Aside from a three-and-one-half year stint as Tactical Officer of C Co. and Field Music at Valley Forge Military Academy & College in Wayne, PA, I worked in the publishing industry after retiring from the Army in September 1991. I started out as Executive Editor of Presidio Press, a San Francisco Bay Area book publisher specializing in military history and military affairs. After leaving VFMA&C in the summer of 1998, I became my own boss--using contacts I'd made with Presidio to line up freelance copy-editing projects for several commercial and scholarly book publishers. I finally had to give up work entirely in 2004, however, when my body began letting me down. Fortunately, all of my disabling conditions are either directly or indirectly service-connected--making me eligible for a wide range of VA benefits--without which I'd be up the proverbial estuary without a manipulator!
Other Comments:
For 20 years I lived on Hawaii's Big Island with my wife, Carol, in a subdivision about a mile outside of Mountain View--almost exactly halfway between Hilo and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. However, I moved to Idaho in late July 2019 to settle in the Sagle area not far from the Pend Oreille River. Between the Blue State politics, earthquakes and eruptions, I decided it was time to bid Hawaii Aloha and head for cooler climes! It was a wise decision. I absolutely love it here in the northern Idaho panhandle!
Best Friends SP4 Brian Balint SGT Mary Campbell SP5 Pat Bigold SSG Terry Lucarelli SSG John Savard MSG Marvin Sibulkin
Best Moment Placing second in the Army Authorized Newspaper category for three consecutive years in the annual Keith L. Ware Award competition conducted by Department of the Army and piling up a collection of DA Journalist Awards to rival that of any other newspaper staff in the Army.
Worst Moment After Army CofS Gen. Bernard Rogers completely revised the regulations governing height/weight standards in 1975, being told by the CG that I had 12 months to get from 285 pounds to 200 pounds or be barred from reenlistment. . . .
Chain of Command 1973-74:
MG - CG COL John Q. T. Quinn - CofS CPT Ken Ho - PIO MSG Marvin Sibulkin - NCOIC
1974-76): MG Harry W. Brooks, Jr. - CG COL - CofS MAJ Billy J. Cone - PIO MSG Dorothy Aldrich - NCOIC
Other Memories *Putting my "two-star thinking cap" on and writing the CG's column after getting guidance on what MG Brooks wanted to say in the next issue. . . .