MechGrunt

I grew up in Blue Island and Chicago, Illinois and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1965. I served with C Company, 2/47th Infantry (Mechanized) 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam from March 1967 to March 1968 as an 11Bravo Infantryman. I then served two and a half years with the 6th Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Meade, Maryland, attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant at the age of 22. In 1971 I became one of the first “Sky Marshals”, flying aboard Eastern Airlines Boeing 747’s out of JFK International Airport. During the course of a 34 year career with the U.S. Customs Service, I was an Inspector at Washington Dulles International Airport, then Port Director of Alexandria, Virginia, supervising Customs operations at Andrews AFB for the last 20 years before my retirement in 2004. I now serves as the webmaster for the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum of Reading, PA, and head an international team of volunteers, who develop computer flight simulator aircraft products to benefit the museum. I live with Vicki, my wife of 3 years, and a pack of Golden Retrievers, in Laurel, Maryland.