Randy Carlson:  

Life (life is good, all the time) I successfully went through Cal Poly twice and San Jose State once, so I am edu-ma-cated! I joined the Air Force; I survived a year in Viet Nam, and then joined the Air Force Reserves. I completed 40 years w/ the air force (Active duty / Reserves) and became a mustang officer with 16 years as a Senior MSgt before being commissioned and I retired in November 2006 as a Lt. Colonel, and as a squadron commander. I have raised two girls and a grandson, who joined the US Army in January 2013. I have retired from working full time but continue to work as a consultant for European Space Imaging, Munich with an office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Clients are in Bucharest, Romania. Poland, Egypt and all over the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Persian Gulf. I have been enjoying teaching satellite imagery analysis to a next generation of imagery or intelligence analysts and do so today as a consultant. I work as a volunteer for Civil Air Patrol and the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) as an education outreach specialist and aerospace education officer in both org at the national level. I never gave up art, and I still paint and dabble at it when time permits. My "nitch" will always be acrylic paints in aviation art. I am a geographer through and through. Vacations are best summed up in where to cruise to next School From all my years in elementary and junior high school I learned you will eventually make it. I tell my grand-kids that school will eventually end. You will be an adult, and wish you were back in school again. Life was easy at Yorkdale Elementary School in Los Angeles. Kindergarten was best grade ever invented, next to 12th when you realize you have finally made it and the end is in sight. Moving to the West Covina burbs in 1960 from Highland Park (LA zone 42) was the low spot, as at 12 years of age most of ones life changed and I had to start all over again, new friends, new neighborhoods... Highland Park in 1958 - 60 was a nice place. But West Covina, CA was OK. Back in 1959 there were orange trees everywhere, Now you have to look hard to find one orange tree. Worst Teacher in my life was Mr. Demmitt at Del Norte. He wasn't really bad, I was! Mr. Gushwa and Mr. Steve Fountain straightened me out in 8th grade. Mr. Fountain knew my weakness: Art, in a word. High School: I successfully survived Mrs. Milton's Spanish class in High school for two years! I didn't learn a whole lot of Spanish, but through all the years I have remembered something she once told me. Randy, "...when you take a test, take the first answer that pops into your head on multiple choice". I found that to be true. It works! To Mr. Fountain I owe 95% of my art abilities. I had a great art teacher at Luther Burbank Jr. HS but Mr. Fountain literally "drew" it out of me. I still have art materials he gave me at the end of each year, Leftover paint, smudge sticks, colored pencils, and pastels. They live in my art studio downstairs to this day as a reminder of that great teacher. They came form a time when the state and cities had lots of money. For his patience and understanding, I will forever thank him. More than that, he was the role model that I try to be as I teach imagery analysts today. And then there was my science and industrial arts teachers who instilled a love and quest to seek answers and that anything can be created, re-modeled, fixed or designed if you understand the science and engineering behind them. I loved the art club more than I can say, the school dances and my small circle of friends. Funny and amusing times in school: I suppose shooting atomic fire balls at Mr. Dawson in band using the tube of my trombone as a launching device was a high spot. Throwing a dummy out of the car and having Mike Evans drive over it at Eastland shopping center was also high on the events scoreboard, at least the terrified shoppers thought so, as did the West Covina Police. They wanted to catch us so badly, but dumb luck prevailed and we stopped before they found us. Luck was again with Mike and I in his Chevy when we proved it would hit 120 mph out on US 395 in the desert. We managed to make 4-corners Boron, and were informed at a cafe we had four bald tires!! Well so much for the High School Years. MSAC in 1965-66 was a wasted year after EHS, and the next four years in the Air Force t...Expand for more