User:David E. Mann

Born in San Diego when Daddy was flying PBY's for the Navy and Momma was working at the Imperial Beach Radio Intelligence Site (as in Japan's Purple Code, etc).

In 9th Grade informed by counselors that I was going to grow up to be a criminal and thus placed into "Vocational Training".

9th to 12th grade, learned to fix all kinds of things; play the drums in the school dance band; drummer for "The Russtones" what would today be called a "Do-Wop" group. Met April, my First Love; bought a 1950 Kaiser Traveler with the Continental Red Seal Engine and 3-on-the-tree.

Went to the Army in 1961 whereupon the Army decided my fate for the next 40+ years; without the US Army and the NCO's who trained me I would still be a surf-nazi living at Rosarita Beach looking for the next big wave.

1. Air Defense Artillery gunner for 90mm "SkySweeper"; Army got rid of those right after they trained me to load one. Natch.

2. Armored Calvary Infantryman, 6th Cav; spent much time breaking up coal bins at Ft Knox until SSG (E5 old-style rank) Jack Hurt, one-time M4 Tank driver for George Patton in 1945, squared me away and made a soldier out of me.

3. Driver of various POS armor vehicles, most of which would burn and explode if the wrong switch was pulled. Armor Human Research Board Assignment at Camp Irwin, CA, with XM551 Sheridan Test and Evaluation Team. Destroyed early model XM551's all by myself during a cross-desert speed run test. Watched XM551 attempt to fire the caseless 150mm ammo, then explode killing all on board.

4. Infantry Intelligence Specialist; mostly driving the colonel around.

5. Army Intelligence Special Agent School at Ft Holabird; B&C #3325

6. Various Special Agent jobs doing the usual stuff; AAs and BS Degree on the government's dime;

7. Appointed Warrant Officer after Tom LeJeune (KIA RVN) and I did some kind of impressive stuff that the general liked. Tom went to Valhalla while with MACSOG CI Mission out of Saigon right before his WO appointment came in.

8. More Special Agent Stuff in Okinawa, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Germany, Berlin, Panama, CONUS, Grenada, Puerto Rico, Italy. MA Degree on the Government's dime.

9. Retired 1988, took job as GG13 with a non-Department of Defense Activity OCONUS.

10. Medically retired 1996 as GG14 after too much time on Caribbean Island topless beaches meeting sources of dubious information.

11. Special Investigator, Department of Veterans Affairs Legal Office; quit after 4 months when asked to investigate senile 92-year-old widow for alleged erroneous payment of WWI Mustard Gas pension of late husband. Correct paperwork hadn't been filed in 1932. PhD on my own time and money; Dissertation: "Comparative Evaluation of the Criminal Justice Philosophies of Thomas Jefferson and Ceasare Beccaria Upon the Drafting Debates of the Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia, 1775-1776".

12. High School Teacher; voted "Teacher of the Year" and so forth; considered "non-traditional paradigm of teaching profession" in last evaluation. Meaning I didn't roll over and join the Teacher's Union and their party lines. E.G.: Had my Criminal Justice students write research paper on the Beatles song "Come Together, Right Now, Over Me" and compare how the song reflected values of Justice in the Hippie Age.

14. Contracted for several months at Ft Huachuca in US Army Intelligence School's re-structuring of Interrogation Techniques MOS and classes after PFC Lyndie England and a Ship of Fools Really Messed Things Up Royally.

13. Retired; Real Estate Investor; Motto:  Buy Cheap, fix it up and rent it out.

14. Writing my memoirs; checking the obituaries; figuring out Medicare Part D; buying guns and ammo and Bling-Bling to Trade to Inner-City Thugs for Fried Chicken when the Fall Begins. Burying more guns and ammo in a Secret Place Known Only To Me.