Since retiring from the Secret Service I have entertained the thought of writing about my many experiences. First, I thought about writing separate books about some of the bigger cases I was lucky to be part of. Especially the three cases involving murder. But I decided instead to just write a series of short stories (chapters) involving my career in total. Therefore, I will occasionally publish here a new chapter . It is meant primarily for my wife, children and grand children, but I hope others may enjoy it too.

CHAPTER ONE

I grew up in Southern Ohio in a small farming community that did not have a stop light until several years after I moved away. I and 2 classmates decided in the 2^nd grade that when we grew up we were going to live in Texas, be cowboys and own a big cattle ranch. It was the 1954 and the world was simple.

My wife also grew up in this same small town and we have known each other since about the fourth grade. We began dating our junior year of high school. In our senior year she was the Home-coming Queen and I was a football captain. It was the all-American picture.

I was a normal high school student who loved athletics, but was not crazy about studying. I only worked hard enough to remain eligible for football, basketball and track. A grade of C was good enough for me. It meant I could play sports and maybe even get into college. I also played the trumpet in the high school orchestra and played bass guitar in a garage band for a couple of years. And I grew up with a burning desire to go to the Ohio State University (OSU), the home of Woody Hayes,3 yards and a cloud of dust. I loved OSU football and basketball and I remember lying in bed at night during basketball season under the covers listening to OSU games on my transistor radio and rooting for the great teams of 1960, 1961 and 1962.

Before my senior year began, my father Arthur Daniels was appointed as a Deputy US Marshal in Columbus, Ohio. He moved to Columbus and lived at the YMCA while my mother, brother, sister and I remained in Wheelersburg so I could graduate with my friends.

As soon as I graduated high school though, the house was sold and we moved to Columbus. I enrolled at OSU as a freshman, my lifelong dream. Again, I did not take my studies seriously. It was not a matter of not having the intellectual ability; it was a matter of not having the drive needed to be a successful student. As a result, I was not invited back for my next year of study (to put it mildly). That was 1966, the war in Vietnam was in high gear and the military draft was in overdrive.

My father went to the local draft board and inquired as to my status. They told him that if I did not get drafted in January 1967 then they would get me for sure in February. So I began interviewing all the military recruiters. I enlisted in the US Army in January 1967 for Army Intelligence school. I was given a letter of guarantee that if I did not go to the Army Intelligence School I had enlisted for, Intelligence Analyst, then I could get out of my enlistment.

I reported to Fort Knox, KY for basic training on January 16^th and I can still remember standing in formation at 4:30 am, after an all night bus ride from Columbus, shivering in the cold and thinking, what am I doing here?

After getting my GI haircut, outfitted with uniforms and equipment, we were given a battery of tests. Thus began our 8 weeks of basic combat training. One day I and 3 or 4 other recruits were pulled out of formation by our Corporal and told to report to our Drill Sergeant for special counseling. Of course my first thought was, I have only been here 2 weeks and I am in trouble already?

The Drill Sergeant, who had already served two tours of duty in Vietnam, began by telling me that I had scored exceptionally well on my battery of tests and the Army wanted to know if I was interested in attending Officer Candidate School or OCS. I did not know what OCS meant and the Sergeant explained it was where the Army turned enlisted recruits into officers after 90 days of training, known as 90 day Wonders. I asked him if there was an OCS for Army Intelligence and he said no. I then asked him where people who wanted to be Intelligence officers attended OCS and he replied, Infantry OCS. My next important question was if there was any guarantee after graduation from Infantry OCS that I would be assigned to Army Intelligence? And with a smile on his face he said no.

I knew my decision in this matter could have not only a major bearing on my Army career, but my life in general. I thought this over for a few seconds and told the Sergeant that I appreciated the offer, but I wished to continue forward with my enlistment which guaranteed me Intelligence school. My Sergeant replied, you are smarter than I thought, hundreds of Infantry 2^nd lieutenants die everyday in Vietnam. I finally had confirmation from someone other than my parents that I was at least somewhat intelligent.

I graduated from basic training with my first Army promotion to Private 2^nd Class and headed off to Ft. Holabird, MD for Army Intelligence School. Ft. Holabird was a former Army Proving Ground base that had been converted into the Intelligence School. It was arranged like a college campus and for all practical purposes it was a return to college for most of us. It was a fun 8 weeks of training, pulling practical jokes on classmates and the entire school itself. Every morning at reveille, cannon would fire. One morning, the bugle played, but no cannon fire. And just when I and the rest of my classmates started to ask why there was no cannon a couple of classmates burst into laughter. When the rest of us asked them what was so funny they both said, we stole the cannon last night and hid it. That was good, really good. No one ever got caught for that prank.

Our First Sergeant, a veteran of almost 20 years, was a comedian. He could not address our class without having us howl with laughter. Plus, to make matters worse he had glued a Mickey Mouse head inside his Sergeant stripes. That was his silent way of calling it a Mickey Mouse outfit. About halfway through our Intelligence Analyst class the Sergeant entered the class room one day after lunch and said he had good news and extremely good news for us. Then he asked which one we wanted to hear first. We asked for the good news first. He said we were going to complete the Intelligence Analyst class we had been guaranteed.

Then we asked what the extremely good news was? He said we were going to remain at Ft. Holabird to attend the Prisoner of War Interrogator School. He continued, that is right men, bend over and grab your ankles because you have just gotten your first real screwing from the Army. You are going to complete the school you were guaranteed so you can not ask to have your enlistments cancelled. But after staying and completing the Prisoner of War Interrogator school your primary MOS (military job) will be as Interrogators and your new secondary MOS will be as Analysts. Any guesses were most of you will be stationed after becoming Interrogators? That is right men we are only fighting one war at the present, Vietnam.

That was the second time in my short Army career when I asked myself, what am I doing here? Intelligence school got real serious after that. Now our lives and those of many others would be directly on the line.

Two things from Army Intelligence School have stuck with me to this day; first, that was my first exposure to Special Forces troops, Green Berets. They came there to learn how to gather intelligence on the enemy and how to report it. I was always impressed by their discipline and seriousness. These were professional soldiers. When they marched to class, they were always in step, but no one ever said a word. There is no way our class could have pulled that off. We could not march and keep in step even with someone calling out the cadence.

The second thing that has stayed with me from that training was to always answer a compound question with a simple yes. As Prison of War interrogators we were drilled constantly to never ask a compound question. So to this day, whenever someone asks me two or more questions at once I simply reply, yes. After they look at me silly and realize what they have done, they ask me two separate questions, as they should have in the beginning. I incorporated my Army training into my law enforcement career and have never forgotten the valuable experience I learned as a POW Interrogator.

I left this training with another promotion, E-3 or Private First Class and proceeded to my next assignment. POW Interrogator, 11^th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Xuan Loc, Republic of South Vietnam. I spent 8 months supporting the 11^th Armored Cavalry Regiment, but then I and another Interrogator were traded to another unit. We went to the 25^th Infantry Division at Cu Chi for our remaining four months in country. The reason were went to the 25^th was because at the 11^th all the Interrogators got in country about the same time and therefore all would rotate out about the same time. So by trading two from the 11^th for two from the 25^th they were able to break up the rotations and not have all new people in country at the same time.

I am not going to dwell here on my war experiences. I saw people get wounded, I saw dead soldiers, I saw dead Viet Cong whose bodies were hacked up into pieces and left in strategic places to warn those who came behind them what could happen, like heads left on fence posts. I also experienced being shot at by snipers and surviving numerous rocket and mortar attacks to last me a life time. I survived to return to America unlike many, many others. I still mourn those who did not make it home alive.

So by now you are probably wondering where I am going with this line of thought? All this went into my becoming a Secret Service agent. My upbringing in rural Southern Ohio, my Army career and later my college degree all contributed to who I am today. So after the Army, I returned to college. It was not easy getting back in. I took some college courses while in the Army and did well. So with those transcripts and a letter of recommendation from my Commanding Officer Ohio State said I could come back, but with very strict rules: 1) I had to take a full load of classes, 2) I had to maintain a B average for the first two quarters and 3) I could not be employed.

My wife and I had gotten married in Hawaii in May 1968 while I was on R & R from Vietnam. She was a nursing student in Columbus at the time and how we pulled that trip off could be the subject of another book. Plus, our first born came along during my Army career. So when I returned to OSU I was married with a child and like in the movie Animal House I was on super double academic probation.

But we did it. We were young and full of energy. But the second time at OSU I had the drive I needed to succeed. I had incentive. I had a wife, a child and a strong desire to graduate with a degree so I could get into law enforcement. I did very well in my studies this time. I was on a mission.

After my second quarter of maintaining a B average I got off probation and found a part time job on campus in the English Department Library. They let me work around my class times. Plus, the extra income helped at home. I took classes year round and in June 1972 I graduated with a degree in Sociology with an emphasis on criminology.

That was the nearest I could come at the time to a law enforcement degree. Why did I decide on law enforcement? Well, while I was in Vietnam and trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life I decided on law enforcement. My reasoning was this: there have been criminals since Biblical times, there will always be criminals, what other career could offer that kind of job security? Besides, I wanted to do something exciting and chasing criminals sounded exciting.