“I grew up in Oakdale, LI, NY and graduated Sayville High School in 1958. Following graduation, I enlisted in the Navy under the “”buddy system”” with my best friend Rob. We both were promised a navy electronics school. In August 1958, we were off to Great Lakes for basic and then to Norman, OK for Aviation Prep School. We both qualified for AT school in Memphis, started classes there January 1959, and graduated in August 1959. Rob got orders to VA-81. I was assigned to VP-21.

At VP-21, I worked out of the shop fixing and tweaking whatever came in. I attended radioman, sonar, and radar schools but never made air crew. Perhaps that was OK since I often got motion sick. For the 1960 deployment I went to Iceland, not my favorite place. While there, I passed the AT3 exam. I also took the (incredibly easy) entrance tests for NAVCAD. Upon returning to Brunswick I had advanced to AT3.

In September 1960, at morning muster, I learned I had received a fleet appointment to the US Naval Academy (instead of NAVCAD) and was sent to Prep School in Maryland. What an incredible, unexpected honor! (At the time, my brother was in his second year at the Air Force Academy.) Prep School was a purely academic curriculum. After much soul searching I made the most difficult decision of my life. The Naval Academy and a naval career did not feel right for me. I had always wanted to be an electronics engineer. After leaving Prep School I was assigned to VA-81 rejoining my buddy Rob. Talk about unconscious luck! So, we made a Med cruise together in 1961. As ‘kiddy cruisers’ we separated from the Navy in August 1961 to start college.

After leaving the Navy, I attended St. Peterburg Junior College for two years. While attending SPJC, my AT training helped me get an engineering position at Honeywell Aerospace R&D assembling the Gemini spacecraft guidance system. It was a great time to be in the ‘space race’. After graduating SPJC in 1963 I attended the University of Florida graduating in 1965 with a physics/math major. I taught Physics for a year before becoming an electronics calibration engineer at Kennedy Space Center. As part of this job I set up the electronic labs for Apollo spacecraft telemetry. Later, I became involved in real time computer programming of Apollo telemetry systems.

In 1970, budget cuts caused massive layoffs at the Cape, so I returned to graduate school at Florida State University earning a Ph.D. in Psychometrics in 1974. For the next five years I did institutional research for the Florida Board of Regents eventually becoming the Coordinator of Academic Programs for the state universities. I was then offered a position at American College Testing in Iowa. My first assignment was to develop a classification test for the Royal Saudi Navy. To say the least, it was interesting. I went on to develop many other national licensing and certification testing programs at ACT in the newly formed Business Programs Department. I did programs like GM’s Mr. Goodwrench, Automotive Service Excellence (used by many dealerships), and the professional engineering exams. I also did testing for real estate salesmen and brokers, mortgage brokers, insurance actuaries, building construction trades, and many more. In 1992 I retired and now travel when I can pursuing my hobbies in photography, music, and web site programming. Retirment is OK but I enjoyed the action (but not the pressure) when I was working.
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