Well, let me tell you a little about myself.

I was born in 1967 in the town of Woodward, Oklahoma. When I was 3, my parents divorced and I moved with my mother and siblings to Midwest City, Oklahoma (a suburb of Oklahoma City). I began playing the cello in 5th grade and I got fairly good at it. As a junior in high school, I spent 6 months playing with the Oklahoma Junior Symphony. I lettered as a wrestler 4 years straight and graduated 12th out of a class of 190 with a 3.52 GPA (amazing some of the things that stick in your memory ...lol) in 1985. I joined the Army to in order to get the money I needed to attend college, then decided I like being a soldier and re-enlisted. I took about a month off after High School and then came on active service in the United States Army 25 June, 1985.

After graduating from training as a Chaparral Crew Member (near the top of my class, but I don't remember exactly where) I was sent to a little post in Germany called McCully Barracks, near the city of Mainz. I have attended the Primary Leadership Development Course, where I made the Commandant's List (top 10%); the Basic Non-Commissioned Officer's (NCO) Course, where I was the Honor Graduate (2nd); and the Advanced NCO Course, where I finally managed to finish at the top *grin*. I married my wife, Manuela (I finally got a digital picture of her...don't tell her or she'll kill me), on 21 January, 1988. 
    I was reassigned to Fort Bliss, Texas (El Paso) in April 1992. While at Fort Bliss, I attended a training course to become an Avenger Crewmember (The Chaparral was phased out of active service). In July of 1995, I returned to McCully barracks and a few months later, began training for Operation Joint Endeavor. I deployed 30 January, 1996. I crossed the Sava River (big moment) into Bosnia-Herzegovina on 14 February, 1996 (great way to spend Valetine's day). I redeployed on 20 November, 1996! It was while deployed that I was inspired to start this page. 
    In January of 1998, I was reassigned to Fort Irwin, California (near Barstow) as a member of the OPFOR (or Opposing Force) where I currently do my best to help train U.S. Army Aviators on the NTC battlefield. I was the ZSU-23-4 Platoon Sergeant for awhile. I was moved to the SA-18 platoon in September 1998. You can learn more about what that means by visiting the Fort Irwin page linked above. On 1 January, 1999, I was promoted to the rank of Sergeant First Class (E-7). I was moved to the Squadron Operations section (S3) in October 1999 and attended the Battle Staff NCO course in April 2000. 
    I was relocated to Fort Campbell, Kentucky in January of 2001 where I was assigned as a  Platoon Sergeant in C Battery, 2-44 ADA. I deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on 1 Mar 03, where I earned a Bronze Star. I was transferred to Headquarters and Headquarters Battery (HHB) towards the end of August 2003 and assigned to the S3 again *sigh*. I re-deployed 29 Jan 04. On a sad note, our long time companion, Simba (see below), was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer (untreatable in felines) and we were left with no choice but to end his suffering on 13 Jun 03.
    I was transferred yet again to Fort Bliss, Texas (El Paso) in August of 2004. I'm currently serving as a Staff Duty NCO for the installation, where I'll be working until I retire in June of 2005.

Alrighty Then! If you're still reading....and awake, I'll tell you why I chose Piers Anthony as the topic for my Home Page. I picked up reading from my mother, and became a Piers Anthony fan after reading The Source of Magic, the second book in the Xanth Series. After realizing that I had read the second in the series, I acquired the other books in the trilogy, A Spell for Chameleon and Castle Roogna, respectively, and commenced to reading the whole thing (yes, I read "Source" again). I've been a Piers Anthony fan every since. I enjoy his writing style and agree with many of his philosophies, at least those expressed through his writing and author's notes. He strikes me as intelligent, honest, and hard working, qualities I admire in a person. If you have not read any of his works, I would strongly suggest you do so. I would also recommend that you read the "Author's Note" he places at the end of many of his books. They are a window on his life and make for interesting reading (most of the time).

If you've visited the link to the list of Piers Anthony books on my page, you'll see that I've read and own quite a few of his books. I'll read the others when I can get a copy of them :-). His books have firmly entrenched me in the love of the genres of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Well, that's all I have for now. I've added a little bit of an update. Thanks for reading it, if you made it this far.... *grin*

Here are my cats!

		Need to take of picture of him. He's a slim young Siamese
Jasmine	Mischief	Tembe

Simba (RIP 13 Jun 03)

Here's a picture of the jerks I worked with in Bosnia-Herzegovina. My heart felt thanks to these guys for helping me through the deployment....

Also, special thanks to all the folks I befriended in the WBS's Atheist Chat! You helped keep me sane...

Finally, I owe much more than I could possibly write here, to a special someone... my beautiful wife, Ela! Thank you, Hon'!

© 1996 Drop me a note!

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