I grew up in Miami Beach. I went to elementary and middle school there. Then after my Bar Mitzvah I went to military school in Georgia and in Hollywood, Florida, for almost 3 years, but as I noted in the previous page my last year in high school was in Miami Beach.
Except for my job as a photographer, that year (in school) was one of my worst. I really felt lost and out of place. I was already accustomed to the structure and authority I had in military school and that last year in a regular high school was a real shock which I was unsuited for so I spent most of my time at the beach or over at Flamingo Park where I spent my days reading what I wanted to read (mostly fiction about wars and mysteries). I dreamed of joining the French Foreign Legion.
I was also very active in ham radio and had my license since 1955 and I spent all of the rest of my time on the radio. I prefered doing that to dating. I was not all that interested in the time it took to establish relationships with women. That didn't really happen until I met my wife - which happens when I was in the army.
I was also in a hurry to get through school. I just wanted it over with. I remember picking fights and not getting along with too many of my peers and that was one of the reasons I was sent away to military school. It started again. What other kids did and found interesting, I did not. I didn't care for watching sports - although I was very good at gymnastics when I was in military school. But in Miami Beach other kids knew scores and and kept track of things which seems totally insignificant to me and because of my own special interests in radio and photography I had very little in common with anyone.
I had one buddy, whose name was a Robert Gould, who I haven't heard from since we both joined the army together - after we got drunk ON WINE the day after our prom and I'm not proud of it, but I left my date there. Robert and I did basic training togther and he continued in advanced basic and wanted to be accepted in the Rangers. I wanted to continue with something to do with electronics and radio - and that is what I did at Ft Monmouth in New Jersey where I studied microwave communications and cryptology. I also met my wife there. She was an army brat and her dad was once stationed there.
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While I was in the army I had some of the best assignments, if not
the most secret. I had not only a crypto and top secret clearance, I
also had a "presidential clearance." I worked for the President of the
United States, for Dwight Eisenhower, after whom they named the jacket I
wore. In the 50s we were still wearing Ike jackets.
During one tour of duty I also worked for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the war room at the Pentagon. These jobs also involved travel to "distant and exotic places (to kill people)," as some anti-recruitment poster so correctly said. |
| And my tours included many areas of conflict --- including France in the early 60s. I'm serious. I was shot at in France and my son John was almost killed by a bullet fired at us which entered the car through the windshield and lodged in the seat just a few inches from John's head. It was investigated by CID for all the good that did. Our car was also booby trapped. And on May Day we were chased by Frenchmen swinging tire irons. We did lose our baby son in France from a car accident which caused Jane to deliver him early and he lived for a day. |  |
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The picture is me upon graduation from training in NSA at a crypto and security school in Washington and starting my tour at the White House. After 1 year, 11 months I was an E-5. It was the last time I would wear the uniform. From then on it was all civilian cloths and no rank. |
I was also stationed on Tank Hill at Ft. Jackson for basic training. I was there twice. The second time when I was there while waiting overseas orders and I was a drill instructor. That was easy for me because I had all those years of R.O.T.C. and military school training, and I was good at it.
My first assignment in the army, right after basic training, was to go to school at Ft. Monmouth, for microwave communications and voice security crypto. That was when I met my wife Miss Eatontown, New Jersey of 1956.
I met Jane on a bus going to Redbank, N.J. She was only 16 and I was only 18. There was an accident with the bus and another vehicle, and the bus driver wanted all the passengers to sign a list as witnesses. I did so after she did and memorized her name and address. I then sent her a Valentine's Day card and didn't stop stalking her until she married me three weeks later.
At Fort Monmouth I trained in the use of advanced communications technology, including microwave radio, cryptology and advanced cryptology. And, when I had time to play it was at the military radio station: "K2USA," using Two Meter AM and High Frequency Single and Double Side Band, which was all the newest technology then.
Re-up - Coevolution - France - War Room - Ike - Hackers - ENIAC
Teddy - Patriot - Ana-Mae - Ancestors - Hotel - Military School
Army - Special - FBI - Jane - South - Luca - Link - Reason - Shop
Up-Hill - Capitalism - Family - Down-Hill - Struggle - Vagabonds - Left
Children - TN - Liberal - Angst - Faith - Extinction - Curse - Blast #1
Blast #2 - DARPA - WormHole #1 - WormHole #2 - Crypt #1 - Crypt #2
Hack Attack - High Crimes - (BHG) Jewelry - Golem - Pyramid
Epilogue - Epilogue to the Epilogue - No Coherence - Nature of Nature