlistment for an additional 18 months and had cross-trained to Command and Control. Well as luck would have it I was sent to Thailand and back into aircraft fuel systems. So after arriving in Udorn, Thailand, as assigned to the 432 FMS, 16 Air Force and under the 432 Tactical Reconnaissance Fighter Wing I was farmed out to an extra duty of Mobile Command and Control.

It was now 1969 and we were losing a lot of F-4 Phantoms north of the Mekong River. On Jan 16, 1970, I volunteered for a recovery mission to find a HH-53 Super Jolly Green downed in Laos. As it would happen we were out of contact for over eight hours and had been considered MIA. We did make it back to Udorn with a heavily damaged HH-53, leaking fuel all the way home. That was the HH-53's last flight. It had over 150 shrapnel in it.

On Feb. 16, I was honorably discharged form the Air Force. I went to serve with the Colorado State Patrol for 29 years and three months, a police adviser in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan for another 9 1/2 years and finally as a field security manager for KBR for another 18 months. I am still serving my country as a contractor under TSA in Montana. God Bless America and all who have server in the uniforms of the United States.