Mike

“I was born in the hospital at Elmendorf AFB when my dad was in the Army. I grew up on a farm; there were 5 kids in my family. We grew alfalfa and we had horses and animals. I showed sheep and cattle at the fair growing up. I had the grand champion heifer in 1963 and 1964. In 1966 I was reserve champion. I showed sheep at the same time. The one I remember the most was a 93 pound lamb that I sold for 39-1/2 cents per pound, ended up with $36. But boy I was rich.

After high school I went into the Marine Corps where I was an avionics tech on helicopters (UH-1L Huey’s and AH-1J Cobras) and OV-10 Bronco aircraft at MCAS (H) New River Jacksonville, NC. Highlight was a Med Cruise in 1976 on LPH-7 USS Guadalcanal. I was involved with the evacs out of Beruit that year. Time between service was 2 years of College in Sheridan, Wyoming with summers working at the feedlot. I went to Montana in 1980 and worked on a 1000 cow beef ranch as a cowboy. We rode all the time, checking cows and bulls. I married my wife in ’80 and we lived in Montana for 5 years. We moved back here and raised a family, always working in the cow business. Our kids started showing sheep and so here I am back to the same barns where I used to show sheep and cattle. I get to know all the kids and all their cattle. The best part now is that I am on the second generation of helping kids show sheep or steers. It’s just something that I have always enjoyed.  I was a crew chief on KC-135s from 1991-2010 for the Washington Air National Guard up at Fairchild AFB. I have been the Beef Superintendent since 1990; the only year I missed was 1994 when I was TDY to Pisa, Italy working our KC-135s to support Operation Deny Flight over Bosnia. My oldest son is in the Air Force stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf/Richardson in Anchorage, Ak. He is a Msgt in charge of the hydro shop. He has 18 years in. In this family we know about cattle and service.”

#agriculture #veteran