SEAL Team Five - Coronado, California

(Under Construction)

Dive sup. brief with my first platoon at FIVE. Very high tech as you will see...

Sir Colemeister and Matt T. going over the re-breather set-up procedure.

Waiting for the word to dive.

Hey, aren't those guys suppose to be underwater...?

CQB in the desert safe-house.

All dressed up and ready to go.

Punching paper and stinging steel in California's high desert.

Boss man Ernie and me.

Lining up for entry...

...and again...

...and again. The gas masks were worn specifically in the afternoon if Monte ate burrito's for lunch. Just kidding big guy!

A little practice with the helo pilot's...

...and we're off to "work."

Freddie and me. (Freddie the Frog, that is...)

Two native Filipino's commonly referred to as Negrito's. This is what Filipino's looked like before Magellan arrived. These guys know the jungle better than anybody else!

Jungle familiarization with a Pilipino Frog.

I was assigned to train this unit in beach cartography.

Looking over a makeshift "door" for other training purposes...the kids helped build it for "brass scraps."

There was indeed running water in the village we stayed at, it just wasn't in any buildings near-by. Now give me some privacy you whacko.

Mitch (AKA: Totally Bitchin' Guy), and my good friend Sulli (w/beer) with the Pilipino Frogs. Hope we cross paths again, Sulli!

A waterfall break in Guam. Check this out...a Japanese WWII soldier had been hiding out in this jungle/waterfall cave near-by since the war. He insisted he would only surrender if his Commanding Officer told him the war was over. They found his commander in Japan and flew him to Guam in 1973 to deliver the message - 28 years after the war ended!

First class transportation to Thailand.

Two Thai SEALs and I.

I was drenched with sweat in the Thai jungle. Triple-canopy coverage.

It was a ritual for Americans to capture a cobra after a Thai SEAL caught one...a brotherhood type thing. Luckily we had a snake lover in our platoon, Coach, and he made it happen. We all became brothers, skinned the cobra, and mixed it's blood with Mekong whiskey - Thailand's equivalent to Jack Daniels.

I found a natural jacuzzi to cool off.

Teaching the Thai SEALs how to make a jungle antenna from common wire.

Working solo with these guys near "the border..."

Water break.

Last day in Thailand. :(

Good-bye friends and thanks for everything. I will see you again!

Taking a "hop" to Europe to see friends after coming home from deployment. Pit stop in Salinas, Kansas.

In December of that same year, my buddy Steve and I took leave in Alaska to telemark ski. I think this is alongside Cook Inlet.

This is how/where I learned to ski like this.

It was an absolute winter wonderland in Alaska...nobody else around!

We spent all day-light hours reaching for the top...(sunrise @ 10:30am; sunset @ 3:15pm)

We reached the summit at either Turnagain Pass, or Hatcher's Pass (we did both while there that week), and had only moments before we had to get down the mountain before dark.