At the time I received my draft lottery notification, I decided to enlist in the U.S. Air Force for four years. I majored in Journalism (Radio-TV-Film) at KU and received my B.S. degree in 1970. The Air Force needed broadcast journalists at that time, so I completely bypassed the Air Force technical training school and was directly assigned to McConnell AFB (Wichita) and then several months later was sent overseas to Taiwan.
My broadcast specialist duties in Taiwan included disc-jockey, production director, program director and later station manager for the Armed Forces Network Taiwan (AFNT) radio station located at Ching Chuan Kang Air Base, Taichung, Taiwan. After returning stateside in 1974, I received my commission as an officer in the United States Army through the KU Army ROTC program and spent 16 years in the Army working as a public affairs officer and personnel officer, both stateside and overseas.
After retiring from the military in 1990 as a Major, I was fortunate to acquire a Civil Service officer position for another 20 years. From this time until my retirement in 2010, I worked as a public affairs officer, editor-writer, and command records manager for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), United States Space Command (USSPACECOM) and later the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) all located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. Serving Uncle Sam for 40 years was rewarding and I am glad I put in the time and effort.