After enlisted tours in the USAF, Air National Guard and the Navy he was commissioned and designated a Naval Flight Officer on the P-3 aircraft. His next 26 years of active service consisted of various assignments of increasing responsibility in aviation patrol squadrons, onboard Naval Air Stations, and on major aviation staffs. He retired from active duty in 2006 at the rank of Captain. In 2015, he and his wife moved to Western North Carolina where he soon started volunteering with the American Red Cross as their Outreach Lead in the Service to the Armed Forces department.