A Journey With Me as a Cowboy, Warrior and Lawyer

The chronicles that follow detail memories of life as a young boy growing up in Coaldale Junction, a small, isolated community in central Nevada, with a lone truck stop, a bar, a restaurant, and a motel owned by Jewel and Elton Parsons. Jewell my maternal grandmother, and Elton, Jewell’s second marriage, but the only grandfather I knew. Coaldale Junction sits at the intersection of Highways 6 and 95, 40 miles from Tonopah and 30 miles from Mina, the closest towns. It is right in the middle of the Nevada desert: sagebrush fields, alkaloid salt marshes, and no fresh drinking water. These memoirs focus first on my childhood and adolescent efforts to become a cowboy on my uncle’s cattle ranch, and then on my days as a combat helicopter pilot in Vietnam. In the final section, I recount the trials and tribulations I went through to become a successful lawyer in the “Cow Counties” (in other words, the counties of central Nevada) while struggling to deal with my war memories. You will see how each of these stages of my life had an impact on the ones that followed, how these careers coalesced to form the person I became. The events and accounts are real, although I will note that memory fades and some of the details are missing. But the core is true. I must confess The “true” cowboy has the right to claim that he has never been bucked off a horse; that he has never been outsmarted by a cow; and that he won his belt buckle at the rodeo. The “true” warrior is the best pilot who fears nothing, and who can fly anything that goes into the sky. The “true” lawyer will state that a trial was never lost through any fault of his. Another lawyer has never outsmarted him, and he knows pretty much everything. My developmental days as a “wannabe” buckaroo will introduce you to the majestic valleys, mountain canyons and high meadows of Big Smoky Valley, in central Nevada — namely the RO Ranch, then owned by my uncle and mentor, Carl Haas. The sights and scents of the towering mountains, open prairies, and spectacular sagebrush in bloom would take your breath away. My attendance of high school at San Rafael Military Academy in San Rafael California giving the chance to excel in the military structure, setting me up for what I thought would be a lifelong military career. Later, I made it through the four-year Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program at the University of Nevada. I received a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Field Artillery Branch. After I had completed the officer basic course, I applied for flight school. Once I passed the flight physical, I was accepted into the Army aviation program. After completing the course, I was ordered to Vietnam. Vietnam would be an experience that would only not be like anything I had faced, but a taxing tour of duty that changed my life forever. Yet, through skill and luck I would survive and my first orders were to return to Ft. Rucker and get into the instructor pilot course. After that, I would teach instrument flying for my last year of active duty. Becoming an instructor pilot came in handy, because after being admitted into law school, I was able to work as an instructor pilot with the National Guard during the day while attending law school at night at Sacramento’s University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. After graduation from law school, I passed the Nevada state bar exam. A couple of years as Deputy District Attorney, and then had a private practice with public defender contracts for over 35 years. In this book, I describe the situations that brought me laughter, tears, and fears as I moved through life. As you read, you will feel like you were there with me. My words will allow you to experience the sounds, the sights and the smells of each incident. Some events of the war changed my life forever; at times these situations felt insurmountable. However, relying on the skills I had learned, as well as on my intuition and my ability to take the right