Upon graduation from West Point, I took a different path entering into the US Air Force instead of the Army. Again, I found a new set of patriots that lived our shared values of Duty, Honor, Country. I flew for the Air Force for five years before heading to the private sector.
In an interesting twist of fate, I started my civilian career in Silicon Valley in the laser business, though at West Point, I was less than outstanding in physics. I am still amazed that I made that choice. Much to my surprise, I found that the curriculum at West Point heavily oriented to math and science allowed me to exist and prosper in the laser field.
It is a bit of irony that a former B-52 strategic bomber pilot would one day lead a commercial team to Russia in 1991 to negotiate a joint venture with the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy and Academy of Science to take highly enriched uranium out of nuclear warheads and dilute it down to commercial nuclear reactor fuel. I believe that only an institution like West Point could prepare their students for the political, technical, commercial, and negotiating skills required for such projects. I pay tribute to my classmates and other grads serving as “Cold Warriors” who helped enable the fall of the Berlin Wall opening opportunities for the world.
Now that we both have retired; we have relocated to the great State of Tennessee. We have adopted an equestrian based live style, doing chores at the barn for my wife’s dressage horse and volunteering to help children with issues participate in equine therapy. Like everyone else we are looking forward to our paroles from the pandemic nonsense and hope to get back to travel and visiting family.
- A Surreal Sequel to the Surreal Story – 1992
Prior to the Moscow trip we spent almost 3 months commuting to DC to brief all of the politicians (and there were many) who thought they should be involved in this endeavor. I… Read more: A Surreal Sequel to the Surreal Story – 1992 - A Surreal Story – 1992
As most of you know my post-West Point service was in the US Air Force as a B-52 pilot. At that time, the B-52 was one of the primary components of the… Read more: A Surreal Story – 1992 - Country – My Friend Ed – 2010
\ I, like my WP ’69 classmates, have had the good fortune during my military and civilian careers to have met some really remarkable individuals along the way. For me, one of… Read more: Country – My Friend Ed – 2010 - Off to Guam – Twice
Beale AFB, northern California There I was going into the squadron for a night training flight in a B52 G Model. I had completed 12 months of pilot training, 3 ½ months of… Read more: Off to Guam – Twice