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Today's Featured Biography

Samuel Carlson

I was a busy fellow after completing HS a semester before the Class of 66 graduation. I continued playing in my band (The Regents) with fellow Wilson Classmates: Chris Isakson, Chuck Doten, and Terry Bailey (R.I.P.) until early '67. I wound up joining the US Army in advance of a Draft Notice that was coming in the mail. I became one of those "Tigerland" Infantry boys (if you saw the movie... which was 90% Hollywood fiction). I never intended to make the Army a career but whenever I tried to get out of the Army and return to Tacoma, I just couldn't land a job there. I guess I was too much of an unpopular fellow for having been in the Army back in the 60's and 70's.

I made it back to Tacoma for the 10th reunion of the Class of 66. I had a blast with my old friends. My new bride and I won an award at the reunion for being married the shortest time... a nice potted plant which thankfully wasn't planted pot.

I 'defected' from the Infantry to Intelligence in 1969 and spent 13 out of 20 years living and working in Asia, Central America and Europe.

I retired form the Army in 1987 and went to work at Texas Instrument and General Dynamics working on special defense projects that included the F117 and A12 Stealth aircraft and some missile programs, finally winding up in Georgia with Lockheed Martin as the Chief of International Programs for SES.

Schools: I think my last semester at Wilson had me taking Art 8, Arts and Crafts 4, Studio/Swing Choir, Boys Glee, A Cappella Choir and Music Theory. Not much homework with that schedule :-) After Wilson I attended Ft Steilacoom CC, Kansas State University, Texas A&M, and Central Michigan University earning AA, BS and MS degrees. It is obvious I took school a little bit more seriously after high school :-)

In 2005, the Army came knocking on my door to call me out of retirement. I wound up in Maryland commanding an intelligence unit that had a real-world intelligence mission supporting our deployed troops. I retired again in 2007 and returned to Lockheed. Three months later, the Army called me up again to deploy to Afghanistan with the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions as an intelligence desk officer. I retired again in 2008.

A few months later the Army decided they liked what I could do so they called me up again to deploy with the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) to be the 3rd Brigade's Assistant Intelligence Officer for Current Operations in Logar and Wardak Provinces and later was selected to be an Advisor to an Afghan National Army Unit south of Kabul. I returned from my second trip to Afghanistan in January 2010 on the last flight back to Fort Drum, NY then retired again in late March 2010. I went back to work at Lockheed but within three months I was so bored (after what I had been doing back in the Army) I decided to retire from them as well. I've been blissfully retired (except for music and my music history website) for a little over a year now.

Well, that is pretty much my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

I'm looking forward to meeting up with old friends at the reunion and perhaps receiving e-mails from them as well.

Sammy

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