About

I am fascinated by many things– current events, travel, history, writing, family, etc. My posts will reflect my interests and my observations. While I do not intend to compete with Boswell as history’s greatest observer, I hope you find these blogs to be of some interest.

Here is a quick summary of my background:

The Whole Gang, including Desi– The Wonder Dog.

People have asked me about my background. Here is a brief summary.

Pre-Linda

US Air Force Academy, B.S. Political Science. All Academy grads receive a bachelor of science degree because the core curriculum is science based; majors are extra. So, like everyone else, I took physics, chemistry, electrical engineering, aeronautical engineering, mechanical engineering, astro, and way too much math.

-Air Force pilot
-Flew missions in South East Asia/Vietnam
-Flight instructor with the German and Dutch Air Forces at Sheppard AFB, Wichita Falls, Texas
-Exchange Qualified Flight Instructor, RAF Linton-0n-Ouse, Yorkshire, England.
-Met and married Linda, who was assigned to the U.K. as a Russian linguist/analyst with the US Government.

With Linda

-Graduate School of Business, University of Oklahoma, Norman. I squeezed a MA in economics and a MBA into two years while Linda completed her MA in Soviet Studies in three semesters… loved it there…ran in a lot of races, including my one and only marathon.

Office of Plans, USAF Space Division, El Segundo, Los Angeles.

Base Commander, Antigua Air Station, Antigua, West Indies.  I featured the air station in my first novel.

Air Force Section Chief, US Military Group-Bolivia within the US Embassy-La Paz.  I had to work this through the competing interests within the Embassy (e.g. State/USAID) and then with the Bolivian military (and in Spanish—now that was hard). I spent some time working with special ops people, as well as flying the Embassy Beechcraft C-12 Super King aircraft. I flew into places Bolivians didn’t even go—Linda flew along with me on many trips. Lots of operational stuff, more than your normal staff job.

I routinely worked with the US Ambassador and high ranking members of the US and Bolivian governments (the Bolivian Minister of Defense had a PhD from the University of Maryland. He and the Bolivian Air Force commanding general would sometimes give me Spanish lessons)…

After adopting Jake and leaving Bolivia, I was selected for an academic year as a Fellow at the Hoover Institution of War, Revolution and Peace think-tank at Stanford University.  While I was there, Hoover was designated the Best Think Tank in the World by The Economist magazine. (no thanks to me, I assure you). I was surrounded by people with enormous intellects– Nobel Prize winners, former cabinet secretaries, ambassadors, tenured professors, and the like. All seemed fascinated by my stories about Bolivia. Eventually, I got the message– if these well traveled and educated people did not have a clue about Bolivia, then non-Nobel Prize winners, non-former cabinet secretaries, non-ambassadors, non-tenured professors and regular type people probably wouldn’t either. So, I started writing the stories down. As I am a great fan of thrillers, I decided to write a thriller located in Bolivia, based on my experiences, suitably enhanced of course (I am a pilot, after all!).

Thence to Washington DC to the On-Site Inspection Agency (OSIA)

We moved to Angel Fire in 1995 and bought a house near Monte Verde Lake and the golf course. I took a job as a real estate puke.  This enabled me to make a living and still have a flexible schedule in order to maximize my time living the role I most cherished: Mr. Mom to Jake, Josh, and Cameron. What little spare time I have is spent writing, serving as a Councilor for the Village of Angel Fire and as a Board Member for the David Westphall Veterans Foundation, whose purpose is to honor America’s veterans and members of its armed forces. The first Vietnam National Memorial is in Angel Fire and is now a New Mexico state park.

With the publication of Chita Quest, I now have two novels on the market with numbers three and four in the works.