I graduated from Los Lunas (NM) High School in 1971.  Following high school, I attended the University of New Mexico (UNM), in Albuquerque, NM. I graduated from UNM in 1975, with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Journalism.  I was commissioned as an Ensign, United States Navy (USN) in May 1975, after completing the NROTC Program at UNM. Navy tours of duty in my early career included: USS AMERICA (CV-66), a Norfolk, VA-based aircraft carrier; Pentagon tours in Washington, D.C. with the Navy Broadcasting Service (OP-007C) and the Navy’s Chief of Naval Information (CHINFO); and an overseas tour in Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico as Public Affairs Officer (PAO) for Commander, Naval Forces Caribbean & Fleet Air Caribbean. In 1985-86, following my Caribbean tour, I completed one (1) year of postgraduate school at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, where I received a Master of Arts (MA) degree in Communication. My next two (2) assignments, after postgraduate school, were first in Charleston SC, as PAO for Commander, Naval Base Charleston and then in Boston, MA as Director, Navy Office of Information (NAVINFO) New England.  My tour of duty in New England included Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm service in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from December 1990 to April 1991, as an augmentee at the U.S. Central Command's Joint Information Bureau (JIB).  Following my New England tour, I became PAO for Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, (COMNAVSURFLANT), in Norfolk, VA, where I served as Force PAO for three (3) years. In April 1997 I transferred to the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), in San Diego, CA, where I reported for duty as the PAO in May 1997, and served until I retired from active duty as a Commander on February 1, 2000, after more than twenty-four (24) years’ service. My wife Linda, and I, moved back to Bosque Farms, NM, where I grew up, in 2000.