I am a recovering lawyer, retired Army officer, ski patroller, outdoorsman, husband, proud father of three and grandfather of seven.  Growing up in a military family, I went to nine different schools in California, Virginia, Florida, and Maryland before graduating from Highland High School in Albuquerque.  While in New Mexico, I became an aspiring mountain man learning to ski and polishing my skills as a hunter and fisherman.  College took me to the hills of Tennessee.  I graduated from the University of Tennessee with a BS in education. I taught 7th and 8th grades at Morristown Junior High school before entering active duty.  Honor graduate of my Officer Basic class, I volunteered for Airborne and Ranger training.  Distinguished Honor Graduate, or “top gun” in Ranger School, I stayed on for a short stint as an instructor.  I then joined 1st Battalion, 509th Airborne, 8th Infantry Division in Germany where I became a jumpmaster, and a senior parachutist.  From Germany I went to Viet Nam, where I joined 1st  Battalion, 7th Cavalry, First Air Cavalry Division conducting search and destroy missions as S-3 (air), and then as Commander, Bravo Company.  Back to Germany, I commanded Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.  After almost five years of continuous duty overseas, I was one of twenty-five officers in the Army selected for a full scholarship to law school.  At my alma mater, the University of Tennessee, I was an editor of the law review, and graduate of the year of Phi Delta Phi.  Assigned to the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, I served as trial counsel, chief trial counsel, and then chief defense counsel in almost two hundred criminal trials.  My next assignment was Deputy SJA of Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.  While there, I used my GI bill to attend New York University at night earning an LLM in Labor Law. Leaving active duty, I joined Spurgeon, Haney & Howbert in Colorado Springs where I focused my practice on employment law.  That firm later merged with Holland & Hart.  Along with my private law practice, I spent twelve years as a reservist in the Office of the Judge Advocate General at the Pentagon.  I retired as a colonel after thirty years of reserve and active service. I left Holland & Hart in 1987 to start Collins & McConnell where I continued to practice employment law until 1999.  My clients included the City of Colorado Springs, El Paso County, El Paso County Sheriff’s office, Federal Express, Honeywell, Atmel, Simtek, and many small businesses.  I served on the vestry at Chapel of Our Savior.  I also taught classes at Pikes Peak Community College, and the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (undergraduate and graduate classes), and served as a graduate advisor at Prescott College.  I was a member of the 1987 American Everest North Face Expedition, led the 1990 and 1992 Everest Environmental Expeditions, was a member of the 1994 Sagarmatha Environmental Expedition, and led the 1999 Kilimanjaro Environmental Expedition.  I am a past Secretary, and Vice-president of the American Alpine Club.  I received the David Brower Award for outstanding service in mountain conservation in 1991.  My book Gentle Expeditions-A Guide to Ethical Mountain Adventures, was published in 1996.  I have presented slide shows about my environmental work and adventures to audiences in Australia, Switzerland, Japan, India, Nepal, Canada, Peru, Antarctica, and throughout the United States. Retiring from law in 1999, Kevin Madler and I founded K B Mountain Adventures, a guiding business based near Westcliffe.  I have guided and taught horseback riding, horse packing, mountain biking, rock, ice and alpine climbing, winter adventure, and backcountry safety skills.  I was a member of the Custer County Search and Rescue Team, and the Custer County Sheriff’s Posse.  I am an EMT with five years experience on the Custer County Ambulance Corps.  My wife Phyllis and I moved to Steamboat Springs in 2007.  I guided horse trips for Steamboat Lake Outfitters that summer, joined the ski patrols at both Steamboat Ski Area as a volunteer and Howelsen Hill as a paid patroller, and completed the federal training required to become deployable with the Northwest Colorado Medical Reserve Corps.  I am a life member of both the American Legion and the VFW and a proud member of their combined honor guard. I am deeply committed to the Christian faith and I worship happily with the wonderful Steamboat Christian Center.  I believe we need to restore our one nation under God, and the principles upon which this country was founded.  While always respecting First Amendment rights, I am proud to thank God for our freedom, to pray with my supporters, and to look to the Bible for guidance.  This is what I mean when I say 'I am a man of faith.'