raymond Garza:  

Brack Grad 1965. Air Force Special Unit/ Special Forces: Aerospace Rescue &Recovery Squadron. Assisted in recovery of Apollo 10 Astronauts in the Pacific Ocean. Three 90 day tours in Viet Nam jumping from helicopters, often only 2 of us, sometimes in SCUBA GEAR if the Mission was water rescue of American pilots that were shot down. USAF x 4 years: Covered areas from Pago Pago Samoa, to Truk Island, to Saipan Island, Guam, Hawaii, Philippines, Japan, Iwo Jima, Wake Island and Midway Island. After my discharge from the Air Force i had alot of anger issues..I was angry at scumbacks that found ways to escape thier obligation to serve our country.. I remember this "football friend" at Brackenridge. Looking back I now realized that he was a big mouth gutless scum back that was always saying " No guts, No glory". I stay away from scumbacks like him because he was one of the ones that was getting ahead while others like Emile Jackson and the numerous young men were doing their duty. Emile Jackson and many other friends were killed in Viet Nam. I also worked as an RN at Audie Murphy V.A hosp where I had Kurkendal as my patient. He used to play 2nd and 3rd string Full Back in football. By the way , Emile Jackson was killed in Viet Nam.. You could trust him to protect your back.. . There were a lot of good times like when I played 2 years football in the Air Force and was named ALL-CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE BACK .In one football game I made 8 tackles and helped with 15 other tackles. I turned down $500,000 offer for one of my 25 books that Agent wanted to "convert to screen-write, then to screenplay, then to movie". The book that the Agent wanted was about the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron.Told the agent that his offer was not enough. I will leave my 25 manuscripts/books that are currently in a bank vault box. to Teresa my MBA/CPA daughter. I loved my time at Brack. But I was always on the edge of quitting.. I was 9 years old when my parents were divorced.. It was at that time that I experienced the poverty of hunger.. I often went to school hungry.. At the age of 13, I got a summer job as a dishwasher at the Manila Cafe on Broadway. George the Philippino owner saw to it that I had at least one good meal per day.. The summer before my senior year, I worked as a busboy at the St Anthony Hotel.. I saved enough money to make it to Graduation Day from Brack.. But I did not have money to pay for all those pictures at different school functions....There were 2 individuals that gave me hope and encouragement while I was at Brack. First was my grandfather, Domingo Cuellar. He explained that the only way to escape poverty was to continue my education under these very difficult times. And I did it for him.. The second person in my life that influenced me to continue was Mrs Jean Harrison. She was my English teacher.. Out of 4 college prep classes(120 students) in English that she had, she gave three A's on the end-of-semester papers. One of those three A's was for me.. She kept telling me that I had a gift for writing and that I should be a writer.. Mrs Harrison and my grandfather were the beakons of light in an otherwise dark times of poverty for me.. You can ask my childhood friend, David Ramirez ex-Brackette..He knew about my difficult life. Some of you may know him.. I left it all behind when I took charge of my life as an adult...Expand for more