While serving in the U. S. Marines in San Francisco, California, the author met his "soon to be" bride at a St. Patrick's Day dance in March of 1955. In February, 1956 the couple ventured across Donner Pass in a raging blizzard and were married in Reno, Nevada. He then entered college on the Korean G.I. Bill and graduated from Washington State University in 1962 with a degree in veterinary medicine. He was then offered a commission in the Veterinary Corps of the U. S. Air Force. Awarded an Air Force scholarship, he graduated from the University of Rochester's School of Medicine in 1965 with a master's degree in radiation biology. Subsequently, as a member of the faculty of the Air Force Medical Service School, he taught elements of military triage, disaster medicine, and the medical effects of special weapons to new Air Force physicians, dentists, and nurses.
In January of 1969 Dr. Armstrong was sent to the Naval Language Institute in preparation for a unique assignment in Southeast Asia. Initially serving along the Laotian border at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, the author headed up a livestock diagnostic program jointly sponsored by the Agency for International Development and the 606th Special Operations Squadron. When the project abruptly closed in late November of that year he found himself responsible for the health of the seventy-six military working dogs assigned to the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Korat Air Base in Thailand. Additionally, he served as consultant to the Royal Thai Military Working Dog Center at Chantuk.
Back in the United States Dr. Armstrong returned to teaching. As a member of the faculty of the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine he again taught military medical subjects to new Air Force flight surgeons and also contributed to the text of the 2nd and 3rd editions of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' textbook, Emergency Care and Transportation of the Sick and Injured. In November of 1972 he became the first veterinarian to be accepted as an affiliate of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
In 1974 Dr. Armstrong was transferred to the 36th USAF Hospital at Bitburg, Germany. Between 1974 and 1977 he cared for the largest contingent of Air Force patrol dogs in Europe. In 1977, while stationed at Bitburg, he graduated from the Air War College. He also taught biological sciences for the European division of the University of Maryland as well as basic anatomy and physiology to emergency medical technicians for the European division of El Paso Community College. Then, in late 1977, Dr. Armstrong was transfered to the USAF European headquarters, where he directed all medical readiness activities for the USAFE Surgeon's Office at Ramstein, Germany. In that capacity he revitalized and redesigned the European Command's system of casualty evacuation. He has presented scientific papers in a wide range of venues including Moscow, Russia, Garmish, Germany, Tokyo and Okinawa, Japan, and Safad, Israel. He retired from the Air Force Veterinary Corps in 1982. He has since lectured on veterinary public health topics at Texas A&M University.
After his retirement in 1982, and for another ten years he directed the activities of the Houston Health Department's immense Animal Control Bureau. Shortly before his second retirement he began to explore writing as a method of easing his growing frustration with the daunting task of investigating hundreds of disfiguring animal bites and attacks every year, many involving children, and some of them fatal. On a daily basis there was also the parallel requirement for euthanizing an ever- increasing number of stray dogs and cats, as many as 30,000 a year.
Besides articles in military medical journals, Dr. Armstrong has published a full
page opinion piece in Newsweek Magazine on the pet animal overpopulation
problem and the pet's ultimate destruction.
He has also published two non-fiction essays in the Houston Chronicle's Texas Magazine, and a guest column in a small suburban Texas newspaper.
In retirement the author offers his expertise to victims of animal attacks and
their attorneys through an informative page on the Internet. He has served as an
expert witness on numerous occasions.
Forty seven years later, Dr. Armstrong is still married to his lovely San Francisco bride. The couple have four children and nine grandchildren, and live in Houston, Texas
Above, on the left, the CANIS Chapter One link will take you to the first page of chapter one so you can begin reading this mystery thriller.
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