Paul Kaltenbach:
CLASS OF 1968
St. John Elementary SchoolClass of 1968
Leonia, NJ
New Jersey Institute of TechnologyClass of 1978
Newark, NJ
Leonia High SchoolClass of 1973
Leonia, NJ
Paul's Story
Life
'74/75 Went to NJIT to study engineering - Completely screwed up during my first two years. No motivation, no focus, bad grades.
I stepped back from it for a bit (as in kicked out), at which time it became apparent that I really needed to get on the ball. The school gave me another shot, my parents gave me an ultimatum, (god bless them and the school) and in '78 I somehow managed to graduate pretty near the top of the class w/ a degree in electronics and a swaggerin' attitude.
Three years of S/W engineering followed, convincing me that an office environment wasn't cutting it at all.
On a lark I went to work for the Port Authority working in the tunnels for PATH. Three very,very fullfilling years with wonderful folks in an incredibly tough engineering environment.
Developed a yearning to see the world, so went to work for Lockheed in L.A. Spent 2 years living in Kuwait for them (awsome experience for a 29 yr old)after which I returned to LA. working in flight and weapons testing.
Around this time I became pretty involved in motorcycle drag racing up in the high desert, hiking in Yosemite, Miltary airshows, guns, you know - the whole So. Cal. outdoor lifestyle. Friday 3:00pm = party time with a great group of folks.
'89 grew restless to travel and headed back to the NY area and took a job on the road crew for ABC Sports. Seven years on the road, 4 days/week, 52 weeks/yr. Football, golf, baseball, NASCAR, Int'l Grand Prix, Horse racing, basketball, marathons, ice skating, and an Emmy. WHAT CITY AM I IN? Which airport is this?
Throw in side assignments...Soap Operas, entertainment, magazine shows, network news...
Wait, network news? After all these years, I found my passion. Fly into some hel...Expand for more
l hole third world dump, off load a ton or so of gear while poeple are shooting at each other, and get on the air? Now that's a challange. And heck, we get to expose and piss off some despot at the same time? Bingo!
So..a few of the highlights:
Panama Invasion (way cool), Desert Shield (ahh back home in the Arabian Gulf), Desert Storm (shot the first scud intercept ever), Somalia 2X (the Flintstones on acid), Haiti (a waste - so we just partied), Sarajevo and the Balkans (hell incarnate, it was awful), another Emmy, two presidential campaign tours (Ross Perot & Al Gore are the nicest guys), the Palestinean/West bank uprisings (if you only go one place in the world go see the old city in Jerusalem at Easter), a Peabody (like an Emmy but different), Oklahoma City (so sad), McVeigh's execution (soo deserved), Havana and meeting Fidel (he gave me a box o' cigars and his card. How about that?), Va. sniper (scarey & tiring), then on to Arabian Gulf and three and a half months in the desert embedded with the third infantry division in the push from Kuwait up to Baghad for Nightline. (without a doubt the most difficult, sad, inhumane, costly, stupid f*cking mess I have ever witnessed). Next thing I find I'm a co-recipient of the Columbia-Dupont award for Journalism (Go figure, huh?). Then back on the campaign trail again. Ugh! the Michigan penninsula is cold in the winter!
Mom, Dad, brothers Richie and Larry, and my friends are well thank god. I have the best partner in the world and we love each other very much (an accomplished NY fashion Designer), living in Hells Kitchen during the week, Jersey on weekends. Life is fullfilling. What more can a person want?
(Update May/June 2004) I'm in Baghdad (Or is it the Alamo?)
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