James Leach:  

Basically after graduation from high school (1976) knowing college was not in the stars and sure hoping that the shipyard wasn't either, I joined the United States Army after one last great summer looking for that next chapter in my life. What a chapter it became, actually one that wrote for the next twenty-one years of my life!!! I never thought I was that guy who would enjoy the structure, regiment and discipline that the military would provide, I was so wrong. I never thought of anything else, as I look back, the best parts of my life happened while serving God and Country. I met and married the woman of my dreams (a soldier herself at the time) whom shared in my life's journey and gave me two beautiful children and from our children, we now have sic wonderful grandchildren. I was lucky though, we traveled the world as a family and had the military to thank for providing the means. Not every assignment was easy but we always had one another and made the best of each. I would not trade or omit any of them, what memories we have of each of them. Of course each chapter must close in order to write the next. I retired from the United States Army in 1997, a Senior Chief Warrant Officer Three serving my last assignment as a proud member of the 82nd Airborne Division down in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. O...Expand for more