Candidate for
Board Member; Vandenberg Village Community Services District

In August 1994, The Air Force assigned me to Vandenberg AFB as Chief of Surgery. In addition to my medical duties, I taught in the Rescue Symposium, a base-wide program for Search and Rescue teams from all over California. I have taught Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS)throughout my Air Force Surgical Career at Fort Sam Houston in Texas and at Travis AFB and Balboa Naval Hospital in California. I also taught Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and formal and informal teaching for the medical and support staff.

I grew up in Paso Robles, and have lived in California nearly all my life. After completing my medical training, I served in the Air Force in Great Britan during the Viet Nam Era. I then returned to California, did my surgical training at Highland Hospital in Oakland and was in private practice in the Oakland, San Leandro, and Hayward area. I then returned to the Air Force, serving at Mather AFB, near Sacramento, California. While there, I was deployed in support of Desert Storm.

I retired from Active Duty in July 1999, and taught part time at Allan Hancock College (AHC). In 2000,I felt a calling to pursue further academic studies. After other studies and teaching at AHC, I became a fulltime student at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo (SLO) in 2001, studying botany and other biology and related background material. Courses included fire ecology, soil science, invasive plant (weed) biology, and stastics.

In addition to my medical activities, I have studied natural history formally and informally nearly all of my life. I am currently active in the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) in local and state-wide program and leadership I am also a member of the Lompoc Valley Botanic and Horticultural Society (LVBHS) and currently serving as its President. I serve on the Vandenberg Villiage Association Board as Newsletter Editor and Vice President. When Santa Barbara County established a Weed Management Area to address some of the more serious problems of invasive plants, I worked on its stering committee, and subsequently joined the California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC). I hold the rank of Eagle Scout, was elected to the Order of the Arrow, and have served in various Boy Scout adult leadership positions, including Neighborhood Commissioner.

I consider continuing service on the VVCSD Board of Directors to be a continuation of my health, natural history, and community service activities.