Congress Concerned Concerning Coast Guard Handling of Harassment Cases

The U.S. Coast Guard’s leadership has failed to conduct prompt, thorough and impartial investigations of harassment and bullying allegations, according to a congressional investigation released Wednesday December 11, 2019.
 The Congressional Report had no historical perspective. The authors of the Report appear to have done no background investigation, at all. The History of Black Americans at the Coast Guard Academy is only about 50 years old. The History of females at the Academy is only about 30 years old.
 https://cgachasehall.blogspot.com/2020/09/us-troops-battling-racism-report-high.htmlhttps://cgachasehall.blogspot.com/2020/09/us-troops-battling-racism-report-high.html
The Coast Guard has been around since 1790. The Academy was established in 1876. The Report appears to have gone no further back than about 2005.
The background for the Report was so weak that the Report has no persuasive value. It lacks merit. Policy makers can almost ignore it with impunity. It will not spur policy changes.
Conspicuously absent from the Report was any mention of the Cadet Webster Smith Case where a Senior Black Cadet was expelled in 2006 after being punished by a General Court-martial. Nine months after his girlfriend had aborted their child, he was charged with having raped her, among other things.
The Rape Charge was dismissed at the trial, but Cadet Smith was convicted of other charges. He was sentenced to 6 months in jail, and a Bad Conduct Discharge, among other things.
The severe undeserved punishment directed at Cadet Smith makes harassment and bullying seem like child’s play. He took it like a man. He moved on. He appealed his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court, to no avail.
This was the first court-martial of a Cadet. It was an American Tragedy. The story of the case was fully documented in a book, CONDUCT UNBECOMING AN OFFICER AND A LADY, UCGC, Vol 02, Nr 01A, by Judge London Steverson (Amazon.com).
The report, called “Righting the Ship,” also found Coast Guard leaders didn’t hold officials accountable for deficient and incomplete investigations and didn’t take corrective action to address retaliation against people who report harassment and bullying. It concludes that the service needs to make “significant improvements” in its policies and procedures.
The U.S. House Oversight and Homeland Security Committees launched the 18-month investigation after questions were raised about how complaints were handled at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. Subcommittees for the two committees discussed the findings Wednesday, December 11, during a joint hearing.

By way of background, a study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2008 after a series of revelations about sexual misconduct at U.S. military academies, found that  the Coast Guard was not required to report to Congress any measures taken  to stem the tide of sexual assaults and harassment cases at the Coast Guard Academy. The GAO noted the Coast Guard Academy was the only U.S. military academy not required to report to Congress on sexual-misconduct cases.
According to the GAO Report, from 2003 to 2006 there were NO sexual-harassment complaints at the Coast Guard Academy, but there were 12 incidents of sexual assault reported to the Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), with one incident in 2003, one in 2004, “NONE” in 2005 and 10 in 2006.  

The GAO report suggests that CGA’s figures may not tell the full story. In Point of Fact, thirteen female cadets and 11 males at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (CGA) reported anonymously in an April 2008 survey that they experienced “unwanted sexual contact,” ranging from touching to forced sexual acts, during the 2007-08 school year. 
More than three-quarters said that alcohol or drugs were involved and that the offender was a fellow cadet.  None of the women sought professional help and only 7 percent discussed the incident with authorities. Not enough of the male respondents answered follow-up questions to provide data, according to the Defense Department survey.

”The fact that we have cadets who are being predators on cadets bothers me because I'm committed to giving cadets a safe living and working environment,” said Capt. John Fitzgerald, the new Commandant of Cadets at the time. “I'm not going to rest until the day I leave here, working to eradicate that.”

A survey of cadets, done by CGA in October 2006, found that there were 23 incidents of sexual assault involving 14 women and nine men. Cadet focus groups revealed acceptance, and even encouragement, of alcohol use. A few months before that survey was taken, senior cadet Webster Smith was court-martialed on charges of sexual assault, among other things.
The Defense Department conducts a congressionally mandated “service academy gender relations survey” every two years at West Point, Annapolis and the U.S. Air Force Academy. CGA, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), voluntarily participated the previous year instead of doing its own survey of cadets. Participating was a way to make CGA more transparent and to give Coast Guard officials an unbiased look at the state of gender relations at the school, Fitzgerald said.  Cadets were told about the survey at a meeting and could choose whether or not to complete it.
It is difficult to draw comparisons between past CGA surveys and the DOD version because the surveys use different terminology, like “sexual assault” versus “unwanted sexual contact,” and ask about different time-frames, such as a cadet's entire time at the academy versus one school year.
At the DOD academies, 9 percent of women and 1 percent of men reported experiencing some form of unwanted sexual contact in 2006, while 52 percent of women and 11 percent of men said they were sexually harassed. At CGA, 44 percent of women and 14 percent of men reported being sexually harassed. More than three-quarters said the offender was a fellow cadet.

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Michael McAllister said at the hearing the service’s senior leaders are taking “every step to foster and develop a climate that’s free from harassment, bullying and retaliation” and take all complaints seriously. The congressional investigation was launched by the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat who worked on Coast Guard diversity issues throughout his career, and Thompson, in consultation with U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney. Courtney, a Connecticut Democrat whose district includes the academy, said the report isn’t an attack on the Coast Guard, but if there’s a problem it needs to be fixed.
Adm. Karl Schultz, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, was asked to testify Wednesday December 11, 2019. Committee leaders said Schultz declining to appear reinforces their concerns that the Coast Guard leadership does not takes the issues seriously enough. They criticized the Coast Guard for delaying the delivery of requested documents and heavily redacting them during the investigation.
In their report, the lawmakers said other Coast Guard officers, including retired Capt. Kevin Lopes, former head of the Coast Guard Academy’s Management Department, and retired Rear Adm. James Rendon, the former Superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy, also declined requests to speak to the congressional investigators.
But McAllister said he spoke for the service because he is in charge of human resources, training and personnel policy. He said it was their intent to be responsive and transparent, and pursuing a diverse and inclusive service is a top priority.
#ucgc #justice
#ucgc #justice

Conspicuously absent from the Report was any mention of the Cadet Webster Smith Case where a Senior Black Cadet was expelled in 2006 after being punished by a General Court-martial. Nine months after his girlfriend had aborted their child, he was charged with having raped her, among other things. This was the first Court-martial of a Cadet. The story of the case was fully documented in a book, CONDUCT UNBECOMING AN OFFICER AND A LADY, UCGC, Vol 02, Nr 01A, by Judge London Steverson (Amazon.com).

Bill Kelly Becomes 42nd Superintendent at USCGA, May 2019

New Coast Guard Academy Superintendent Says His Job Is To 'Seek Out the Blind Spots'

Rear Adm. William G. Kelly became the 42nd Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on May 30, 2019. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/Matt Thieme)

10 Sep 2019

The Day, New London, Conn. | By Julia Bergman

NEW LONDON -- The new superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy, just over 100 days into the job, said the academy has done much over the years to increase the diversity of its student body. Women now make up 40 percent of the roughly 1,000 cadets on campus, and minorities constitute 32 percent.
Now the question is: "We're at the point where we're diverse, but are we inclusive?" Rear Adm. Bill Kelly said during a meeting Monday with The Day's Editorial Board.

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Kelly, a 1987 academy graduate, who was previously the Coast Guard's chief of human resources, has described his return to the academy as a homecoming. He was stationed on campus from 2003 to 2006 as the leader of the Officer Candidate School, and again from 2008 to 2012 as the head of the Leadership Development Center.
Related: Coast Guard Rescues Nearly 300 People in the Bahamas Following Hurricane Dorian
He pointed to recent news headlines, which demonstrate the important work of the Coast Guard, whose officers all undergo training at the academy, including rescuing hundreds in the Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian, responding to the worst maritime disaster in recent California history, and just Monday, rescuing crew members from a capsized cargo ship off the Georgia coast.
"We're out there doing good stuff. We are the world's best Coast Guard. ... That's my perception. That's my reality," Kelly said, adding that he's looking through "a set of glasses that are 54 years old, that of a white male."
"Does everybody on our campus feel the same way?" he said.
As superintendent, Kelly said one of his main responsibilities is "to seek out our blind spots."
The academy, which was ranked one of the top colleges in the 2019 U.S. News & World Report listings, has its challenges, Kelly said, but what he's learned from meeting with his counterparts from across the country since taking the job is that other colleges and universities are facing similar issues.
"They're dealing with mental health. They're dealing with diversity and inclusion on board their campuses. They're dealing with financial constraints," he said.
Kelly took over as superintendent in the midst of a congressional probe into the academy's handling of discrimination and harassment complaints, and a separate review by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General into whether the academy has adequate processes in place for reporting, investigating and acting on such complaints.
He said one of his main priorities is creating a safe and inclusive community on campus, and that he is engaging a cross-section of people on how to best do that. The academy now has a system in place to more easily identify inequities on campus, he said.
After being the first U.S. service academy to undergo a process called the Equity Scorecard, which evaluates institutions on student performance with a focus on equity, the academy put in place a system to collect and analyze this data on its own.
The scorecard found discrepancies in graduation and retention rates, disciplinary action, and academic performance, for example. Speaking to one of the findings, that black cadets faced disciplinary action more than any other group, Kelly said data the academy has collected since shows "the numbers have changed."
"We've raised the understanding of equity across the campus," he said.
The data are allowing the academy to more readily evaluate and address inequities, but another way Kelly said he can gain insight into the culture at the academy is through a course he's co-teaching on morals and ethics for sophomores, juniors and seniors.
"Think about being in a morals and ethics discussion with your cadets, what greater insight can you have than to do that?" he said.
While the cadets are "warming up" to the idea of being taught a class by the superintendent, no one has asked him a question yet. "They haven't said, 'Sir, what do you think about X,'" Kelly said. It's his responsibility, he said, is to create an environment that they feel comfortable doing that."
This article is written by Julia Bergman from The Day, New London, Conn. and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.

Floating Coffins

"The Responsibility of a Coast Guard Commanding Officer for the safety of the ship‘s crew is absolute", said Vice Admiral Charles Wurster, Pacific Area Commander, at a press briefing for the Coast Guard‘s Integrated Support Command following the deaths of LT Jessica Hill and BM2 Steve Duque caused by the negligence of CAPT Doug Russell, CO; and CDR Jeffrey Jackson, XO; and LCDR James Dalitsch, OPS.

CDR John R. Bitterman was listening closely. That is one reason he chose not to go to sea on a Floating Coffin in Seattle, Washington. He pointed out some repairs needed to make his ship 💯% seaworthy. For this, among other things, he was given a Punitive Letter of Loss Of Confidence. He was relieved on command. And his spotless record fatally tarnished. His 28 year career was over. ADM Ray told him that he was going to be THE FALL GUY.

This is an outrage. CDR Bitterman was not brought up on charges under the UCMJ. He was lynched administratively. This is a gross miscarriage. This can’t be. It must be reversed.

In a nutshell, CDR Bitterman, this decorated Officer, was given a “Loss Of Confidence Letter” and relieved of command based on gossip, rumor and lies. He pointed out certain structural deficiencies that were long term. He did not want to skipper a floating coffin. The crew lacked discipline and complained through back channels. And some staff officers were quick to torpedo his career for various reasons: jealousy, envy, and to cover their own butts. They had been hiding structural and disciplinary problems for some time. CDR Bitterman became the Fall Guy because he would not play ball. #ucgc #justice

John Bitterman's Quest For Justice, UCGC Vol 04 Nr 01

CDR John Bitterman fought on the Front line in the War On Drugs. Now, he is fighting for his Reputation. He has been praised by the Vice President of the United States, the Secretary of State, the American Ambassador to Colombia, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Commander of the Southern Command, and the Commandant of the U S Coast Guard, among others. He is on a Quest For Justice. Truth and Equity are on his side.

                                                                 

 „The Responsibility of a Coast Guard Commanding Officer for the safety of the ship‘s crew is absolute „ said Vice Admiral Charles Wurster, Pacific Area Commander, at a press briefing for the Coast Guard‘s Integrated Support Command following the deaths of LT Jessica Hill and BM2 Steve Duque caused by the negligence of CAPT Doug Russell, CO; and CDR Jeffrey Jackson, CO; and LCDR James Dalitsch.
CDR John R. Bitterman was listening closely. That is one reason he chose not to go to sea on a Floating Coffin in Seattle, Washington. He pointed out some repairs needed to make his ship 💯% seaworthy. For this, among other things, he was given a Punitive Letter Of Loss Of Confidence. He was relieved on command. And his spotless record fatally tarnished. His 28 year career was over. ADM Ray told him that he was going to be THE FALL GUY.
This is an outrage. CDR Bitterman was not brought up on charges under the UCMJ. He was lynched administratively. This is a gross miscarriage. This can’t be. It must be reversed.
CDR Bitterman has commanded several Coast Guard High Endurance Law Enforcement Vessels. He also served with the Law Enforcement Team 8-G in Galveston, Texas, and in the Coast Guard’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He was the Coast Guard’s Police Attaché in Bogota, Colombia.
For most of us, Colombia is just a place where bad things happen, and we hope it never reaches our neighborhood. We immediately associate it with Drugs, massacres, and political corruption. We think that Colombia supplies most of the cocaine and heroin that comes into the USA, but unless you are a part of the Hollywood Elites you cannot afford it.
Much of what we know about Colombia and the Drug Cartels comes from the movies. We are entertained by violence associated with the drug law enforcement efforts and the War on Drugs. We assume that Colombia has a Culture of Violence. We hope and pray that it never migrates North to the United States. We want to contain it there. So, we are happy to send people like CDR Bitterman to Colombia to contain it and to assure us that it will never make it to our Country.
We are happy to have men like CDR John Bitterman on the Wall that separates us from the horrors of the War on Drugs. He did his duty. He saved us for the unspeakable horrors of narco-trafficing violence; now he is asking us to help save his 28 year old career.
Truth and Equity are on his side. But, he needs more than that. He needs every right-thinking American who believes in Justice and Fairness to champion his cause. He needs you to read this book. It tells his story. Then, he needs you to get involved. Call or write your Representative in Washington. Ask them to put pressure of the U S Coast Guard to correct the wrong done to CDR Bitterman. Demand that they review and reconsider his case, correct the Record. Act in accordance with our Core Values, make America great again.
 CDR John Bitterman fought on the Front line in the War On Drugs. Now, he is fighting for his Reputation. He has been praised by the Vice President of the United States, the Secretary of State, the American Ambassador to Colombia, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Commander of the Southern Command, and the Commandant of the U S Coast Guard, among others. He is on a Quest For Justice. Truth and Equity are on his side.
CDR Bitterman has commanded several Coast Guard High Endurance Law Enforcement Vessels. He also served with the Law Enforcement Team 8-G in Galveston, Texas, and in the Coast Guard’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He was the Coast Guard’s Police Attaché in Bogota, Colombia.
For most of us, Colombia is just a place where bad things happen, and we hope it never reaches our neighborhood. We immediately associate it with Drugs, massacres, and political corruption. We think that Colombia supplies most of the cocaine and heroin that comes into the USA, but unless you are a part of the Hollywood Elites you cannot afford it.
Much of what we know about Colombia and the Drug Cartels comes from the movies. We are entertained by violence associated with the drug law enforcement efforts and the War on Drugs. We assume that Colombia has a Culture of Violence. We hope and pray that it never migrates North to the United States. We want to contain it there. So, we are happy to send people like CDR Bitterman to Colombia to contain it and to assure us that it will never make it to our Country.
We are happy to have men like CDR John Bitterman on the Wall that separates us from the horrors of the War on Drugs. He did his duty. He saved us for the unspeakable horrors of narco-trafficing violence; now he is asking us to help save his 28 year old career.
Truth and Equity are on his side. But, he needs more than that. He needs every right-thinking American who believes in Justice and Fairness to champion his cause. He needs you to read this book. It tells his story. Then, he needs you to get involved. Call or write your Representative in Washington. Ask them to put pressure of the U S Coast Guard to correct the wrong done to CDR Bitterman. Demand that they review and reconsider his case, correct the Record. Act in accordance with our Core Values, make America great again.
#justice #ucgc #uscg
 This man does not slam-dunk a Basketball; and, he does not run through a Hole in the Defensive-Line with a Football.
He does not stand on stage or in front of a camera and recite trite Lines of Verbiage written by some drug-induced Degenerate intent on blurring the lines of distinction between the Genders in our Society.
He does not hide behind a disguise and burn the American Flag or deface Public Monuments that tell the History of America’s Founding.
He does not entertain you. He does not attempt to restrict you in the free exercise of your Rights of Free Speech, Press or Assembly.
He would never tell you what you can or cannot say, where you can or cannot go, who you can or cannot love, or what you can or cannot do in the privacy of your own home.
He would never pit you against each other simply to divide and control you.
Why or why not, you may ask. Because,
He is an Authentic American Hero;
A straight, white, male, military Officer;
A Christian, Father, Husband of one Wife;
An old-fashioned, hard-working, dedicated Coast Guard Officer who took an Oath 28 years ago to do his best to do his Duty to God and Country. And he has never broken that Oath.
For this, he has been slimed, slandered, and smeared by men and women of less noble character.
He has never broken Faith with his Superiors in the Chain-of-Command.
Yet, he has been falsely accused, robbed of a portion of his dignity, and stripped of his Mantle of Office.
He is on a Quest for Justice.
He asks only for a Fair Hearing.
He demands only Equal Justice.
He prays that those he has protected will come to his aide; make a phone call, write a Letter or type a Tweet to their elected Representatives in Washington, DC.
Demand Justice for Commander Bitterman!
#justice #ucgc #uscg  

On 9/03/2020 His Grandfather left on The Great Adventure. In John's own words:
QUOTE:

Today we say farewell to a true legend, my Grandfather John passed away today at 102 years young. I ask that you take a moment to scroll through the next few lines to understand the scope and scale of a truly wonderful life and hero.
1918
I want to give everyone some perspective. The date is November 17th, 1918. Now, I want you to picture yourself in a world without cell phones. I know, I know, for many of you the panic is setting in, but please bare with me for a moment. There are no televisions, no computers, and more importantly no rush hour traffic. In short, many of the modern conveniences we enjoy today were just infants. A loaf of bread costs just $0.10, a tub of butter costs $0.58 and a dozen eggs costs about $0.57. The average middle class income family earns $1,500 a year. And grandpa John is opening his eyes for the first time as if to say hello to his parents Ernest and Neva Thompson in Lajara, CO.
On this day he will become the eldest of seven and is later followed by his brothers and sister: Ernest, Harry, Betty, Stanley, Thurman, and Chauncey Thompson. Just a week prior to his birth, world leaders were meeting in Versailles, France to sign a treaty ending World War I – the war to end all wars. Woodrow Wilson is president, the first delivery of messages by plane was launched by the U.S. Post Office connecting New York to Washington, DC. In March of that same year, Time Zones are officially established and daylight savings goes into effect. The Eiffel Tower is the world’s tallest structure until the construction of the Chrysler Building in New York city is completed in 1930. The most popular car on the road is the Model T costing a mere $500.00; Charlie Chaplin is the biggest movie star with his silent film persona, “the Tramp.”
Over the next 102 years, Grandpa John would encounter a plethora of firsts. Like he, the world was coming to life and more interconnected. Many things that we take for granted today were just coming of age. For example, Grandpa John is just 2-years old, but in that same year the 18th Amendment to the Constitution is enacted instituting prohibition; it isn’t repealed the enactment of the 21st Amendment in 1933. Imagine, for 13 years it is illegal to buy a drop of alcohol in the United States.
1920’s
In 1920, the U.S. Census showed the U.S. population had, for the first time, grown to 106 million people; today America’s population is estimated to be approximately 315 million people. In response to the 1920 census, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924 placing national quotas on Eastern and Southern European Nationalities curbing their immigration to the US. In 1922, the Reader’s Digest is founded; the Lincoln Memorial, located on the opposite end of the National Mall from the U.S. Capitol building, is dedicated; and Yankee Stadium is built. During that same decade, Time Magazine is published for the first time ever; Warner Brothers Pictures is incorporated; Radiovision is born; Charles Lindberg makes the first ever non-stop Transatlantic flight flying from Roosevelt, New York to Paris, France; and on October 29th, 1929 the Stock Market crashes starting the worst American depression in the nation’s history.
What is interesting is Grandpa John had some pretty amazing experiences that would shape his life. In 1928 , at the ripe old age of 10, grandpa John’s dad teaches him to drive a new 1928 Chevrolet 4-cylinder 1-ton truck on the baseball diamond in Sedalia. Later that year John drove his first truck when his father had a milk route hauling 10-gallon cans of milk from the Frink Creamery in Sedalia and the Brenden Creamery on South Broadway in Denver. In 1929, John drove his second truck when his dad bought a new 1929 Chevrolet 6-cylinder 1-ton truck. In 1931, grandpa John got his first car at the age of 12. Now, the windshield wipers didn’t work and he eventually wrecked the car when he ran into a lumber truck on a bridge while it was raining. Unfortunately, his dad would die of tuberculosis on May 5th, of that same year and grandpa John would stop going to school to start work to support the family.
1930’s
The world in the 1930’s was an interesting place. After the crash of the stock market, the world plunged into the great depression, the heartland of America become the great dust bowl due to over-farming, Jessie Owens won four gold medals at the Olympics in Germany, and Adolf Hitler rose to power ultimately threating global stability. Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected to president and between his fire side chats and the era of the New Deal, America slowly rises from near collapse. But the world is about to explode.
From 1937 – 1940 grandpa John worked as an auto mechanic and was employed by “Art” Gavin in Sedalia. In Art’s garage, he did general overhauling and repair work. He specialized in transmission and engine repairs. This lasted until 1940 when John began working for Carter Truck Lines transporting milk from Larkspur to Palmer Lake, Monument, Eastonville, Peyton, and Calahan. His day would start a 4:00 am and his milk deliveries would end at about 10:00am. After that he would drive to Canon City where he would haul coal for the remainder of the day. In the evening he would sweep the coal dust out of the bed of the truck to prepared for the next day’s milk run. He worked 365-days a year making $35.00 a month.
1940’s
On a sunny December 7th, 1941, grandpa John was in Castle Rock getting a haircut when he learned that Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. On January 12th, 1942, grandpa John was drafted into the US Army at Fort Logan, Colorado. He attended basic training at Fort Warren in Cheyenne, Wyoming and afterwards found himself at Will Rogers Field in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma assigned to the 160th Quartermaster Truck company, 321st Service Group. In 1943, John took a troop train from Kansas to New York City. On May 15th, 1943 he boarded a US Army Transport sailing through the Panama Canal to Bora Bora. During the war, grandpa John fought in three campaigns: New Guinea, Southern Philippines, and the Bismarck Archipelago East Indies. He would go on to be awarded: the Asiatic Pacific Services Medal, Philippine Liberation Medal, American Service Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. But, the medal with the greatest story is his purple heart.
On November 24th, 1944 grandpa John is teaching truck driving at Moratai on the New Hebrides Islands. Later that evening he and his brothers in arms were watching enemy bombers fly overhead when a bomb struck the tent next to his killing six of the eight men; one of the men was just 23-years old. In the attack he too would be struck by shrapnel earning him the purple heart. Despite his wounds, John continued to serve in the Philippine campaign against Japan. He saw the end of World War II when in August of 1945 then President Truman ordered the striking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the first atomic bombs “Fat Man” and “Little Boy,” the most destructive force the world had ever seen at the time. Grandpa John was honorably discharge as a corporal on November 7th, 1945, and returned to Colorado.
Upon returning to the states, grandpa John resumed working as an auto mechanic for Kenny McIntyre, who was the brother of Paul who owned Johnson’s Corner in Sedalia. With the help of his mother-in-law, great-grandma Ellen Bowman, Grandpa bought a new semi-truck and joined up with Johnny Cummins. Leasing the services of the truck to Jack Hunter, who owned Hunter Fruit and Produce, John and Johnny delivered produce throughout Colorado. Johnny quit driving later that year giving his share to John. After a few trips, grandpa John was unable to keep up the payments and the truck was returned to the dealership. Grandpa would later go on to work for the Douglas County Department of Highways. That venture did not last long as the calling to the open road continued.
The Modern Age
In 1947, John earned his first job as a “professional” driver working for W. J. Digby. He earned $100 per week shipping items from Colorado to Florida and back. During this same period, tensions between in Korea were rising and President Truman began sending peace advisors to the region to prevent the spread of communism. The US would eventually employ a strategy called the domino theory with the belief that if one country fell to communism, the entire region would threatening US interests and global stability. Over time, the Russians would conduct their first atomic explosion, the US and Russia would assume a position of mutually assured destruction, and with the arrival of Dwight D. Eisenhower president the Cold War would begin. During that same time period, Johnny Cummins would pursue his love of music and go on the road traveling with the likes of Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, June Carter, Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Grandpa John meanwhile would continue his love of the open road working for Cosper Trucking, who served as the primary distributor of an up and coming brewery known as Coors. On January 21st, 1978 grandpa John began working for Leprino Transportation Company and then Navajo Trucking before retiring from trucking at the age of 82. To the best of our knowledge, grandpa John drove a truck for approximately 72-years and we estimate he officially logged over 8,000,000 miles with no speeding tickets or accidents as a professional driver. Despite his time on the road, Grandpa John was helped raise his children: Judy, Kathy, Kevin, Jerry, and Greg. He was a grandfather to 11 grandchildren and great-grandfather to 20 children.
There is no way to truly capture everything grandpa John experienced so in closing, let me give you this food for thought - in addition to everything else I have said, grandpa John also:
Witnessed America’s rise as a superpower as she fought and won wars in the Far East, Europe, Africa, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, the Middle East, and even the Cold War.
He saw the propeller airplane when flight was just an infant and then later on took a direct flight in a jet airplane from the US to Malaysia to visit family. In this same sense he witnessed the development of the first helicopter, Chuck Yeager break the speed of sound, the launch of the first satellite into space, Neil Armstrong’s famous words “One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind” from the moon, the arrival of the space shuttle transporting goods to the international space station, and rovers searching for life on Mars.
He made phone calls on a phone with no buttons using an operator and a party line, then saw the arrival of the rotary phone which transitioned to a mobile phone carried in a suit case. As we all know this has since been replaced by the smart phone often operated by not so smart people.
Grandpa John listened to music on a phonograph as a child, a record as a teen, an eight track tape, a cassette tape, a CD, an iPhone, and music coming from “the cloud.”
He once watched silent movies on a silver screen, watched Miracle on 34th Street at a movie theater, took a date to The Wizard of Oz – the first movie ever in color. He bought a VCR for $700 in the mid-1970’s, experienced Imax, and once watched a movie in 3D.
In the past hundred and two years he lived in a world influenced by seventeen presidents from Woodrow Wilson, our 28th President to President Trump our 45th President, Helen Keller, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali, Anne Frank, Sigmund Freud, Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Lucille Ball, Bruce Lee, Steven Spielberg, Walt Disney, T.S. Elliot, Bill Gates, Winston Churchill, Diana – Princess of Whales, Mikhail Gorbachev, Billy Graham, Pope John Paul II, Coco Chanel, Estee Lauder, Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, Marilyn Monroe, Mother Teresa, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, and of course number 18 himself - Peyton Manning.
Ladies and Gentlemen, all I can say is what a life and should we all be so lucky. Rest In Peace young fella.
UNQUOTE

Life As A U S Coast Guard Officer UCGC Vol 3, Nr 3. (Amazon Books)

Only in America could my Life Story have been possible. God has blessed me and my family. 

I rose from abject poverty and climbed several rungs up the Socioeconomic Ladder. I was the first person in my family to complete high school, college and graduate school. My brother and sister have post- graduate educational degrees. None of us have ever been on Welfare. We have had 40-year careers as professionals. 
 America is unique. God has blessed America. I rose from abject poverty and climbed several rungs up the Socioeconomic Ladder. I was the first person in my family to complete high school, college and graduate school. 

 Living in America is not always  “peaches and cream”, if you are a Person of Color (POC). Life is not a Rose Garden for Black People no matter how well off you are economically. America can appear to be a Police State for a POC. Just going about your normal daily activities anywhere in America, chances are you are going to come into contact with police and other law enforcement personnel.

 I have had many encounters with white cops. Most of them have been pleasant, some not so pleasant. It did not matter what I was wearing or the time of day, it was the character and education of the cop that determined how the situation was resolved. Sometimes I was wearing my military officers' uniform, other times I was wearing a suit and tie, but the manner that I was treated usually was determined by how comfortable the cop felt in dealing with a POC. I have been disrespected. I have been insulted. I have received Traffic Tickets. I have never been hand-cupped. I have never been arrested. I have never been beaten like Rodney King in California.

We are parents and grand parents. Not one of our children has ever been in jail or in the hospital, except to deliver a baby. Not one person in my family has a criminal record. We own our own homes. Some own several. We have traveled and seen most of the Free World. Until we left home our parents had never traveled more than 50 miles from where they were born. 
Several of our Grand Parents were born, lived and died in the same house that their parents had lived in. In one generation we went from the cotton field to the Board Room and the Court Room. 
We were raised as Bible base Christian Missionary Baptists. We learned to pray before the age of three. Our Mother prayed hard and constantly. She taught us that God will make a way some how. And she was correct. Her prayers have been answered to the fourth generation. Her Faith was not been in vain. Only in America, a Christian Constitutional Republic could our story have been possible.

I am a Story Teller. This is my story. It is my Life. Looking back, I am convinced that God was in charge of my Life. He guided me as a Father would guide his child. He protected me when I ventured off the straight and narrow path. He endowed me with the Power Of Choice and placed me in a Country where I had Freedom to choose. I am happy with the choices I made.

Reading this Book is a stroll down Memory Lane. Most of it was written by God as He spoke to me spiritually. The Words are His Words. The Events related are the ones He wants to emphasize and perpetuate. I enjoy reading my own book because God wrote it through me. I would write when I felt Divine Inspiration. Over the years I would feel spiritually moved to record and photograph certain things and keep them. The house where I was born is an example. Soon after I photographed it, it was destroyed. I have been saving material for over 50 years. I have been writing this book for about 13 years. I started writing in 2006 on a Laptop while vacationing at the Marriott Villas Resort in Newport Beach, California.

I have not sacrificed Truth and accuracy for entertainment and self-aggrandizement. Nor have I exercised journalistic license to embellish. The facts, the events, the people and places are all true to the best of my recollection.

These events in my Life spanned eight Decades of American History. They tell the story of the American Transition from Post-slavery Agrarianism, to Segregation and Jim Crow, and Separate-But-Equal, through the Civil Rights Movement, to Integration and finally  back to the Beginnings Of The New-Segregation. This is evident in higher education.

In 2018 Black Graduates At Harvard University opted for a Separate Black Only Graduation Ceremony. In 2019 more than 73 institutions of higher learning opted for separate ethnic-specific ceremonies. It appears that this phenomenon is spreading and may become the New Norm. I hope not. It is not the American Dream that we fought for. We believed in inclusion and fought to be included in the greater American Society. We were not Separatists and did not want to be excluded from Main Stream America.

God has chosen to tell this story through my life. I hope that others will enjoy reading this book as much as I. I pray that it will serve as a source of inspiration to my children and to future generations of Americans.