I would have never thought I would have achieved as much as I have...  I guess all those years of playing high school sports prepared me to accept competition in life and continually strive to be better. After high school, I played around with trying to put myself through college but it was too difficult--there was too much to figure out on my own and I was too immature to figure it all out by myself. So, one very cold and snowy November afternoon while enrolled at Bloomsburg University in upstate Pennsylvania, I visited the Army recruiter on the way home from class, took the entrance exam, and was interviewed by a one-eyed sergeant who wanted to give me $3000.00 and send me to Florida to learn to be a Non-Morse/SIGINT Interceptor in the Army's Intelligence and Security Command (USA INSCOM). Well, having always been a fan of James Bond, I was all ears and soon on a plane to much sunnier climes.
	The US military performs a wonderful service to young men and women who grow up in working class environments. You get a chance to learn a trade, work hard, excel, and accumulate prestige through both academic and physical achievement, serve the greater good, and see the world. It is difficult for a young person of limited means to find a better way to expand their horizons. After completing training in Pensacola, Florida, I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan for two and a half years where I did my job and learned to ride motorcycles and scuba dive. It was a fantastic place and I learned a great deal about myself, the Far East, and life in general. From there I rotated to a small Intel base in Warrenton, Virginia and lived life for the first time in suburban Washington, DC, took up serious running for the first time, and read my way through the small library on base.