Jim Snider:
CLASS OF 1980
Mandeville High SchoolClass of 1980
Mandeville, LA
University of West FloridaClass of 2009
Ft. walton beach, FL
Southeastern Louisiana UniversityClass of 2004
Hammond, LA
Jim's Story
Life
Growing up in Mandeville Louisiana couldn't have been better. Okay, I could have made better choices along the way, but it was a great experience and I think I turned out okay regardless. We moved to Mandeville when I was three years old and only moved once in 18 years, and that was just next door. Living in the old part of town provided an experience that others living in subdivisions etc just couldn't get. Crime was very low, Lake Pontchartrain was only a block away, and friends seemed to be everywhere. Before we even had drivers licenses, me and Mark Miller got caught by the only unmarked police car in the department, doing donuts in his dad's car at the harbor. Sure they stopped us, but not a thing happened to us.....that's how small Mandeville was back then. It continued to grow of course, and after graduating from Mandeville High in 1980 I joined the Air Force and didn't return to the area, except on holidays etc, until 2000. My original plan after retiring was to move to Greenville, SC so I could be close to the Smokey Mountains. Unfortunately my Dad became ill and passed away in August, so I moved down to Louisiana to help my Mom with the transition. Instead of getting a job I decided to attend Southeastern Louisiana University, where I earned a bachelors degree in business management. After searching for my ideal job and getting chased away by Hurricane Katrina, I moved to Georgia where I worked as a contract specialist at Robins Air Force Base. While working there I heard through a friend at Shaw Air Force Base that a previous squadron member of ours at Shaw (Theresa Beaver) was still in the Air Force and was now a Captain. After looking her up in the global email locator for the Air Force, I sent Theresa an email to say hi and congratulate her. That was in 2006 and I have since resigned from the job in Georgia, moved down to Florida to be with Theresa, had a baby with her (who is now 2 years old)and we've moved to San Antonio where Theresa is now stationed at Lackland AFB.
School
Too many good times and not enough studying.
College
My Southeastern Louisiana University days were a great experience. After retiring from the Air Force in 2000 I went back to Louisiana and decided to use my time wisely while avoiding the working world as long as possible. I decided on Southeastern since it was a fairly small school of 15,000, I...Expand for more
was able to rent vs buy the books, the tuition was competitive and the technology in and out of the classrooms was up to date. Not having to work and being able to commute on the motorcycle made life a lot more tolerable also. But all good things had to come to an end and I graduated magna cum laude in December 2004 with a bachelors in business management, with a concentration in small business/entrepreneurship. As noted above, I just received my Masters of Science in Administration from the University of West Florida.
Workplace
See military bio for the good stuff. Currently looking for a job here in San Antonio.
Military
After growing up Mandeville Louisiana I joined the Air Force in 1980 so I could see the world. After completing basic training I was assigned to Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS. for technical training. I was then assigned to Sembach Air Base Germany, after swapping with a guy who didn't want to go to Germany and was willing to go to my original assignment of Minot AFB, North Dakota. I didn't ask questions....just swapped while he was still willing to do it. Except for being a poor airman this was a great assignment. Germany is such a beautiful country, with many historical sites, great food and beer, and Autobahns with no speed limits. My next assignment was to an Engineering and Installation squadron at Kelly AFB in San Antonio Texas. This was a wasted year for the most part since it took 9 months for my security clearance to finalize. So I didn't get a chance to deploy and get the best experience from the assignment. From there I went to Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo Texas, for a 4 month school. Armadillo races were the highlight of that one.....nuff said. I then went back to Germany and Sembach Air Base again. This assignment was the best of my career since the work involved traveling around Europe for 4 1/2 years. From Sembach I moved over to Ramstein Air Base so I could experience life working around a flight line. After 3 years at Ramstein I transferred to Shaw AFB in Sumter, South Carolina. I loved this assignment almost as much as Sembach since I was able to "play Army" while still having the luxury of being in the Air Force. The location was pretty good also, since it was only 3 hours from the mountains and 2 hours to the coast. I loved it so much that I spent my final 8 years there before retiring in 2000.
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