In 2007, I went out to eat with my family at a Chinese restaurant, after dinner the server brought the bill and three fortune cookies. I don’t normally put a lot of stock in what fortune cookies say, but I read them anyway. This particular Fortune cookie didn’t look any different than the hundreds I have opened before, but I did so more out of curiosity than anything else. There was some Chinese scrimshaw on the back along with the English translation. I turned it over and read. YOU HAVE SO MANY STORIES, YOU SHOULD WRITE A BOOK. So I did, I enjoyed it so much I wrote a bunch more. I have been fortunate to have participated in many adventures during my life, and I love sharing them. I was born and raised on a ranch, where if we didn't grow it, we didn't eat it. I joined the Air Force in 1963, I had three years of ROTC under my belt and that was similar to Boy Scout Camp. I assumed Basic Training would be more of the same. One of the first things I learned was the definition of Assume. Somehow I managed to get through Basic and into Tech school. I hadn’t learned my lesson, and I assumed again that the reason they made me permanent party at Keesler AFB, was because I was such an outstanding student. Turns out they were just waiting for a spot to open up in Vietnam. I had little doubt about how it was going to end, but somehow I made it back. Upon returning to civilian life, I finished my masters degree, and the rest as they say is history.