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Serving Our Country
After graduating from the Air
Force Academy, it was off to Florida for a short assignment
with a civil engineering squadron. There some of the
engineering learned in school was put to use. But the ultimate
goal was flight school and that came in the spring of 1973.
Undergraduate
Flight Training is a 53 week program. I was assigned to Reese
AFB in Lubbock, Texas. There we started with the Air Force's
basic jet trainer, the T37. I thought I was going to wash out
of training in that thing.  Somehow
I survived and then it was on into the supersonic trainer, the
T38. It was the corvette of the Air Force and it suited me
quite well. I was able to get one of three
fighters assigned to our class.
So it was off
to Tampa, Florida for the upgrade training in the F4 Phantom,
the then mainstay fighter for the free world. It was a
workhorse and had been around since before the Vietnam war.  Over
5000 were produced for several nations. I was lucky to have
gotten to fly it.
After training I went to Osan
AB, Korea and served there for twelve months. It was a great
place for a new fighter pilot to get experience. That
assignment made me eligible for an assignment to the newest
fighter in the Air Force inventory, the F15 Eagle. I was
transferred to Holloman AFB, New Mexico after finishing my
Korea tour.
Holloman was
transitioning to the F15 Eagle. I flew the F4 there for six months
including a short temporary duty in Germany. One
afternoon I was sent to Luke AFB,
Arizona to upgrade in the F15. I finished 3 months later
and was the first pilot to fly that jet for the 9th TFS.
(That squadron now flies the F117 Stealth of Gulf War fame.) So, I
ended up in every fighter pilot's dream - the premier fighter
in the world. I flew the F15 for about three years and then
decided to leave the Air Force. Today I wonder exactly why, but
then I was a lot smarter back then than I am now. The
Civilian World Holloman
AFB in near Alamogordo, New Mexico. When I left the Air Force,
I had become interested in real estate. During the next few
years I owned a small company in Alamogordo and spent two
years in Colorado Springs working with a group of individual
brokers. I also worked for an excellent financial planning
company during that time period. Following my stint in
Colorado I managed the State of New Mexico for a relocation
network and in the late 80's and then an acquaintance of mine
talked me into buying into a real estate company, CENTURY 21
La Questa del Sol, back in Alamogordo. Along this time in my
life I was thinking I ought to be moving back home, but I
seemed to get more and more entrenched in New Mexico. After
merging with and independent company we became CENTURY 21
Casa, Inc. I eventually became the sole owner and am still.
Five years ago I started a Jackson Hewitt Tax Service
franchise, which is also in Alamogordo. Finally with the
passing of my parents, I made the decision to come back to
Montana. Now I commute to New Mexico on occasion to see how
things are doing. Back
Home Again And
now I'm back home again. I live about a mile north of Clark's
Lookout with my animals. Give me a call if you have real
estate questions or need help with
your business. And
this is what my mule thinks about the whole thing:  Top Previous
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