Robert Hessler:  

Life I spent most of the last 35 odd years working for the US Customs Service, and retired from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection August 2006. After retiring, I worked as an intermittent contractor, subject matter expert for Customs and Border Protection in 2007, where I worked with the Malta Customs Service in supervising the construction of an examination warehouse at their free zone near Valleta, and also conducted training assessments of Customs agencies in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia, Albania and Turkey. I worked as part of atraining team delivering Customs Training in Jordan. I am currently the Chief advisor to the Kuwait Customs Administration and am living in Kuwait City. I will be here in Kuwait at least until August 2009. Right after graduation from High School, I attended Florida State University, and lived at the Lions Scholarship House on College Avenue. I enjyed partying a bit too much and as I wasn't being too productive at FSU decided to spend a little time in the Navy before graduating (hahaha). I enlisted in the Navy in 1971, and spent four years as a Machinist Mate. I was briefly on the US Yosemite AD 19, in Mayport, Florida. Then spent about a year on the USS Severn AO 61, including the cruise to Guantanamo, and the Med (remember the Toulon repair yard? how about dead in the water mid atlantic....)after the Med cruise, I transferred to the Lexington in Pensacola, Florida where I worked in the Evaporator Gang. Lot's of Gulf of Mexico sailing, and another trip to Cuba, Jamaica etc. I left the Navy June 13 1975, and was in Miami working for Customs the following Monday. I returned to college completing my BA in Business Administration at FIU (funny how working in the engine room for 4 years changed my abiiity to succeed in school....my GPA at FSU for the first 2 years hovered around a 2.0....the 2 yeras I spent at FIU completing my bachelors degree were 4.0!)_ My career with Customs started as a Cashier at the Miami International Airport. I became an inspector in 1977 and my first assignment was the preclearnce facility in Nassaa, Bahamas (somebody had to do it). I returned to Miami in 1980, and transferred to Dallas Texas for a brief period in 1981. In 1982, I transferred back to Miami. In 1990, I accepted the postio as Assistant District Director for Inspection and ...Expand for more