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Tim always made friends easily and others naturally followed his lead.  He joined the service right out of high school, in 1978.  He wanted to fly helicopters but opted to work on them, instead.  He was good with his hands and had an almost uncanny ability to understand anything mechanical.  He did so well in AIT, that his instructors had hoped that he would remain and become an instructor as well - it all depended on what orders came through first.  His orders to do overseas duty in Korea, near the DMZ, came through first.  He was a fan of M*A*S*H and had always wanted to go to Korea.

After Korea, Tim was a crew chief, stationed at Ft. Campbell.  He was adventurous and often volunteered for other duties - he even considered being a Ranger.  On the date of his death, he was at Eglin AFB in Florida, taking part in a training exercise in which he played the role of a "downed pilot".  A hovering helicopter dropped a cable and harness assembly, which Tim put on.  The carabiner hook, behind him, rotated so that, unknown to him and the observers, his weight was on the "gate".  When the helicopter lifted him and began to fly away, the carabiner failed and he was dropped in the trees at the end of the airfield.  He received critical head and internal injuries that resulted in his death at the base hospital a few hours later. 

Tim gave his life practicing procedures to save his flying brothers-in-arms, should they find themselves downed and in need of rescue, in a situation where a rescue helicopter can't land.

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