Tell me a little bit about yourself. Where did you grow up, and what didyour parents do? So, I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, actually in the heart of Detroit. My dad was injournalism and marketing; he worked for multiple companies from CompuwareFortune 500 to EDS, and then he got into a real estate, which he currently stilldoes. And my mother has worked in medicine for the last 30-plus years, workingin oncology and then followed by nephrology. My parents have been go-getters their whole life. I grew up in Detroitand it’s been a great life. My parents divorced when I was five years old but theyparented me well together and managed to keep the divorce from hurting therelationship for the family, so it was great. I love my parents dearly, and theygave me everything I needed to survive in life, so super grateful.It’s kind of how it went, just moved off outside of Detroit to the suburbs andthen moved into an area called Clinton Township Michigan, or Macomb County,where I ended up finishing up school high school there at Chippewa Valley HighSchool. And that's where I was influenced by a teacher into the service. So, tell me a little bit about yourself, and how long have you served behind the frontline for, and in what capacity in the Navy SEALs? Let’s see, a little bit about myself. I played hockey growing up I always lovedsports, I love team sports. I've always been the guy that had a nickname; theyused to call me Purp or Pond Rocket Parrot in hockey. Because in Michigan weplay a lot of pond hockey outside as well as inside. And then I went to Perrote, andthe French men don’t know where that came from. And then I went to in theSoup in the SEAL Teams, and then it’s been Birdman ever since. But, growing up in Michigan, I love Michigan. I think that it’s a place thateverybody needs to visit. People don't really get a good idea Michigan, theythink it's Detroit, they think it's a dangerous place, and it's all city, and it’s not. It's a gorgeous place, the north part of Michigan is beautiful, gorgeous lakes, you can't get enough water there. It's a place that you need to see, the fall time you get change of colors everywhere and I love it, that's my home. Idon't consider Texas my home I consider Michigan my home, will always be. I served eight years in the military, all of that in the SEAL Teams if not in training,but all in Naval Special Warfare. I think I did three months outside of NavalSpecial Warfare in the beginning through boot camp and then my A school, andthen after that it was all with the Naval Special Warfare Command. So, I wentthrough BUD/S class 245, 246. After the program, I went to SEAL Team 7, and Iserved for six years at SEAL Team 7. I was in Alpha platoon, two platoons, I went to Foxtrot platoon, and then I wentover to Advanced Training Command as an instructor for just under a yearbefore I got out of service. Eight years in San Diego, actually in Coronado. It waswonderful, it was like an unbelievable experience. We were going out a lot andwould come back home, I would come back to my house in San Diego and thinkit was a vacation home. So it's super cool. I was blessed. You get everything you can possibly imagine from the military, youget GI Bill, college tuition, you get friends that will last a lifetime, you get to doepic things, and you get to do this all in the name of protecting the nation. Foranybody who’s messing around with the idea of wanting to join the military, I saydon't hesitate, do it. And anybody who doesn't know anything about the militaryI think they should go and do some more research and learn about it because it'sincredible. It was wonderful for me; it was everything I needed. Served eightyears and then I decided to move out to the Dallas Texas to pick a job and trynew things. How was school for you, and what made you become a Navy SEAL? School for me was difficult, I just was not entertained by teaching, teachers, anykind of academics, it was all boring to me. I always excelled in the physic
