Tom Pruett:  

Hi all. Long time no see. I realize that I did not graduate with any of you, although I did call you my classmates from the 5th through the 8th grade. After that, I attended Maranatha Christian Academy in Milano, where I was allowed to proceed through my schooling at an accelerated rate, and finished a year early, graduating in 1985. Next, I joined the Army, and served for 8 years ( 4 active and 4 inactive) as an Electronic Warfare Intercept Tactical Systems repairman. In English, that means I fixed direction finders and jammers. I was cleared for a top secret security clearance, and served at Fort Dix New Jersey, Fort Devens Massachusetts, Yongsan Army Base Seoul South Korea, and Fort Hood Texas, Imade two trips to Death Valley California for war games, as well as a Re-For-Ger (return of forces to Germany) exercise for 3 months before leaving active duty. Because electronic repair in the civilian world was becoming obsolete, I trained myself to use AutoCAD, and became a Structural Steel Detailer for a firm in Houston. After 7 years of doing that, I went through a divorce when my then-spouse decided that she didn't wish to be married any longer. I guess no matter how hard you try to follow The Book, you can still lose. I retained custody of my two-year old son. The turmoil of the situation contributed to my losing my job in Houston, so I sought and found work for an engineering firm in Austin Texas, and worked there for 3 years until God allowed me to meet my wife, Laura online. She lived in east Tennessee. After a few hundred emails, followed by a few hundred hours on the phone, I flew to Tennessee to meet this angel, face to face. By th...Expand for more