My Life in the 1980s
In the 1980s, I was working at Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo, California. At the time I was living on Captain's Row in Marina del Rey. I joined the Toastmasters Club.
I also was looking into being in business for myself, giving personal and professional development seminars.
Later, I was hired by the U.S. Air Force at the GM-13 grade, which is equivalent to a Major in the Air Force. I worked on the Strategic Defense Initiate (SDI) program.
1981
While working at the Electro-Optics and Data Systems Group (EDSG) of Hughes Aircraft Co. in El Segundo, CA, I was assigned to be Systems Engineer / Project Manager of the LANTIRN Infrared Signature Flights Tests.
LANTIRN IR Signature Flight Tests (web page with details)
1983
I joined the Westchester Toastmasters Club and gained certification as a Competient Toastmaster, which really consisted of fulfilling a level of speaking requirements.
Competent Toastmaster Certification - May 1983 - PDF (74KB)
1986
I started giving personal and professional development noon-hour seminars at Hughes Aircraft.
I wanted to get into business for myself, perhaps giving personal and professional development training. I got involved with Performax Co.
Certificate of Achievement, Performax Training - May 1986 - PDF (79KB)
1988
Upon starting working for the U.S. Air Force Space Systems Division in El Segundo, CA, on the Space Based Interceptor (SBI) program, I was required to take training in acquisition management.
Certificate of Training, Acquisition Management, U.S. Air Force - January 1988 - PDF (131KB)
1989
I had heard that the Department of Defense was pushing the use ot Total Quality Management in the various armed forces. Col. Simmons assigned the task to a civilian who didn't have much to do. So I then told him that I wanted to job. Quality and business improvement was an area of interest to me.
In April 1989, I started publishing the Space Based Interceptor (SBI) Total Quality Management (TQM) newsletter. This is a project I initiated and took on my own. The newsletters were created using the Word Perfect DOS software.
SBI TQM Newsletter - April 1989
Then I received a letter of praise from Col Simmons, suggesting wider distribution.
Col William O'Brien, head of CN (SBI Programs) liked my newsletter and asked to have a CN-wide version published.
In November 1989, I presented a paper at the First National Total Quality Management Symposium sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Denver Colorado entitled:
Implementing TQM in the Air Force's Space Based Interceptor Program Office (web page with details)
I continued to publish the newsletter.
