Rod joined us, hailing from Westminster, Colorado, just 9-miles north of the state capitol. Living so close to the "Blue Zoo", he regularly heard about what a great place it is. Rod was in "Playboy 19" after basic cadet training and then became a member of "Frat 5" for our last two years. He had so much fun at Jump School at Ft. Benning in 1966, that he joined the Sport Parachute Club. Being from Colorado, snow skiing was second nature, however he found water skiing was definitely a challenge. In addition to being on the Dean's List for his academic efforts, Rod was on the staff of our favorite internal source of "true poop" - the Dodo.

Following graduation, Rod was assigned to the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirtland AFB where he served as a Minuteman Re-entry Systems project officer. He took a year to complete a Masters in Operations Research at Arizona State University. Then in 1972 he went to Edwards AFB, serving as a Flight Test Engineer. While at Edwards he had the privilege of serving as lead Systems Engineer on YF-16 flight test as well as supporting the YF-17, the A-9 and A-10 test programs. Following Edwards, he was a Development Engineering Personnel Resource Manager and Executive Officer for the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel at HQ AFSC Andrews AFB. Following his Headquarters tour, Rod went to Eglin AFB as Business Manager for the Systems Programs Office for the Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile.

In 1979 Rod went back to his home state, where he began a new career in engineering joining the Martin Marietta Corporation, working on the MX (LGM-118 Peacekeeper) missile program. In 1981, and for the next three years Rod and Donna lived in Santa Maria, CA where Rod supported the MX missile launch control systems and test program at Vandenberg AFB. In 1985, it was back to Denver CO, and for 19 years, Rod served in several engineering and management positions with Martin Marietta (Lockheed Martin after 1995). His assignments with the company included Space Shuttle replacement studies and Titan launch vehicle build and launch. He lead the design and flight of the first integration of an Inertial Navigation System and Global Position System units on a ballistic missile for the Multi Service Launch Vehicle. Rod then transitioned into the world of intelligence systems as the Engineering Manager/Deputy Program Manger for the U-2 signals intelligence systems, including worldwide conduct of operations and maintenance. His final assignments at LM in Denver continued in the Intelligence field. During the last 5 years in Denver, Rod completed a remote PhD program in Computer Science via Kennedy Western University in Laramie, WY.

Along the way, Rod and Donna met in San Bernardino, married in 1981 and have raised a combined family of 6 children and now 11 grandchildren.

In 2004 Rod transferred to San Diego, CA as Program Manager for the Foreign Military Sales development and installation of a C4ISR system for Taiwan. At completion of this contract he decided to stay in San Diego and became a traveling consultant/instructor for Lockheed Martin.

Rod retired in 2014 and has been volunteering since then. Current endeavors include USAFA liaison officer support for the San Diego community, Treasurer for the community homeowners association, teaching group riding skills with the San Diego Bicycle Club and India Team projects as part of Engineers Without Borders.

As an Engineers Without Borders (EWB) volunteer he works on projects in western India, the state of Andhra Pradesh. The first project was to build a solar powered water purification system for a small fishing village a kilometer off the Bay of Bengal. Their water was contaminated with salt water after a tsunami washed ashore several years ago.

As he worked on that project they noticed a small group of people living in mud huts that wash away a couple times a year during the monsoon season. They are part of a group now designated Scheduled Tribes who were once called the untouchables. They are pretty much ignored by all the rest of the community. They can find work about half the year and then earn the equivalent of about $1.50 a day. The EWB team has raised moneys, designed and are building homes for this ST Colony. There are dozens of other ST colonies that would like to have homes built for them so the intent is to proceed to them after finishing this first community.

Rod's other current project with the India team is to design and build a water purification system for a village in a part of the state where heavy natural fluoride is in their water source and has done serious damage to bone structure in the local inhabitants. They are anxious to remove the fluoride so the next generations don't suffer the same deformities. The EWB team is currently working for one village but expect hundreds more will want help as well. Since all EWB work is funded by fundraising, that is always a key endeavor.

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Rod and Donna - Thank you for sharing!

November 2016