I love the outdoors and enjoy the spirit of action and adventure.
The military, I thought, would be the perfect career to keep those passions alive. My father was a US Coast Guard Captain who saved 37 lives during his career. He wanted me to join the Navy but I was keen on the US Army Special Forces.
In the army, I discovered the adrenaline-rush I was seeking. I mastered several astonishing feats such as learning to drop mid-air from a flying aircraft. It was also in the military that I learnt to adapt quickly and think on my feet.
But it was at the Ranger School and later, at the Special Forces Selection Course that I got more than the kind of action I bargained for.
These were periods of pure, living agony. The intense training we undergo is both physically exhausting and mentally stressful. At the Ranger School, for instance, we used to train in sub-zero temperatures for about 20 hours each day, often with as little as three hours of sleep to go on. We also had to wear and carry 36kg of weapons, equipment and training ammunition while patrolling between 10 to 12 hours daily.
It was back to stressful conditions again during the Special Forces Selection Course. This is where you are tested to your absolute extremes – both physically and especially mentally. Every waking moment of the day, you are pushed beyond your limits. Only one-third of the class scrapes through these courses.
I didn’t know it then, but all these would serve me well in the war zone beginning with my first experience of live action in Panama, followed by humanitarian services in war-torn Somalia, and being in the thick of a war in the Middle East.
The first Gulf War started when I was doing my Special Forces qualification course.
I was assigned to a unit that was instrumental in air-strikes. For 10 to 11 months in a year we did not see our families.
Later, our mission in Somalia was of a humanitarian nature – to ensure that the food supplies of the Red Cross reached the citizens.
The image of Somalia I had until then, as seen on television, was of famine and desolation. But the first thing I saw as we touched down was a beautiful river. Only there were no signs of irrigation. If it hadn’t been for the war, it could have been a prosperous nation.
I served for ten years as a Commander at multiple levels with the US Army Special Forces (Green Berets).
I was fortunate to have had a decade of solid command when most officers only get two. It was inevitable, therefore, that I leave command and work on the administrative side.
By that stage however, my family wanted me to quit – they were proud of what I had done and thought I had done my duty.
So I moved on and did a masters degree with Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management, and when I graduated I was immediately posted to the Middle East.
I came to Dubai in 1996 when I was hired by the Motion Pictures Association Middle East.
I was part of their comprehensive anti-piracy programme to represent the Hollywood Studios in the region.
My job is to work with the authorities to create an environment in the GCC where Hollywood can compete and give the products they represent to the consumers.
I cannot live without my family.
I have a wonderful wife, Rhonda, and two great kids. My daughter, Ashley, is 17 and getting ready to go to college and my son, Ryan, is 10. I enjoy being with them, travelling and doing things together. I dream of being back in the US eventually after having steered a successful company.
I miss the military.
Going back into public service with the US Government and perhaps joining politics is something I dream of achieving. In the army, everything is in black and white, and dealing with that was comfortable. Running a company is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Customers, service, cash flow... these are issues that never cropped up in the military.
These days I prefer going on vacation with my family.
Last summer, my son Ryan and I went hiking 40km along the Appalachian Trail. We also enjoy wakeboarding, skiing and particularly, fishing. Last year my dad, Ryan and I went fly fishing, up in the north-west – it was idyllic. In Dubai too, Ryan and I often go fishing.
With my friend, Bill Hickey, I enjoy a ‘boys out’ kind of adventure. A group of friends and I climbed the highest mountains in two continents – Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the highest in Africa as well as Mt Elbrus in Russia, the highest in Europe.
I enjoy being outdoors with the people that are close to me.
