How Jumping from Airplanes Made Me a Good Trial Lawyer

It was my honor to serve as an infantry officer in the 82nd Airborne Division from 1965 to 1969. You might say my military career began with ROTC at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas. The discipline and service to country taught through ROTC appealed to me as well as the leadership tools presented. I ultimately became Cadet Corps commander. Upon entering Arlington State College (now the University of Texas at Arlington), my ROTC service continued. I was commander of the Sam Houston Rifles and the Cadet Corps commander of the ROTC at ASC. As a result, I was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and chose to serve in the Airborne Infantry, where we learned to jump out of perfectly good airplanes.    Following my basic training at Fort Benning and Fort Bragg, I was immediately sent to serve in the Dominican Republic as part of the peacekeeping mission (jumping out of perfectly good helicopters). Once that service was completed, I returned to Fort Bragg to ultimately become a captain and company commander. It was during this time that I decided the U.S. Army was no longer what I desired as a career. Before I could resign my…