General Question for all

About W0JFB

I first started Amature Radio in 2006, but always been interested since my Uncle Fred, Retired Captain USN was one in Loveland Colorado back in the early '70s. When I was 8 years old I grew up off-grid in the Trinity Pines Forest near Hayfork, CA until I was 12; no childhood memories that I can say was good during that time because I had to grow up as an adult in order to help take care of my brother and sister. After HS at Rim of the World, Lake Arrowhead, CA I joined the USN from 1976 to 1986 where I served on several commands; "A" School Machinist Mate Mechanics + Nuke School in Great Lakes, IL: USS Dwight D. Eisenhower CVN-69 (Spent 9 months in Iran during the Hostage Crisis), "C" School in Portsmouth, VA in O2N2; USS Peleliu LHA-5, USS Enterprise CVN-65, NAS Alameda Naval Weapons Station Police Department/CERT Team, Naval Station Treasure Island Reserve DOD Police Officer. Honorably Discharged USN in 86 and transferred to Naval Station Long Beach where I continued as a Department of Defense Federal Police Officer/Corporal/Sergeant. Many Technical Schools; including the FBI SWAT training required for CERT, Academy's, and Colleges. When the Naval Station closed I was transferred to the Naval Shipyard to train the guards to become Police Officers, that was short-lived when the government closed the Shipyard so I transferred my career (which no one does this as an officer in the Judicial System) to the California Department of Corrections, another academy, got my badge from the Governor and went to work at Centinela Maximum State Prison in El Centro, CA as a Yard Gunner (you know, the only one with a weapon) due to my ability to shoot 300 yards (Iron Site) as an Expert Marksman the department felt I was best suited in the tower. I was also in the 1996 Police Olympics in San Diego competing in tactical combat shooting contests for Centinela State Prison which I scored 3rd place. 1998, I was injured in the tower, fell off my Hydraulic Chair to the concrete floor herniating 6 discs in my neck and low back. The Department Retired me and here I am, making the best out of my life. I worked many cool jobs between 1999 and 2014 (being retired gave me a chance to do things I liked to do or wanted to learn to do) with more college and certifications. I managed the Bottom Gun Cafe Full Motion Flight Simulators next to March AFB; teaching the public how to fly, running computerized programs; even the pilots from March AFB would visit, practice landing on Aircraft Carriers ILS, "Full Weather", they wanted all the bad weather tossed at them. They sold the Bottom Gun Cafe and I moved on to my own business assembling products for Sears, March AFB, and SportsMart until I was rear-ended by a Semi-Truck; I was ok, but my truck was down for 30 days; lost my business and went on to work as a Master Technician for Black & Decker - DeWalt in Ontario, CA. 2007 I divorced my cheating wife and moved to Santa Barbara where I got lucky and landed the coolest job as an Engineering Technician for ATK Space Systems in Goleta (now Northop Grumman), Assembling Government LAMPS Antenna's in a Top Secret facility, and in another department, I helped assemble the prototype UltraFlex Deployable Solar Arrays after getting my NASA Soldering and Wire Harness Certification from NASA. I even have some array's in Space I worked on (Great for my Grandson knowledge). In 2014 they laid 17 engineers off after losing a contract including me. My life has been tough and interesting, to say the least, with some Medical setbacks, but I am fully retired now and remarried August 6th, 2020 to my beautiful wife Diane. Currently writing a book about my life, but, it's taking me a very long time!