Born and raised in Maryland. At 18 went off to University in New Mexico, which lasted a year, then enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard where I spent the next 9 years flying as a Search & Rescue Aircrewman. After leaving the Coast Guard I was a police officer for the City of Slidell, Louisiana for 2 1/2 years before going back on the Federal payroll as a Special Agent for the U.S. Customs Service. In 2007 I retired as a Supervisory Special Agent from U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) the agency that replaced the Customs Service when the Department of Homeland Security came along. Since retirement I have been an active volunteer with the American Red Cross, San Diego / Imperial Counties Chapter, working out of the Imperial Valley Service Center in El Centro, CA