Life is an endless series of opportunities brilliantly disguised as hard work. Michael Gibbons, Painter

Today, GPS is a household word. This was not the case when I joined the program in November 1980. No one in the public had heard of it. GPS was a system just getting off the ground, having launched its first test satellite in February 1978.

In some ways my life has been improbable, yet in other ways natural. I have been fortunate to have early adopted the perseverance and patience that have carried me through difficult challenges. I have learned that hard work overcomes limitation. 

This is a story, not of one who helped found GPS, for I had no role at that level. There were men and women greater than me who did this. This is a story of one who came after them, or worked under them, to help build and use GPS. You will find in these writings no story of a person who led a major program or patented an innovation used worldwide, but someone who simply endeavored to do his job and do it well, and in doing so, feel the satisfaction of working well with others and make a positive difference. Hopefully, those readers who are still developing their careers will find some practical approaches they can take with them on their own life paths.

Sometime around 2009, I had an epiphany about me and GPS. I was interviewing a prospective employee for a job at our company, and asked, what is it you want to do with your career? His response was in substance to find a career that would have a major, positive effect on people, that would do lots of good. As he spoke, it dawned on me that this is exactly how my career had turned out. At that point, I had spent the past thirty years in a field that was having an amazingly positive effect on the lives of others. This was something I could never have imagined.

Writing memoirs is somewhat counterintuitive. I ask myself, why would anyone care to read about my life? What I have I experienced that would be of interest to others? The answer lies in the career field I chose: GPS. Few other technologies have had as much of a positive impact on humankind as GPS. 

Also, I find that time has a way of altering one’s memories of events, sometimes changing who was present, what order things took place in, or even not remembering people who were there with me. I have tried to carefully record what I remember, but forgive me if I am slightly off on my facts. My wife knows this to be so for me. I’ll do the best I can to record correctly what I remember. 

Since GPS is a military program, my memoirs will include a number of acronyms and abbreviations which I may share, and for this I am sorry. It is just how things are done in the federal government and particularly in the military. I’ll make every effort to minimize this, and to provide clarification on what the acronyms mean when they are used. The most important abbreviation of all, of course, is GPS. Who would have thought this would become one of the world’s most recognized abbreviations? 

Since this is a memoir, and involves some experiences that did not go well, some names and details have been omitted to protect identities of the people involved. I offer these stories so that you may see the challenges I faced and the lessons I learned from them. 

Tandem with my career for forty years has been my wife who has put up with stories around the table about what Karen said or Rob has done or the crazy antics of Karl. She has been my reminder of what life really is, what is important. 

There is one statement I wish to make right up front about my career. There has never been a day when I did not enjoy going to work.