About me? So What...
Though in case you are wondering.....
I have been collecting Civil Defense stuff for 26 years and I've been exploring fallout shelters and bothering local emergency management people for almost as long. My interest in Civil Defense started with my interest in World War II when I was a kid. I guess my interest officially started when I began noticing Fallout Shelter signs. I associated them with the air raid shelters of World War II. The photo at right was taken in 2002. I am standing under the Fallout Shelter sign that began all of this. This shelter sign is located in a medical building in Dallas. I would always check out the sign when my mom took me to the doctor. When I looked at that sign I would always think to myself "I wonder what's down there."

My collection started in 1980 with an envelope full of CD stuff I received from the Dallas Office Of Emergency Preparedness. My collection has been growing ever since and has become almost unmanageable with the space I have. I have received many generous donations from Emergency Management folks and others over the last few years and I would like to thank all of them. My collection wouldn't be squat without the stuff (mainly radiation instruments) they have sent me. I have even received some items from a couple of US Air Force bases. Thanks to everyone for everything!!! Now if I could just find somewhere to display all this stuff.

Other...
No, I'm not a "survivalist" (whatever that is) who has a bomb shelter in my backyard. I wouldn't mind having a bomb shelter because it would be nice to run the family down into if there was ever a large tornado approaching and if it was large enough it would make a cool recording studio. ;-)
I have other interests and things going on such as World War II/Cold War/Aircraft history, basic electronics, music (banging on a guitar, I wouldn't actually call it playing), any mechanical nonsense (I'm a "machinist" now but spent 12 years in the zany world of automotive service) and, of course, my family.

One more thing...
If anyone who might be reading this is ever involved in making a Cold War related documentary or history piece keep in mind there was so much more to Civil Defense than Bert The Turtle and Duck And Cover. Bert's cool but he's everywhere. I guess Bert's the most convenient thing to pull out of the can when putting something together. That's why you won't find Bert here because he's everywhere else.