WWMCCS, as it was abreviated in an acronym, was to be the integration of computer systems, communication systems of all kinds, satellite spy information systems, military information systems of all kinds, in control center around the world wherever there was a need for controlling the forces of the U.S. whether they be land, sea or air forces.
I established a central office in Redondo Beach, California with additional sites in the Boston area and in the Washington, D.C. area. I had a team of hundreds of the best systems engineers TRW could make available working for me all over the country. My travel schedule was horrendous. I worked in Redondo Beach Mondays, caught a late flight out of LAX in the evening, to Boston where I would work for two days, then fly to Washington for two days, and then back to LAX and Redondo Beach. I kept this crazy schedule for almost two years while we were competing for the entire contract on this major development, a $50 million plus potential contract to start.
All the time this was going on, I was also trying to take care of my parents, getting them to medical appointments and seeing to their needs. I finally moved in with them in their condo in Leisure Village in Camarillo and went to work from there. My step-dad died in June 1982. He was a great man and a good friend to me. My mother lived a lot more years, and I eventually had to place her in the care of a very nice facility in Oxnard, California because it was impossible for me to take care of her any longer.
God changed my life in 1984. With no warning, my world of successful work was brought to a sudden stop. During a very critical briefing in Redondo Beach of a large group of high ranking military and civilian leaders on the way the new World-Wide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS) was going to work, my cardiovascular system yelled at me while I was standing at the podium, and at the end of the presentation which was very well received, I could not move from the platform. I knew something serious was wrong, but had no idea what.
My Deputy helped me to my car. I drove home and then to the office of a Cardiologist in Ventura. He immediately put me in intensive care in the hospital. I was filled with nitroglycerine and put under oxygen and monitoring devices. I soon found out when I was diagnosed with a new kind of cardiovascular problem which had still not been well defined a few years later to be called Prinzmetal's Angina.
TRW responded better than I did. They immediately were concerned for my health and well being, and placed me on what they called an Executive Long Term Leave with all my pay and allowances as per normal. They wanted me to stay home until I got over this thing. I still continued as a bonified employee even though I did not go to work any more. My Deputy Frank McCord took over the program and continued to do very well with it. I was not indispensible which is what you strive for when you are in a leadership position.
A short absence became a long one, and I never returned to TRW and they finally retired me with all my benefits at the age of 65 which is the normal retirement age for the company.
I had a hard time with this, coming to grips with the fact that I was out of the loop and could not work at what I loved to do.
No more rush and bustle. No more pressure. Now it was a matter of watching closely those things that created stress that exacerbated the coronary condition. Only after some time I found out that this same problem had taken my dad's life at age 46 and that my brother also was afflicted with Prinzmetal's Angina. A genetic thing that I had no control over. But God had plans for me, and for more on this, read on in the section on cruising and ministering on board luxury liners all over the world.
As was described to me by the doctors at the UCLA Medical School in late 1984 after maintaining this kind of pressure schedule, I broke my "rubber band" during this period.
My little model airplane (me) with its propeller powered by a rubber band (my heart) that could be wound up and then released to make the airplane fly, Broke! It had always sustained me before this. I had always worked under a lot of pressure. This time the rubber band was stretched once too often.
I was diagnosed with a problem that at the time had no name. Under stress, the smooth coronary artery muscles went into spasms and blocked or shut off the arteries supplying the body with blood. In effect, I had a massive heart failure, but a whole lot of tests that they ran on me later on could find no problems with my heart. In fact, they could not find a problem with the coronary arteries and their muscles. By the time everything calmed down, everything was back to normal. The spasms had stopped. Normal heart function all the way. But it happened again, and again, and once when undergoing a stress test on a treadmill while still in the hospital, it happened and the doctors were able to record on film what happened.
It wasn't until almost a year later that a doctor at the UCLA Medical School identified the problem and gave a name to it, Prinzmetal's Angina.
TRW immediately put me on executive leave of absence and told me to stay home. They paid me my entire salary to stay home. This went on for a few years until they finally decided to put me on long term disability, again with most of my pay and all my benefits. But I lost the thing I loved the most, the challenging work environment.
I retired from TRW in January 2000 on my 65th birthday with a full TRW retirement package. God was with me, protected me, and gave me a full life, and that continues to this day, November 18, 2006. The problem hasn't gone away, but I know how to handle it now. Medications control the condition, and when things get too tight, I back off. It has lasted a lot of years since the initial events took place.
|
