Alex Silva
Well after graduation, I attended NMSU with what is probably half our class. The fact that I went with Richard Vigil and David Chavez was not the wisest of choices. We had a great time, but it seems my parents wanted me to attend class instead of party. So after the first year father said it was time to get a job. Not really sure what I wanted to do I joined the Air Force, figured it would be a chance to grow up, hah ended up partying more only got paid as well. I spent 8 years in the Air Force with the job of Security Police (Law enforcement, who would have guessed?). My first duty station was in Okinawa, Japan. What a fabulous place to be, tropical island with beautiful beaches and great weather almost all year round with many opportunities to scuba dive and travel. I spent 4 years in Okinawa with having to go to Saudi Arabia for a year during Desert Storm. After leaving paradise, I got to go Enid Oklahoma, talk about a drastic change. No trees, flat dry land and 2 hours away from everything remotely called civilization. With so much to do I decided to get married to a girl from Charleston SC and with several vacation trips to Charleston, she convinced me to move there. Since we could not get a transfer, we decided that after our enlistment was up we would get out of the Air Force and move to Charleston and try our luck with the civilian world.
While we were trying to find employment, I decided to go back to school and finish my Associates in Criminal Justice. During that time I got a job offer from the Charleston County Sheriffs Office to become a Deputy. So back to being a cop once again only this time I would continue with my education. Several years of this I realized that risking my life for such little pay and undesirable hours, there had to be a better way to earn a living. After I got out of the Air Force I remained in the Reserves, so I had an opportunity to change career fields and decided to try Medical Laboratory Science. The AF Reserves sent me to school for a year. With the education I got from there I tried my luck as a medical Microbiologist for Lab Corp, not the most glamorous job, but very interesting. I guess interesting enough for me to get my Biology degree. So after the 12 year college plan I finally received my B.S. in Biology from the College of Charleston in late 2000.
Then September 11th happened and changed my life again. I was thinking about going back to active duty in the Air Force again when a friend I was stationed with told me about a great job opportunity with the Government was about to open up. So I waited on the re-enlistment and decided to apply for a position with the Department of Homeland Security. With the opportunity to serve my country and protect the public once again I took the position of Aviation Security Specialist and decided to move to Houston. Unfortunately the wife and I had not been getting along and we decided it would be best to go our own ways and got a divorce after 8 years. So off alone I headed to Houston and have been here ever since with a great job that allows me to travel and see the country as well as the world, I have had the opportunity to see London England, Paris France, Mumbai India, Amsterdam, as well as many Far East countries.
A big round of applause to Tana and Wendy for all the hard work they have done with this site. I would like to thank you all for your bios it has been interesting reading what you all have been up to for the last 20 years. Can’t wait to see you at the re-union….
Take Care……
