My particular path to here and now.

Born: Lodi, California. December 1946. Not born in a barn, but raised in one for a little while (Large farm owner converted some of his barn space into living space for use by migrant farm workers -- my parents).

Completed 1st through 5th grade in a 2-room schoolhouse way out in the desert, near Tonopah, Arizona. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders in one room, 4th and 5th graders in the other.

Completed 7th grade back in Lodi. Completed 8th, 9th, and 10th grades in various middle and high schools in California and other states.

Completed 12th grade in 3 different High Schools in El Cajon, California, graduating HS from El Cajon Valley High.

Had future mapped out -- getting tan around apartment building pool, and chasing the well endowed young miss who lived across the way.

Father revised my plans via "Get a job and move out, or join the service."

Air Force said "yea, we have something for you to do", so in Sept 1964, got to visit the Los Angeles induction center, followed by basic training in San Antonio, Texas. Was reformatted into a "pinger" Airman Basic, and selected to perform duties as an Electronics Technician.

Sent to Keesler AFB, Mississippi for a 1 year training stint resulting in a job series of Aircraft Control and Warning (AC&W) Radar Repairman.

While at Keesler, met my wife of 38 years. (Sometimes I kid her that instead of getting married, I should have robbed a bank, because I would have been free in 7-10 years). 8-)

Spent 18 months at Point Arena Air Force Station (AFS), California, another 18 months at Cross City AFS, Florida, then 12 months of remote duty at Campion AFS, Alaska, working as a Radar Repairman on various Air Force Radar systems.

In 1970, was transferred to MacDill AFB, Florida, where I spent the next 4 years supporting the Air Force's first Sea-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) Dectection and Early Warning Radar, the AN/FSS-7 (Fuzzy 7).

In late 1974, was transferred to Mt. Hebo AFS, Oregon for another 2 years of working on the Fuzzy 7 system.

In 1976, I decided to end my military career, and moved to Dallas, Texas area, and went to work for Texas Instruments in their Garland, Texas facility.

Worked there for about a year, and then received a late nite phone call that resulted in me being hired back at Mt. Hebo AFS, as a Civil Service Air Force Electronics Technical Services (AFETS) trainer on the Fuzzy 7 system.

When the Air Force phased in it's second generation SLBM Early Warning Radar, I was hired at Beale AFB, California (near Marysville/Yuba City) as an AFETS trainer on that System (the PAVE PAWS system).

In 1984, I was hired by Headquarters Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs, CO, as a technical staff member in the Ground-Based Radar Division. A year later, I was selected as the Division Chief.

In 1994, I was hired by the (then new) Air Force Materiel Command organization at Peterson AFB, CO., as the Division Chief for Ground-Based Radar Logistics Support.

I retired from Civil Service at that location/organization in Oct 2002, and the wife and I moved to Mississippi (her home state).

During the time described above, my darling wife and I had two lovely daughters (both have long left the nest, although our youngest one and her daughter live about 7 miles from us, so we get to see our only granddaughter almost every day)

We live about 5 miles west of Saucier, MS., and are enjoying retirement.

We like to travel in our RV, and I like to fish (well, actually, I like to catch most, but I do more fishing than catching).

I joined FR back in 1998, and my FR nick is derived from: Colorado Freeper, as that's where we lived when I first found this most excellent forum.

This is probably more than you wanted to know about Col Freeper, but maybe there is some FReeper out there who I ran across, served with, or worked with during my 37.5 year military service/working life. If so, would love to hear from any of them.