I arrived at the United States Air Force Academy on December 1, 1995. Lt Col Gary "Gar" Frith, who I had worked with at Holloman AFB worked hard to get me to the Academy. I was originally selected to work for him in the 34th Operations Support Squadron, but I had an another old buddy from Japan that suggested my name for an opening in the Commandant of Cadets office (thanks John!).

After taking some time to decide which job to take, I finally decided on the commandant's office job. I was in the same office so long that I had people come to my office looking for "Dex" that always uttered the same sentence:  "I heard you're the man."  It's nice to have reputation of someone who can get the job done, and done right!  I worked for a total of three Commondant of Cadets during my 4.5 years at the Academy---Lieutenant General John D. Hopper, Jr. (now the Vice Commander, Air Education and Training Command at Randolph AFB, TX), Major General Stephen R. Lorenz (now the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., selected for reassignment as Commander, Alaskan Command, U.S Pacific Command; Commander, 11th Air Force, Pacific Air Forces; and Commander, Alaskan North American Defense Region, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. (Aug '04)), and finally Major General Mark A. Welsh III (now the Director of Global Power Programs, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.).