I am the 9th of 12 children. I was born in South Dakota and we moved to Montana in the spring of 1966 when I was 18-months old. I have lived my life in Montana.

I lived with my family on the ranch at Wise River until we moved to Dillon in the fall of 1969. I began school that year in the Dillon public schools. My Dad (Pappy) owned and operated a meat business, and I grew up cutting meat, the son of a Dillon butcher.  I was a good student and I performed well as an athlete.  I played football and wrestled for the Dillon Beavers. I graduated from Beaverhead County High School in 1982

I attended Carroll College in Helena and graduated in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and History. I enlisted with the Montana Army National Guard in in November 1988 in order to pay off the college loans I had incurred from my private, Catholic education.  I attended Officer Candidate School and was Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in June 1990.  I was initially an Armor Officer, but was later accepted into the Army flight school.  I served my state and nation as an Aviation Officer for the next 30 years, retiring last year (February 2019) as a Lieutenant Colonel.

From 1998 to 2000 I worked as a High School English teacher in Townsend. In the summer of 2000, I left teaching to work for the Montana National Guard as the Drug Demand Reduction Officer.  My responsibility was part of an educational outreach program in the public schools.  I worked in this capacity until I deployed overseas (2003-2004) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Following retirement, I continued to work for the Montana Army National Guard as the Suicide Prevention Program Manager.  In October 2019 I accepted a position with Montana Youth Challenge in Dillon as the Lead Admission Counselor. The Montana Youth Challenge mission is to serve at-risk youth, to provide a second chance to those young men and women who are at-risk of dropping out of school.

All of this has lead me to this point in my life.  I want to serve Montana in the US Congress because I believe I am the best qualified candidate. I believe I have something special to offer my state and the nation.  My life has been devoted to public service.  Our federal government is in a state of near-crisis.  We live in a time of great anger, and this puts our great nation at risk.   We can choose to be different.  My mother used to tell us that we can disagree without being disagreeable.  It is true as a family, and it is true as a nation.  I want to serve the nation because the nation needs people who will serve.  I will do this with a cheerful heart, an open mind, and good will.