Where did you serve and what did you do?
I served first in Vietnam for a year as an Intelligence Analyst with the Army’s 525th MI Group. I re-enlisted after coming back to the USA where I was stationed in Sacramento and went to Europe, where I was in Belgium, Italy (twice) and Germany for about 12 1/2 years. In-between foreign tours I was stationed as a CI Special Agent in Central California and at Ft. Riley, Kansas. I retired from the JFK Special Warfare Center and School as Senior Instructor, Operations & Intelligence Division, where I taught various intelligence topics to Special Forces advanced students and Psychological Operations AIT students. I retired in 1988.
How are you #StillServing?
I work with the Military Family Caregivers of Wounded, Ill and Injured service members and Disabled Veterans with Defense Intelligence Agency’s Recovery Coordination Program. I provide coordination, advice and assistance to military organizations in NC, SC and WV and work very closely with VA at all levels. I also provide resources using my network of approximately 1,900 contacts in those three states. I main a humble cubicle in the basement of Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, and I travel a lot, both locally and to the far ends of my three-state region.
Why do you do it?
I love working with disabled veterans and their family caregivers. It gives me deep personal satisfaction to assist them in finding answers to their questions and solutions to their problems. It has made me a better, more patient, gentler person, better able to listen and emphasize the difficulties of fellow veterans. My work with active-duty personnel and their family caregivers is very satisfying, especially when I can follow-up with them to discover that they are happy with the results. You don’t do this job merely for the money, but for the knowledge that you are giving back to those who gave so much more than you have.