On 31 December 2011, Jim retired from the Department of Defense after a 31 year career with the US Army and US Marine Corps. He was active duty military with the US Army Combat Engineers from 1980-1984 stationed in Pine Bluff, AR and Wurzburg, Germany. After his Honorable Discharge and earning an Associate's Degree in Computer-Aided Architectural Design, Jim was employed by the Army as a civilian Engineering Draftsman and later Engineering Technician at Pine Bluff Arsenal, AR (1985-1988) and Rock Island Arsenal, IL (1988-1990). In 1990, Jim transferred to Albany, GA to work for the US Marine Corps as a Technical Equipment Illustrator (1990-2004). From 2005 to his retirement date, he served as the Lead Equipment Specialist for Marine Corps Systems Command's Logistics Support Office in Albany, GA. Jim was responsible for providing provisioning policy, processes, tools, and training for nearly 150 government, military, and contractor Equipment Specialists (provisioners). Jim is now relaxing, playing golf, picking guitar and singing country and bluegrass gospel music, and continuing with the renovation of his 100+ year old home in Sasser, GA.