Where to begin? No one ever wants to know "everything"... So I'll just start where most people know me. I graduated from Greeley West High School when I was 15. Joined the Army the day of my 16th birthday and thus my journey on the road of life really kicked off.
I wanted to be a soldier my whole life. So my decision to become a Paratrooper and a Ranger was very easy. After Airborne School and being assigned to the 2nd 75th Ranger Battalion, I attend RIP (Ranger Indoctrination Program) where I was the honor grad (yea me!). I was assigned to Alpha Company and after a month of being in the 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon, I was lucky enough to test for Pre-Ranger. I was honor grad in Pre-Ranger (yea- Me again!) and a month later, I was promoted. At the time, I was the youngest specialist (E4) in the company and two days later we were called out on an alert and headed to Grenada. Who in the hell even knew where or what Grenada was? We soon found out - I won't go into all the details as it's part of history, blah, blah, blah. Anywho.. After Grenada and a few months of loving being a Ranger, I was promoted to Sergeant. A week after getting promoted to Sergeant, I was called out in formation and was informed that I was the youngest Non-Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Army and was given a coin by the Sergeant Major of the Army. Wow..
Naturally, I was in good shape, rough - tough and hard to bluff and being a bit of a history buff, I decided to try out for Special Forces.. Here was my train of thought - The US gets into a war or combat action every 20 years or so... So what did I have to worry about? Yeah, Okay..
Well, I passed the SF selection/testing and was assigned to the 10th Group in Germany! Off to Herman the German land..
Long story - short: I lived in Germany for 5 years, went to the Language Institute and became a level III German Linguist. I got the opportunity to travel all over the world, visit all 7 continents, and 52 countries while in SF. Yes, to all of you who know me, I was in Bosnia, Panama, Iraq (no, not this current war), Columbia and Afghanistan and some places that they just don't show you on Discovery. Where did all that get me? I was taking an MP to pick up his vehicle one day and a lady rear-ended us doing 40ish and I ended up with ruptured disks in my back - taken off Jump Status and in it's infinite wisdom, the Army wanted to send me to Fort Riley, Kansas. Fuck that! There is a reason all they do there is grow CORN!
Since I was stationed at a Training Facility and had trained the local, state and federal law enforcement agencies for the past 3 years, it was easy to slide on in to a law enforcement field. My choice? Cook County Sheriff's Department. I attended the Academy and was assigned as an Instructor of Cadets at the Academy.. Nothing like having 246 union complaints filed against you in the first week of being a Sheriff's Deputy.. I make friends so quickly!
I spent a year training cadets for the Court Services, Department of Corrections and the Sheriff's Police. After meeting a few old friends at a local police bar/hangout, they told me that the Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago's Field Division of the DEA was looking for motivated people to fill in some special assignments. Off I went!
My role was to train agents in CQB (Close Quarters Battle).. Entry techniques and envelopment of enclosed areas. I also got the awesome opportunity to work undercover on the streets. Whoo Hoo for me.. Oh, it was great, until I got shot in the neck..
While I was recovering, I was asked to take some computer classes in the hope that I could help revamp the outdated computer systems at the training academy. Little did I know that my life was going to take another side road down a different career path...
About a month after I set up the network at the Academy, I was called by a head hunter for Arthur Andersen and given the opportunity to make a lot more money and all without the need to dodge bullets! IBM/Lucent to Global Energy Decisions to Ventyx.. Here I am - A Citrix Administrator and loving it.
It's the world wind tour of how I got from there to here... Those of you that already know me "wake up!" I know you've heard this a million times... Had to put that in there as I am sort of going back to my beginning.
As Paul Harvey used to say "and NOW.... Here's the REST of the STORY..."
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