Page 161 - Total War on PTSD

• Six years of active military service as a military policeman, dog handler, and door gunner on gunship in Vietnam
• Becoming an exhibition skydiver and parachutist with 800 jumps
• Running over 20 years including 13 marathons, and
• Managing a nightclub in the San Francisco Bay Area that fostered the likes of Moby Grape and the Grateful Dead
After the Vietnam war, I married and had my first of two children. Working as a professional photographer for a large color processor I managed a staff that provided services for 30 or so High Schools and Universities. Sports photography included Skydiving, Rose Bowl, Stanford and the 49ers. I have a degree in Aviation and I am a licensed pilot.
Plagued with PTSD and other war-related issues, I left California in the early 70’s and bought a small country store in southern Oregon. Here I became the gas station, grocery store, and U.S. Postmaster, as well as a volunteer fireman. My son was born. I sold the store, kept the Postmaster position, and built a horse ranch on the edge of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. This is when my “running” activity began. Moving to Grants Pass where I attempted to keep my PTSD under control, I became Postmaster at Murphy, OR.
Shortly after a near death experience in Red Bluff, CA, I made some radical changes in my life. I divorced my first wife and left the Postal Service just a few months before my retirement after 25 years. I felt this choice was necessary to avoid going “Postal” and getting myself in serious trouble because of harassment by my then boss in the Postal Service.
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