'Who is the 'Flyin' Hawaiian?''

"Who is the Flyin' Hawaiian?"

This is a phrase I've heard ever consistently since I moved to Glasgow several years ago but I guess to really understand it, I need to reflect on my past and how I enDed in the "Middle of Nowhere."

I was born in North Dakota and grew up in Forsyth, Montana. I did several sports while growing-up and had a couple of different jobs throughout high school, which led me to a career in "Public Safety."

When I was little, I loved being in and around water. This 'love' motivated me to apply to be a lifeguard at the Forsyth Public Pool my freshman year of high school.

Around the time I began my sophomore year in high school, Montana was having a long and devastating fire season, similar to what we are experiencing this year. The county fire marshal came to my career skills class to talk about what it was like to be a wildland firefighter. It didn't take long to sell my friends and I on the idea of it so I filled out an application with Rosebud County Fire Department.

At the age of 16, I was hired as a wildland firefighter. This is where the concepts of "Neighbors helping Neighbors" and "Committed to Community" were engrained in me. It was always so amazing how willing and giving people were when their friends, family and communities were in need.

I continued to work these two jobs through high school. It was because of the types of experiences and relationships I gained in these positions that put me on the path of becoming a police officer.

After high school, I attended college at Montana State University where I majored in Mechanical Engineering and was heavily involved in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) program.

While in ROTC, and trying to vie for a Combat Control Apprentice spot, I needed to find a way to pad my application with something community service oriented. I was very fortunate to become a Firefighter/EMT on a full-service fire department in Bozeman. During my time there, I was able to work with police officers and deputies from several different departments and organizations. After doing some ride-a-longs, it didn't take long to know what I truly had a passion for and wanted to make my career.

That leads me to how I ended up in Glasgow, where I've been for 16 years now.

Throughout my time with the Glasgow Police Department, I've had several different duties and responsibilities. I've been a Patrolman, Field Training Officer, Department Training Officer, Firearms Instructor, School Resource Officer, Community Resource Officer, Public Information Officer, Sergeant and most recently, North Eastern Montana Special Response Team Commander, Interim Assistant Chief and now Chief.

I have had the opportunity to do some pretty amazing things over my tenure. I've traveled all over the country where I've met some incredible people while working for the police department. Some of those things and people include smoking cigars with Ron White while in San Diego, to meeting President Obama at the White House.

Some other things about me that people don't know are that I'm an experienced SCUBA diver, hold a Skydiving license and am an avid bowler. This brings me back to my original question, "Who is the Flyin' Hawaiian?"

Well, the truth is, I couldn't tell you because I'm not Hawaiian at all and hold a dual citizenship with Thailand...