biography

I was drafted at the start of my second year of college at the age of 19. I was single, and in a way, looking forward to military service. So in September of 1966 away I went to Fort Lewis, Washington, for basic training. At the end of basic training I was sent to MP school at Fort Gordon, Georgia. Prior to completing MP training I received orders for Vietnam.

I arrived at Bien Hoa, was sent to the 90th Replacement Battalion at Long Binh, and then received my unit assignment to the 615th MP Company. So in February 1967 I started my Vietnam experience.

The 615th was doing town patrols in Bien Hoa. It was wild and crazy trying to keep law and order, very tough trying to keep peace among the GI’s and the Vietnamese. Around July 1967 the 615th started a new assignment with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) which was located around Xuan Loc.

I asked for the assignment and spent the next three months going along with the 3rd Squadron of the 11th ACR. We were involved on the receiving end of several ambushes, ran day and night convoys, moved POW’s out of the field to POW camps, and in general, went where, and did what, we were told to do.

Around September 1967 a new assignment came up. The Battalion started doing ambush and recon patrols around the northeast area of Long Binh.

I like to have my feet on the ground so I became part of the 615th ambush and recon team. I really liked this kind of work and the team members were great. One team would recon an area, a second team would ambush the area, and the third team was a reaction force held in reserve. The teams would rotate their functions so all had a chance at each type of duty. We were taken into recon and ambush areas by truck, boat, and helicopters, and sometimes walked in from Long Binh Post. I continued with the ambush and recon teams until I was scheduled to return to the states in February 1968, but I got held up for about a week until the Tet Offensive got under control.

In June 1968 I ended my time in the Army having spent my last three months as an MP at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

In the fall of 1968 I returned to college at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and graduated in 1971 with a BS degree. I then went to work with the Justice Department as a Federal Agent with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Of course, I got assigned to the New York Regional Office, which is the last place I wanted to go.

After a year and a half of running the streets of New York City, I applied and was accepted in graduate school at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. I graduated with a masters degree in 1976. While in graduate school, I started working with the Utah Department of Corrections as their criminal investigator. During this time I got married.

I worked for the Utah Department of Corrections for 20 years and one month. Along with being the criminal investigator, I was a deputy warden for 8 years, and then the warden for the Utah State Prison for the last 4 years of my career. I retired in 1992.

After 4 months of retirement I started a new career with the Department of Veterans Affairs where I continue to be employed.

I am still married. Sherrie and I have one daughter and she is married and has given us the greatest joys of our lives, in two grandsons, and one granddaughter, and all of them are my fishing and hunting partners. We live within 3 miles of our daughter, son in law, and grandchildren.

I have tremendous feelings for our military and for those who served this country.

I would not change a thing about my experiences as an MP in Vietnam with the 615th MP Company, 720th MP Battalion except, I wish I had done a better job and maybe stayed there more than one year.