Howard LaPointe:  

Although I was in the Class of ‘61, I dropped out of school in 1960 to enlist in the U.S. Air Force. I went to air traffic control technical school at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS and while I was there I was recruited into the Air Force’s Combat Control Teams (CCT). I saw combat in Vietnam and Laos, mainly as a Forward Air Controller (FAC) controlling air strikes for Air Force, Navy and allied aircraft. I also provided command control communications support for Navy SEALS and Army Special Forces units. In 1968 I switched career fields into Data Communications which turned out to be the best career move of my life. My wife, Evelyn, of over 55 years and I were in Turkey where daughter was born and we were stationed at numerous locations in the U.S. and twice in the Philippines. Along the way I acquired a BSEE from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in ‘75 and an MS in Human Resource Management for the New School of Social Research, now just New School in ‘81. I retired from the Air Force in 1982 and went to work for Mastercard as a Network Design Engineer, eventually rising to become the Director of Global Network Engineering. Master Card created a new position; Technology Consultant, same money but no management responsibility and I took i...Expand for more