Did You Meet Your Spouse while Serving? How Did Your Story Begin, and What Challenges Did You Have to Overcome in Adjusting to Married Life in the Military?:

After Tech School, I went to Beale AFB to work on the SR-71 Blackbird. My first day at Beale, the Deputy Base Commander was speaking at a newcomers’ briefing and asked if anyone liked to sing. I raised my hand. He “ordered” me to come the following week to the “all ranks” choir practice. I showed up, and while singing, I spotted a beautiful 2nd Lieutenant, Sandee, on the other side of the choir. She came over to welcome me to the choir at the end. Over the next months, we talked after each practice. In the spring, we had a cookout for the choir, where I spent most of the time talking to her (we were not in uniform like we were at practices or events). We were together so much that day that the Base Commander (invited by his deputy) mistook us as “a couple.” Nobody there wanted to tell him that I was enlisted; he thought I was an officer. After that, I asked her out… “I mean, why not?” I said, “The Base Commander already thinks we are dating!” Very reluctantly, due to strict fraternization rules back then, she agreed we could meet at her apartment (off base) to talk more freely. I left the next morning as a contestant with my quartet, working our way up to the Air Force Worldwide Talent contest and trying out for the Air Force’s Tops In Blue entertainment showcase. We won 1st Place Vocal Group, and I was also selected to go on the 1987 tour of Tops In Blue!