Retired from IBM in 2018 after a 20-year second career. I was a Project Manager and Quality Assurance Practitioner. This was a nice work-at-home job after years of traveling to customer sites, both government and commercial. This travel included virtually living in Denver and Boulder, CO, for two and a half years working IBM projects at the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service respectively. During my 20 years at IBM I also worked projects at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, and the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
Between USAF retirement and IBM, I worked at TRW for 5 years as a defense contractor in the Aerospace and Defense Segment. Interesting work, but decided to move on to new challenges in the private sector.
Retired from the USAF in 1994 and have lived in Virginia ever since. Initially settled in Centreville, VA after USAF retirement, but that area became far to crowded for my family's taste. We moved south to the small rural town of Stuarts Draft, VA in the Shenandoah Vally in 2003. Now live on three acres of land with plenty of elbow room and a great view of the surrounding farmland and watershed.
Civil War battlefields are all around us within easy driving distance. Some of them are: Appomattox, Shenandoah Valley, Winchester, Manassas, New Market, The Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Fredricksburg, Brandy Station, Culpepper, Lynchburg, and Waynesboro. Gettysburg National Battlefield Park is about 2.5 hours to the north of us along I-81. The list goes on. A dream come true for a Civil War buff like me.
I'm an avid collector of stuff, to include challenge coins, military patches, shot glasses, beer steins and mugs, Mort Kunsler Civil War art, and Star Trek memorabilia. Lately, I've been collecting hats and caps related to my military experiences. Collections include 300+ beer steins, 135 challenge coins, and patches from every state police force in all 50 states.
Other Comments:
I'm a founding Member of the Eddie's Airplane Patch Desert Rats Group. Group consists of 116 former USAF Security Policemen who served with the 6510th Security Police Squadron at Edwards AFB, CA during the 1970's. Group has been active for over 16 years.
Members of the group served at Edwards AFB (fondly referred to as "Eddie's") during times when the base had no gates or fences, patrolling over 300,000 acres and dealing with vehicle traffic open to everyone. Group also participated in the arrival of the first B-1 bombers and the overland move of the first space shuttle "Enterprise" from Palmdale to the NASA Complex on Edwards. Group also supported space shuttle testing and operational flights that landed at Edwards, namely "Columbia" and "Challenger."
We held our first reunion in over 30 years in Colorado Springs, CO in 2007 and our second reunion at Edwards AFB, CA in 2009. Our third reunion was held in San Antonio, TX in 2011. Our fourth reunion was held in Las Vegas, NV in 2013. Reunion #5 occurred in 2015 in Orlando, FL. Our 6th Reunion was held in Dayton, OH in October, 2017, which will include a visit to the National Museum of the Air Force. Our most recent reunions were held in Tucson, AZ in 2019 and in Charleston, SC in 2021. In the past, the group has attended baseball games in Kansas City, Chicago, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Denver. We met for our 5th consecutive New Year's celebration in San Antonio, TX, to ring in 2017. For New Year's 2018, we met in Las Vegas, NV. In 2019 and 2020, we met in San Antonio, TX. We have not met the last two years due to the pandemic.
Best Friends Guys I traveled around the U.K. and hung out with: Dennis Smith, Gene Trautman, and Rich Robison. We were all on the same flight also.
Best Moment The trips to London on our days off. Also trips down to Bournemouth and Dover on the English Channel (no channel tunnel back then), and to Stonehenge.
Worst Moment The winter of 1973. During the Arab Oil Embargo, we had no fuel oil to heat the barracks. Relied instead on plastic coverings over the inside of the windows in our rooms, extra blankets and lots of beer. No hot water for the showers either. It was one cold winter.
Chain of Command The Security Police unit was subordinate to the 7551st CSGp. The 7551st CSGP was divided between law enforcement duties at RAF Greenham Common and RAF Welford, about 8 miles away. I served virtually all of my tour on midnight shifts at RAF Welford.
Other Memories Arrived in August '74 as an A1C and departed two years later as a SSgt. Put on E-4 "Buck" Sergeant (when they still had that rank) in early 1973. Passed WAPS testing and was promoted to SSgt in June 1974.
