James Yarrison:
CLASS OF 1963
Milford Mill High School/AcademyClass of 1963
Baltimore, MD
University of Maryland - HistoryClass of 1967
College park, MD
James's Story
Well, after Milford, I went to the U of Md to study EE; changed almost halfway through and got out with a BA in history and a commission as an Army infantry officer. Went to Vietnam a couple of times, was medevaced once, and left the Army in '75 and returned to school full time at Catholic for an MA in history. Got married in '74. Continued and got a Ph.D. in Near Eastern studies at Princeton in '82. Stayed in the Army Reserve as a decent p/t job. Stayed in the reserves and the Virginia Army National Guard, ultimately retiring as a Lt. Col. with 24 years service.
Got a job with the government after grad school in '83 doing Middle East intel analysis. Began working as an Army historian in 1989. Left government civilian service in 2003 and became a contractor historian with the Missile Defense Agency until 2009. Drafted a history of US efforts to defeat improvised explosive devices (IED) for the Joint IED Defeat Organization. Departed that in...Expand for more
2014 to pursue other interests. Received certification as a Certified Senior Adviser, October 2017, and started Helping U Resources, LLC, seeking to serve the senior market, of which we’re all a part. Better to wear out than to rust out!
My son, Jim, was born in '83, my daughter, Mary, was born in '85, and my daughter, Emily, was born in '87. I am divorced from my wife of 43 years; not proud of that, but enough is enough.
Wrote a few books and other things, some of which have been published. I've started a couple of businesses, both of which are progressing fairly well, and which I hope will enable me to not work so hard in about the next 5 years.
I enjoyed seeing most of the people who made it to the 50th reunion, though most of us didn't look a lot like our high school pix. I was saddened to see that so many have lost contact or passed away. Life is good, no matter how many birthdays you've had -- you really don't want to miss any of them.
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