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I grew up barefoot surrounded by the hills, lakes and crystal clear rivers of North Central Arkansas. I was an all-district basketball player and life guard at the municipal swimming pool. Just after high school graduation and a senior trip to Washington DC and New York City, I was a passenger in a one car fatal accident. The driver was a classmate only 17. I survived with a dislocated right shoulder. The injury foiled my chances for a basketball scholarship. After working at Western Electric in Omaha and General Motors in Kansas City, six months after high school I enlisted in the Air Force. The USAF wanted to give me a medical discharge because of my shoulder even after I had successfully run the obstacle course. I talked them out of the discharge. After basic training I attended a nine month tech school at Goodfellow AFB, TX to become an intelligence analyst with the USAFSS. My first operational assignment was on the northern tip of Japan at Wakkanai. Wakkanai is a small fishing village within sight of Russia. My memories of Wakkanai are all positive. When President Kennedy was assassinated, I remember standing guard duty in four feet of snow. I was a volunteer DJ on the Far East Network. I had three nominations to the Air Force Academy and flew to Tokyo for examinations. During the physical the doctor told me I had a bone fragment in my shoulder that was calcifying and restricting movement. The Air Force operated on the injury and restored full motion. I spent 19 days in the hospital when the academy class started in 1963. The next year I was too old. I did start playing basketball again on the Wakkanai intramural team. Because we went undefeated, we were scheduled to play the base basketball team. We even beat the base team and later I got to play in the Worldwide Unicommand Tournament in Washington, DC. After Wakkanai I was stationed at the National Security Agency near DC. From time to time I would visit my Congressman, Jim Trimble. We would talk for hours. When I would excuse myself, he would insist that I stay. When the GI Bill was on the table and many sought to restrict the benefits to certain groups, Jim Trimble was the first to testify on behalf of a Bill that would benefit all service members. While stationed there I met my future wife at a party. I danced with her and learned that she was a Nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital in Baltimore. I did not ask her name. A week later I called the hospital and described her. She was from Belgium and a nurse told me her brother was Chief Resident Surgeon. When I talked to her I learned that she planned to stay in the US for a year and then return to Belgium. We have now been married for 42 years. Our daughter is a surgeon. I returned to Arkansas and attended Southern Baptist Junior College. I only needed a semester to graduate because I took advantage of every educational opportunity offered in the Air Force. There was a nursing shortage in Arkansas but to be a registered nurse you had to be a US citizen. Before returning to Arkansas, Congressman Trimble's staff drafted a new Nurse Practice Act and pushed it through the Arkansas Legislature so my wife could work as a nurse. What has your congressman done for you lately? I will just touch on some of the highlights of my life. BS in Professional Aviation from SE Oklahoma State University. The Air War College. Candidate for Arkansas State Senate, Candidate for Governor of Arkansas (1998). Graduated from USAF Pilot Training at Vance AFB, OK, Four years enlisted service in the USAF as a USAFSS intelligence analyst at Wakkanai Japan and The National Security Agency. Flew 50 combat missions in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Global Qualified Aircraft Commander on the C-141 Starlifter. Instructor Pilot and Flight Examiner on the F-100 Super Saber, F-101 Voodoo, F-4 Phantom II, F-16 Fighting Falcon and the C-12 King Air. First Air National Guard officer selected to command a Provisional (Expeditionary) Wing. The wing had over three billion dollars in assets and equipment from the US Air Force, Air National Guard, US Navy, US Marine Corps and the Canadian Air Force. President of the National Guard Association of Arkansas. Vice Commander of The American Legion Department of Arkansas. Life member of The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans of America, National Guard Association and the Air War College Alumni Association. Vice Chairman of the American Legion National Distinguished Guests Committee. Chairman of the Arkansas Department Finance Committee.