I’m a 23-year veteran and retired active-duty Air Force senior noncommissioned officer of which my entire military career was in public relations/journalism. I specialized in all facets of both newspaper and magazine production, internal communications as well as crisis communication. During that time, I was heavily involved in numerous high-profile public relations events, both good and bad, to include the worst air show crash in history in Germany in 1988; presidential visits including working with the White House Press Core; the $330 million transfer of U.S. military airlift operations from Rhein-Main Air Base, Frankfort, Germany, to Ramstein and Spangdahlem air bases, Germany; U.S. hostages in Iran release; the fall of the Berlin Wall; the U.S. Air Force AWACS aircraft crash in Alaska carrying a joint U.S. and Canadian crew; and numerous fighter aircraft crashes to include Dean Paul Martin’s F-4 in California and not so well known Luke Johnson’s F-16 crash short of the runway at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. The significance of Luke’s death was he was the husband of my Director of Public Relations. She was deployed at the time and I was acting director. In addition, I had the distinct opportunity to graduate from the DOD Joint Course in Communications at the University of Oklahoma in 2005, taught by now deceased Dr. Michael Pfau. Our capstone is available at http://www.ou.edu/deptcomm/dodjcc/groups/05A/index.htm.
I’ve been with OHI since I retired from the Air Force in 2007. Prior to Jan. 1, 2013, I supervised residential homes for adults with intellectual disabilities. I’m now working in a newly created position as resource developer.