: About Me

I was born and raised in the American Mid-west, the third son and fifth of eight children. My family was not rich and I wasn't able to take full advantage of sports or school extracurricular activities because I had to help support the family. I attempted college following high school but found out that I had not prepared myself properly. Looking for something meaningful or worthwhile to do with my life, I decided to join the Navy.

After my first hitch I thought I new better than anyone else what life and being successful was all about. I left the Navy and entered what I now refer to as my "wilderness years." I bounced from job to job for the next four and a half years hoping to make it rich. Instead of becoming rich or famous, I wound up just the opposite. Approaching thirty with nothing to show for my life, I decided to give the Navy another try!

After a couple of stateside tours, my first overseas tour was in Okinawa Japan. I really enjoyed the experience of living overseas and it was here also that I met and fell in love with my better half. We followed on with another tour on Okinawa and then Tokyo. There I finished my bachelors degree and earned the coveted promotion to Chief Petty Officer.

My final tour of duty brought me full circle where I was assigned to instructor duty at Great Lakes Illinois. Here I finished a Masters Degree. It was good to be close to home as both of my parents passed away shortly before I retired from active duty. My father went first after a long illness and mother dutifully followed him into the next world only a month later.

We reside now on Okinawa by choice. It's a good mix for us as my wife is much more comfortable in her native land and with the large U.S. military presence still here we enjoy the benefits of both worlds. We have access to on base banking; commissary and exchange privileges and medical right here and the tax breaks for Americans living overseas doesn't hurt either!

It was two years into retirement when a friend informed me of an ad in the local paper looking for stringers. I inquired and to my surprise they liked my writing samples. The rest is shall we say history. In the first year of publication I had more than 70 articles in print and am now averaging at least one a week. It's a fun job and a great place to get your start as a writer.

My passion is ...

Anything to do with Okinawa Japan and photography

I know too much about ...

politics

My parents always told me ...

Eat all your vegetables, there are starving children in china.

My childhood ambition ...

To grow up

My favorite memory ...

Seeing Green Bay's come from behind victory in the "Ice Bowl"

Why I write ...

It's therapy for me.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Anything by Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams and Ann Coulter

My first job ...

Working at a car wash

My best moment ...

Retiring from the Navy as a Chief Petty Officer

My inspiration ...

My wife

Sports & Recreation > Olympics 2008 Olympics: The impact of international politics on the Beijing Olympics

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Oh for the good old days when this question would more than likely be framed around the problem of judging in individual sporting events. When the lines were more clearly drawn between the political left and the right, the oppressed and the free, it was easy to see when one athlete was robbed of a chance at a medal because of the political ideology of the judges and the countries they represent. Unfortunately it appears that this will only be secondary to the much larger picture this time around. Perhaps the democracies of the free world had initially hoped that the question would have bee...

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