An Open Letter

Dear Tim:

Thank you for inviting me to Fayetteville to spent a couple days together. I enjoyed the tours, our talks and laughs, our reminiscing, and the meals we had together, especially dining at McKellar's Lodge. It's always good when we get together on our decks, in our dens, or around our dining tables on holidays and at family gatherings.

A good friend of mine who reads this blog asked me in a recent telephone conversation about you and would like to know more about you. He has met you a couple times in group settings, but hasn't come to know you well. This gives me a good reason to use this space for the below which I'll call: Tribute to Tim

My younger brother spent twenty years in the military. Several years involved duty in Germany where he learned the language and toured many countries in Europe. He later trained and qualified for the U. S. Army's Green Berets and was assigned to the 7th Group of the Special Forces. He became fluent in Spanish and studied Portuguese. Several of the years in the Special Forces were spent in clandestine operations in countries of South America. After that, he trained and became qualified as a Halo instructor. Prior to Halo, he participated in Operation Just Cause in December, 1989 which was a U. S. Military invasion of Panama to depose Manuel Noriega. You probably recall its success and speedy conclusion.

In Yuma, Arizona he helped train the best and brightest of the military to learn to free-fall and parachute-landings after jumping from high altitude airplanes. He made hundreds of jumps there as classes of students from all branches of the military learned this special operations skill in Yuma. Former President George H. W. Bush performed his retirement jump in Yuma with the assistance of Tim and other instructors.

Tim once parachuted into a football stadium at a high school in Las Vegas to deliver the football that was used to begin to game for awaiting teams and fans.

He retired from the military in 1999 and has begun a new career with a different branch of the federal government.

Thank you, Tim, for all you did to stay physically fit and mentally sharp in order to respond to missions directed by the military and civilian leaders during those twenty years. I'm proud of you and good luck in your new field of work.

Tim has a son in college and a daughter in high school.

Have a good day!