When I got home from my second tour in Viet Nam, I was assigned to Fort Benning again for the Infantry Officer's Career Course. After spending two of three years in Viet Nam, and the third year in flight school, my marriage was going to hell and when I finished the career course I went to Fort Ord alone and was assigned as company commander of a Basic Training Company.

I was still on flight status and required to fly a minimum of four hours per month to be eligible to collect flight pay, but I was experiencing a numbness in my left arm and shooting pains down my back. After a several physical evaluations, I learned that I had three crushed disks in my back resulting from a helicopter crash, and the Army began the process of discharging me with a medical disability. I had wanted to spend 20 years and be eligible for retirement, however I was discharged after 12 years with a small disability pension.

This seemed like the time to begin another adventure I had become infatuated with-- sailing! I used my severance pay to purchase a 27-foot sloop and began teaching myself navigation and heavy weather sailing. After 3 years of practice and study, I set off for the South Pacific.





Wow! What a rush! Sailing across an immense ocean as skipper of a tiny vessel. I sailed down the coast of Baja, Mexico, and headed south-west for the Marquesas Islands. After several enjoyable and sometimes frightening adventures (see My First Time in The Pseudonym) I reached Nuku Hiva, then continued to the Tuamoto Islands, and finally Tahiti where I remained for three months before sailing to Hawaii and selling my boat. I caught a plane and flew to my home in Riverside where I enrolled in Junior College to take creative writing and residential air conditioning. To augment my small disability, I worked nights as a security guard and free lanced delivering yachts from dealers to the new owners dock. It was while I was delivering one boat from Santa Barbara to San Diego that I met, and fell head over heels in love with a dancer. We were married after a few short weeks and moved to Las Vegas where she became an extremely successful stripper.

Now I was looking for a job again. Since my wife was a stripper, she would normally be working nights. What kind of job could I get while working at night? I was physically unable to be a security guard, and I didn't care to deal with a bunch of drunks working as a bartender, so I took a day job doing air conditioning while I went to school in the evening to learn to be a craps dealer. After three months I landed my first job dealing live action to actual casino customers.


Email Me!

Home Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8