Comments:
It was a long and winding road....After pretty much squandering 2 years at DJC I transferred to West Ga College. Althought I did ok for a whole semester in a row, my previous two years of dropping courses that I wasn’t doing well in caught up with me and I lost my student deferment (you may not remember that part of being a male in the 60’s). I was drafted into the Army and after what seemed like endless months of training in various forms of really nasty stuff was sent to Viet Nam. In between my advanced training and my really advanced training I came back to Dalton and married Patricia Spann. I served with 2nd Field Forces and then with D71st in Viet Nam and hated each and every second I was there. The only positive thing that came out of that experience was that I finally grew up. I returned to the states and was assigned to Ft Hood Texas to serve out the remainder of my enlistment. While there I learned about a scholarship program for guys like me who had been drafted out of college and who could complete the requirements for a B.S. in two years or less. I applied and got a full scholarship with the provision that I get my degree in computer science. I had never seen a computer but as it turned out their technology was one of the very few things for which I had any kind of aptitude. For the next two years we lived in central Texas while I went to school. In 1974 we had our 1st son Jeremy. I graduated in 1974 and was sent to Heidelberg, Germany as a programmer/analyst. Keep in mind that I was still in the Army and while at school I had actually been promoted to Staff Sargent, E-6. We lived in Germany for 3 years and had our 2nd son Joshua. I still did not like the Army and was planning to get out when we returned to the states. But that was not to be. Shortly before we were scheduled to leave I was selected for promotion to Sargent First Class, E-7. However, before I could even pin on my new stripes I got a direct commission as an officer. Ok, apparently I also had an aptitude for blowing smoke, or kissing butt, or something. I still have no idea how I was able to swing a direct commission. In one fell swoop I went from being senior enlisted to being a 2nd Lieutenant (the lowest form of officer life). All of this may not mean a lot, read zero, to anyone who has never served in the military but it is the life that I lived. We moved to San Antonio, Texas where I attended the Officer Basic Course at Ft Sam Houston. We then moved to Ft Detrick, Maryland where I worked in the Management Information Systems Directorate and Medical Intelligence Agency for 2 years. While there I was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. I also managed to complete graduate school while in Maryland. It may come as no surprise that I did so at Hood College. Hood is an old women’s college that finally opened its graduate school doors to us guys sometime in the 70’s. Around this time president Carter began the process of turning the Panama Canal Zone over to the Panamanian government and I was assigned to Gorgas Army Hospital (the Army took it over from the Canal Zone Commission) as its new, first, Information Management Officer, the Army version of a CIO. We lived in Panama for 3 years where I picked up one of my few hobbies, SCUBA diving. I was promoted to Captain and at the end of our tour was sent to the Officer Advanced Course again at Ft Sam Houston. After I graduated we moved to Ft Bragg, NC where I was the IMO at Womack Hospital for 4 years. I went to Airborne school during that tour. Real smart, 30 years old and going to jump school. By now I had 18 years in the service and they assigned me to the Persidio in San Francisco, CA as the IMO at Letterman Medical Center. Wonderful assignment and in 1988 I completed Command and General Staff College and was selected for Major. I thought I was on the “fast track,” funny how life turns out. In 1989 I was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo surgery and so much radiation treatment that under the right conditions I can be used as a lava lamp (remember those). I fully recovered but decided that it was time to retire from the Army. So, in 1990 I retired and took a job as the Director, Corporate Systems at Santa Rosa Health Care in San Antonio. I could not stand the job or my boss. I then accepted a job as VP/CIO at Comanche County Medical Center in Lawton, OK. I loved my job there and really liked Lawton. However, on 1 Feb 1994 I went in to wake Jeremy, who was a freshman in college. When I bent over and kissed him on the cheek like I did every morning I noticed his skin was cold as ice. He had died in his sleep. I cannot begin to describe what I felt so I will not try. We lived in Lawton for another year but we all agreed that we just did not want to continue to come home to our house so I took another job as the VP/CIO at Mississippi Baptist Health Systems in Jackson, MS. While at MBHS I completed a post graduate fellowship at Northwestern University’s, Kellogg Graduate School of Business in healthcare administration. We lived in MS for 9 years and then I took what I hope is my last job as VP and Chief Operating Officer at Jackson Hospital and Clinic in Montgomery, AL. In Jan 2012, following the departure of Jackson’s CEO, I began serving as interim President and CEO. In June 2012 i picked the COO ball back after the permanent CEO came on board. On 12-31-2013 I finally retired. I think at last count, Trish and I have moved 19 times. In summary, I have been married for 47 years, have lived literally all over the planet, and have been reasonably successful. Except for that little blip in 1989 I am in great health and have had far more good times than bad times since leaving Dalton. I feel truly blessed by any standard. My direct email address is rcaldwell36064@outlook.com. UPDATE: Since retirement Trish and I have been burning up our granddaughter's inheritance, pitiful as it may be, traveling; mostly to Europe and Central America. We have had a couple of near terrorist misses in Paris and London, an emergency, foamed runway, landing during a trip to Mexico, and most recently, a real scare in the Grand Tetons. These stories, which grow exponentially each time I tell them, are best shared over vast quantities of beer or Maalox depending on your health status.
