I started raising pigeons when I was about 10. When I lived in Corcoran, CA as a little boy I was given two King pigeons from my uncle. From there my pigeon era began. I would go buy pigeons for a dollar from local people who trapped them as ferals or raised pigeons back then. I remember having over 50 birds as a little middle school student. My family raised chickens so having pigeons was not any different, my younger brother and I would always be outside playing anyways, so the birds was calming for me.
We later on moved to Oroville, where I finished my high school there. I didn't raise pigeons but I raised chickens and waterfowl for my FFA projects in high school. I was very active in FFA. I was even the Chapter President my senior year. Then after I graduated high school, the US NAVY got a hold of me. I signed up for a six year enlistment as a Fire Controlman. Working on two computerized weapon systems. The gun system called Close-In Weapon System or CIWS for you NAVY folks and the missile system called Rolling Airframe Missile System or RAM. While in the military, I was deployed 4 times on 3 different ships. My first duty station was on an old destroyer called USS FIFE DD-991 stationed out of Everett, WA. As soon as I checked on board, we were getting ready to do a six month "crack" pac. Which is six months doing drug operations with an coast guard detachment in the south pacific off the coast of South America. That deployment was very funfilled. We visited many of the South American hot spots. Including Matzatlan, Panama, San Jose, Lima, and even Colquimbo. After we returned from that deployment the ship was set to decommision. I then went to RAM school and then reported to my next duty station, USS BOXER LHD-4, stationed in San Diego, CA. Here was were I did two deployments in a matter of less than two years. I happen to check in right before our President at the time Mr. George Bush wanted to invade the country of Iraq and take out Saddam, well when he wanted to send out 13 amphibous ships loaded with marines, the BOXER was one of those ships. So upon checking in not too long on board, off I went. We ended full steaming to the gulf with no port stops. We went a little over 100 days without seeing any land. Beer day was long over due. The senario is, if a ship goes over 100 days without seeing a port, the ship gets a beer day where you can drink beer on the ship. Finally after everything was said and done and all the commotion was finished, we pulled into Jebal Ali. Man, was it nice to see some land, even though it was as far away from cilivization as we could of imagine but at least we could step foot on land. That was my first time I saw the Country of Dubai. It was magnificent to see that seven star hotel. On our way back we stopped in GOA, India and also Signapore, Hawaii and then finally to San Diego. The peace and quite didn't last too long because American troops started to take casualties in Iraq, so after being back home for a little over a few months, we had to send more marines to Iraq, we were the only qualified ship to go so we had to. Talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong time. So off we went again to the Persian Gulf. It was tough for me this time to say good bye and leave my friends and family because for the last two years I have been away from home. It didn't seem to slow down at all. My status was "constantly gone." This thrid deployment was very very hard for me. I started to drink heavily and didn't really cared about my job or why we had to fight this losing battle. I became very negative towards the military and didn't understand why someone like me ended up in this situation. I was such a nice guy. But frustrated from being away from family for so long and not having any recreation time it got to the better of me. From this point on, my military career suffered greatly, even though my work ethics and personality was the same, my view of the service changed dramitically. I still fulfilled my oath of enlistment to the best of my ability. I remember working harder to stay busy. I remember painting a wall (bulkhead) 3 times over in two months. When we finally came back from that deployment I breathe a sigh of relief. Little did I know it was to good to be true. Which leads me to my last duty station, USS MILIUS DDG-69. The Milius was deploying to the Persian Gulf and they did not have enough technicians, butwhat was worse was they didn't have a supervisor. So I ended up crossing over to the destroyer and off I went again another deployment to the Persian Gulf. Now we were getting close to my six year mark and so I was on the decline anyways. The deploment was going to determine my enlistment and sure enough just like all other deployments was long and dry. Even though I have to mention I did visit one of the MOST beautiful places in the world during this deployment. A tropical island called SEYCHELLES. I would go there again if I wanted to vacation. So after this deployment, my enlistment ended and I decided to get out.
When I got out of the military, my wife and I got married and we moved to Fresno. We moved up to Sacramento for a little while but ended up back down here. Ever since I have been here in Fresno and in 2008, I started raising pigeons again which leads me to where I am at today. Currently I am going to college to get a degree in Business Management and eventually open up my own business. I raise racing pigeons and if I have any extra in between I go fishing. Thanks for reading and I hope you learned a little about who I am and where I came from. Good Luck!
We later on moved to Oroville, where I finished my high school there. I didn't raise pigeons but I raised chickens and waterfowl for my FFA projects in high school. I was very active in FFA. I was even the Chapter President my senior year. Then after I graduated high school, the US NAVY got a hold of me. I signed up for a six year enlistment as a Fire Controlman. Working on two computerized weapon systems. The gun system called Close-In Weapon System or CIWS for you NAVY folks and the missile system called Rolling Airframe Missile System or RAM. While in the military, I was deployed 4 times on 3 different ships. My first duty station was on an old destroyer called USS FIFE DD-991 stationed out of Everett, WA. As soon as I checked on board, we were getting ready to do a six month "crack" pac. Which is six months doing drug operations with an coast guard detachment in the south pacific off the coast of South America. That deployment was very funfilled. We visited many of the South American hot spots. Including Matzatlan, Panama, San Jose, Lima, and even Colquimbo. After we returned from that deployment the ship was set to decommision. I then went to RAM school and then reported to my next duty station, USS BOXER LHD-4, stationed in San Diego, CA. Here was were I did two deployments in a matter of less than two years. I happen to check in right before our President at the time Mr. George Bush wanted to invade the country of Iraq and take out Saddam, well when he wanted to send out 13 amphibous ships loaded with marines, the BOXER was one of those ships. So upon checking in not too long on board, off I went. We ended full steaming to the gulf with no port stops. We went a little over 100 days without seeing any land. Beer day was long over due. The senario is, if a ship goes over 100 days without seeing a port, the ship gets a beer day where you can drink beer on the ship. Finally after everything was said and done and all the commotion was finished, we pulled into Jebal Ali. Man, was it nice to see some land, even though it was as far away from cilivization as we could of imagine but at least we could step foot on land. That was my first time I saw the Country of Dubai. It was magnificent to see that seven star hotel. On our way back we stopped in GOA, India and also Signapore, Hawaii and then finally to San Diego. The peace and quite didn't last too long because American troops started to take casualties in Iraq, so after being back home for a little over a few months, we had to send more marines to Iraq, we were the only qualified ship to go so we had to. Talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong time. So off we went again to the Persian Gulf. It was tough for me this time to say good bye and leave my friends and family because for the last two years I have been away from home. It didn't seem to slow down at all. My status was "constantly gone." This thrid deployment was very very hard for me. I started to drink heavily and didn't really cared about my job or why we had to fight this losing battle. I became very negative towards the military and didn't understand why someone like me ended up in this situation. I was such a nice guy. But frustrated from being away from family for so long and not having any recreation time it got to the better of me. From this point on, my military career suffered greatly, even though my work ethics and personality was the same, my view of the service changed dramitically. I still fulfilled my oath of enlistment to the best of my ability. I remember working harder to stay busy. I remember painting a wall (bulkhead) 3 times over in two months. When we finally came back from that deployment I breathe a sigh of relief. Little did I know it was to good to be true. Which leads me to my last duty station, USS MILIUS DDG-69. The Milius was deploying to the Persian Gulf and they did not have enough technicians, butwhat was worse was they didn't have a supervisor. So I ended up crossing over to the destroyer and off I went again another deployment to the Persian Gulf. Now we were getting close to my six year mark and so I was on the decline anyways. The deploment was going to determine my enlistment and sure enough just like all other deployments was long and dry. Even though I have to mention I did visit one of the MOST beautiful places in the world during this deployment. A tropical island called SEYCHELLES. I would go there again if I wanted to vacation. So after this deployment, my enlistment ended and I decided to get out.
When I got out of the military, my wife and I got married and we moved to Fresno. We moved up to Sacramento for a little while but ended up back down here. Ever since I have been here in Fresno and in 2008, I started raising pigeons again which leads me to where I am at today. Currently I am going to college to get a degree in Business Management and eventually open up my own business. I raise racing pigeons and if I have any extra in between I go fishing. Thanks for reading and I hope you learned a little about who I am and where I came from. Good Luck!
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