RMH 2007 Instructors

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RMH 1

MAJ Will B. Freds - United States Military Academy

I won't tell you what the B. stands for, I'll let you all guess at RMH I was born in Bluffton, Indiana.  I grew up on a farm in Indiana never thinking I would one day be an Army Officer. I grew up a Christian, committed at a young age and have been growing/learning ever since. I chose to  attend West Point instead of a Christian focused college not knowing that my experience there would be more spiritually rewarding than I could have ever dreamed. I graduated from West Point in 1997 with a BS in American Politics. While at West Point, I played 150lb Football and was an Honor Representative at the Company and Regimental levels.  I participated in Junior High Youth Group and taught Sunday School throughout my time as a Cadet.  In 1996, I met my future wife, Miss Mandy Grandle, a West Point Honor Conference delegate from Mary Washington College. We are happily married with two boys, William and Jackson. After West Point, I was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Field Artillery and was assigned to 3rd BDE 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, WA as a Fire Support Officer after attending the Officer Basic Course at Fort Sill.  I  finished my time in the 2nd Infantry Division as the Battalion Fire Direction Officer.  After attending the Armor Advanced Course I was stationed in Germany to serve in the 1st Infantry Division, the Big Red One.  While stationed in Germany I deployed to Iraq with 1-33 Field Artillery and commanded a Field Artillery Battery during combat operations.  Here I learned a lot about myself and my the strength and character of my wife.  I can't tell you how proud I was of how she thrived during this 13 month deployment.  In Iraq I led a soldier's bible study and was blessed with the opportunity to positively lead so many great soldiers as their commander.  After Battery Command, I earned my MBA at San Diego State with a focus in entrepreneurship and am now serving at the Great Lakes Regional Commander for West Point Admissions.  I really look forward to the RMH experience and taking time to experience God with some great individuals.

CPT Scott Carow - United States Mililtary Academy

Although I moved around a little as a kid, I would say that I grew up in Tampa, FL. After graduating from high school in 1993, I went to West Point, graduating in 1997. I was commissioned as an Armor Officer and spent my early years in the Army as a tank platoon leader and company XO at Fort Stewart, GA, including a brief deployment to Operation Desert Thunder.

After attending the career course and moving into my first staff job, I injured my shoulder and had to have surgery to fix it. After spending several months in physical therapy my shoulder was fine, and I realized that I thought my physical therapist had a better job than I did, so I applied to the Army's physical therapy school. I graduated from PT school in 2006 and moved to Fort Drum, where I deployed to Iraq with 10 th Mountain Division as a PT. This summer I moved back to West Point to serve as the chief of the cadet physical therapy clinic.

One of the greatest things that has ever happened to me was meeting my wife, Gina, in 1999. The short version of that story is that one of my USMA classmates married one of Gina's friends and they introduced us. The long story is more interesting and I will tell you at Spring Canyon if you ask me. Gina and I were married in April 2000, and God has blessed us with 2 beautiful daughters.and my wife is pregnant again! My oldest, Lexi, is five years old and is in kindergarten. My youngest, Emily, is two, and she follows her older sister everywhere and tries to do everything just like her. Being a father to these girls is one of the greatest blessings in my life.

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RMH 2

Lt Col Steve Wade, OCF Field Staff, US Air Force Academy

Lt Col Wade entered the Air Force on 20 October 1981. He attended Officer Training School at Lackland AFB, TX where he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on 29 January 1982. Lt Col Wade attended Undergraduate Navigator Training (UNT) at Mather AFB, CA. He graduated number one in his class and won the Flying Excellence Trophy. Following UNT, Lt Col Wade entered KC 1-35 combat crew training where he was awarded honor graduate.

His first operational assignment took him, his wife Rita, and daughter, Brienne to K.I. Sawyer AFB, MI. He served as navigator, instructor navigator, and training flight navigator from March 1983 until December 1986. He was selected to fly the FB-111 and moved to Plattsburgh NY. Lt Col Wade served as radar navigator, instructor radar navigator, lead squadron navigator, and wing flight examiner during his four and a half year assignment at Plattsburgh.

Lt Col Wade left Plattsburgh in the fall of 1991 and was assigned to the United States Air Force Academy where he served three years as squadron commander and one year as deputy group commander in the 34th Training Group. Lt Col wade was selected to attend Air Command and Staff College in residence and moved his family to Montgomery, AL in the summer of 1995. Lt Col Wade’s follow-on assignment took him to Offutt AFB, NE and the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM). While at STRATCOM, Lt Col Wade served a vital role in planning and producing the nation’s nuclear war plan.

Following his assignment at STRATCOM, Lt Col Wade was assigned to the 55th Operations Group, Offutt AFB, where he qualified in the RC-135. He served from July 1999 to July 2001 flying reconnaissance missions around the world as navigator, instructor navigator, and Chief of Standardization and Evaluation. As Chief, he was responsible for flying standardization and qualifications of over 1,300 aircrew members in seven flying squadrons at six worldwide locations.

Lt Col Wade’s final assignment took him and his family to Peterson Air Force Base, CO. He served in the 21st Operations Support Squadron as the Commander for Airfield Operations. Lt Col Wade retired from the Air Force on 1 February 2004 and is now directing the Officers’ Christian Fellowship ministry to cadets at the United States Air Force Academy.

Lt Col Wade has flown 23.5 combat hours and 152 combat support hours in various operations. He is a Master Navigator with 2,571 total flight hours.

Lt Col Wade married Rita Kerschenske in 1978 and has three children, Brienne, Rachel, and John.

Cpt Paul Homan, US Air Force Academy

Photo and bio coming soon

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RMH 3

Lt Co Tom Falconer, USAF (Ret)

Born and raised in the bayou’s of South Louisiana (Lafayette), my early memories are of life at Asbury Methodist Church, singing the great hymns of Charles Wesley, and participating in the rich rituals and liturgy of the Methodist Church. Our life truly revolved around family - “church” as well as “blood” family. My Dad’s parents and sister also lived in Lafayette so I spent many a weekend at my grandmother’s house - oh, what grand memories.

We moved out West to Albuquerque, NM in 1967, as I was starting my freshman year in High School. Dad and Mom were really into the camping scene, and in case you’re wondering, South Louisiana is NOT the place for camping. The mountains of NM and CO were real magnets to us.

Timing in my life for this move couldn’t have been better: at 14, I was thrust into a multi-cultural environment that shattered the prejudicial ideas and values about people that I was raised with in the deep South in the ‘60s. More importantly, God was active in my life. MYF- Methodist Youth Fellowship, was my social life…until I found out about Young Life (through a cute female friend from high school- naturally). But really, it was in YL that someone introduced me to a personal relationship with Christ.

A love of flying, plus high school NJROTC convinced me the military was where I belonged. My sole focus though was to “yank and bank”…”serving” was a very distant third or fourth. I returned to Lafayette because the University of Southwestern Louisiana was there; it had an Air Force ROTC detachment and I could live for free with my Grandmother. Awarded an ROTC scholarship to fly, I thought I was set! What happened though was the proverbial seed on rocky ground. Bottom line- I got so wrapped up in flying and partying that I lost complete sight of God.

Jan and I met on a blind date while I was home for Christmas my freshman year. We were married a year and a half later- Jul 21, 1973. We were convinced life was great! (BTW- ask me about my wife - That’s a whole other, important story!)
The wheels started to fall off eight months after I was commissioned/graduated in 1975, when the Air Force decided I, along with 1100 other guys, would lose our pilot slots due to post-Viet Nam drawdowns.

To make a long story short: as I strived to get selected back into pilot training, God was drawing me to Him. We had two OCF’ers living on either side of us, who befriended us and loved us, and finally invited us to an OCF Bible study. We had done that before and realized something was missing, so going to Bible study seemed right. God continued to draw us, especially me, and in 1977 I willingly put flying on the altar and chose to serve God wherever, doing whatever.

Obedience and surrender to God’s leading took us, as a Supply Officer, to an advanced degree program, Germany, Georgia, Colorado, Australia, and Alabama; time as an aide-de-camp and executive officer to two different Major General’s; Air Command and Staff College; two Squadron level command billets and finally the USAF Academy. We participated in OCF studies at several of those places, but served God in all of them.

While on terminal leave in ‘99, I heard a distinct calling to work with the OCF cadet ministry at USAFA. What I heard God say was that he had me trained as a warrior both in His army and the US Air Force, and he wanted my to pass that on to the “next generation”. We retired in 1999 with 23 years service. Our central focus and mission in “retirement” has been supporting the USAFA field staff rep’s in cadet ministry.

Three cadet retreats a year at Spring Canyon birthed a love for the Canyon that prompted Jan and I to join the Spring Canyon Advisory Council in 2002. I did my first Rocky Mountain High that summer because RMH is a natural extension of the cadet ministry, more focused on servant leadership and Godly leadership principles…not to mention my love of the outdoors.

Hobbies include anything outdoors, but especially bowhunting elk and bike riding; handyman stuff and teaching cadets how to work on cars.

Jan and I have been married nearly 33 years. We have two grown sons: Jason- 28 and Marc- 25; and a two year old yellow lab- Jessie, who doubles as a service dog for Jan.

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RMH 4

TBD

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RMH 5

COL (U.S. Army, Retired) MIKE TESDAHL

OCF DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Colonel Tesdahl was commissioned in the Infantry from USMA in 1969. He has received a Master of Science degree in Systems Management from the University of Southern California. His military schools include the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, The College of Naval Command and Staff, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Colonel Tesdahl first served as S3-Air and Recon Platoon Leader, 1-509 IN (ABN/M) in Mainz, Germany. His last assignments were as TRADOC System Manager-Soldier, where he was designated "The Conscience of the Army for the Soldier," and Senior Army Advisor, State of Colorado. He holds both the Combat Infantryman's Badge and Expert Infantryman's Badge and is a qualified parachutist and Ranger.

Colonel Tesdahl left the Army in August 1997. He and his wife, Peggy ("Mama T"), became the OCF Staff Representatives to The United States Military Academy at West Point. In January 2005 the Tesdahls moved to Colorado and the OCF Home Office. Mike has served the Lord in spiritual leadership to the Army community for 22 years, serving in volunteer OCF leadership at the military chapel, neighborhood and installation levels. He has been active in men's ministries, serving in Promise Keepers lay leadership at both military installation and regional community levels. He currently serves as the Men's Ministry Coordinator for Crossroads Community Church in Parker, Colorado. He is Chairman of the Board of Restoring The Soul, Inc., of Lakewood, Colorado, a ministry dedicated to caring for and equipping Christian leaders. Mike is an ordained Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a certified marriage/relationship counselor.

CDR Bryan Burt - OCF Field Staff, US Naval Academy

CDR Bryan Burt attended the United States Naval Academy and received a Bachelors of Science in Oceanography. He graduated and was commissioned an Ensign in May 1988. He attended RMH directly after graduation with five other fellow Naval Academy grads.

CDR Burt began flight training in September 1988, and was designated a Naval Flight Officer in April 1991. He had follow on training at the P-3 Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) with Patrol Squadron THIRTY ONE (VP-31), before joining the VP-1 "Screaming Eagles" where he completed deployments to Adak, Alaska; Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean; Masira, Oman; Kadena, Japan; and Misawa, Japan.

In June 1995, he reported to Patrol Squadron THIRTY (VP-30) as an Instructor Naval Flight Officer and during his tour at VP-30 he attended night school at Webster University where he received his Masters of Arts in Management and graduated in November 1997.

Commander Burt then reported to USS Harry S Truman (CVN-75) in December 1997 as the Operations Admin Officer. During this tour he qualified as Officer of the Deck Underway, and Command Duty Officer Inport.

Upon completing refresher training at VP-30, Commander Burt reported to Patrol Squadron FIVE "Madfoxes" for his Department Head tour in May 2000 and performed duties as Operations Officer during deployments to Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico and Sigonella, Sicily in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Commander Burt then reported for duty in Washington D.C. in March of 2002 as the Space/C4I analyst to the Secretary of the Navy in the Office of Program Appraisal, with follow on duty with the Chief of Naval Operations in the area of Information Operations Strategy and Policy as the Operations Security Program Officer.

His last assignment in the Navy was as the Chief Staff Officer for the Commander, Navy Activities Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe and oversaw a $5 million dollar budget for Base Operating Support for Navy commands at Kaneohe.

Commander Burt has completed the Naval War College's JPME Phase I course and has completed his second Masters in National Security & Strategic Studies from the Naval War College. He is currently enrolled in his third Masters degree at Liberty University in Religion/Divinity.

Commander Burt's air qualifications included Tactical Coordinator (TACCO), Mission Commander, Instructor TACCO, Instructor NAV/COMM and NATOPS Blue Card holder where he has over 2500 total flight hours.

Commander Burt is married to former Sherri J. Clark of Mobile, Alabama. They have three children, Thomas, AJ, and Mckenna.

RMH 6

LtCol Joel Yourkowski, USMC, retired.

Born in Seattle, Washington, LtCol Yourkowski enlisted in the Navy after high school. While in the Navy he applied and was accepted into the United States Naval Academy, Class of 1983. Upon graduation, LtCol Yourkowski was commissioned as a 2ndLt in the United States Marine Corps. He was trained as a Naval Flight Officer and Electronic Countermeasures Officer and served in various capacities with Marine Electronic Warfare Squadron 2 at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, NC and Medium Attack Electronic Warfare Squadron 129 at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, WA. Then he attended the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA receiving a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering.

After graduation he was ordered to Headquarters Marine Corps for a tour with Program and Recourses where he had oversight on the Marine Corps Ground Ammunition Budget. After the Pentagon, LtCol Yourkowski accepted accompanied three-year orders to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, serving with Marine Air Group Twelve. He was then assigned to United States Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, CO. After serving 18 months here, LtCol Yourkowski retired in 2004 and was accepted on Staff with The Navigators.

LtCol Yourkowski’s current tasks involve reaching out to and discipleing soldiers and families at Fort Carson.

LtCol Yourkowski has served in a variety of positions. Division Officer, Flight Instructor, Budget Analyst, Safety Officer, Administration Officer, Group Headquarters Commanding Officer and various collateral duties.

Currently and during his 22 years in the military, LtCol Yourkowski served in many Chapels and Churches, hosted or led numerous Small Group Bible Studies and is focused on outreach in the community. Although primarily involved with The Navigators in Colorado Springs, LtCol Yourkowski partners with OCF at Fort Carson and has served as an RMH instructor since the summer of 2003 .

LtCol Yourkowski currently resides in Colorado Springs, is married to the former Miss Donna DeLuise, and has four children; Kelsey (15), Ashely (14), Mariah (13), and Dakota (9).

Major Felix R. Colonnieves, USAF, retired

Major Felix R. Colonnieves was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He graduated from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus and received a commission as an officer in the United States Air Force through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program in June 1984.

He entered active duty and began helicopter pilot training at Ft. Rucker, Alabama in February 1985. During his military service, he has held several leadership positions to include Chief, Training Flight Instructor Pilot, Deployed Unit Director of Operations (OSW), Squadron Assistant Director of Operations, and, Chief, Combat Search and Rescue, Pacific Air Forces.

His career has taken him from Puerto Rico to Alabama, Idaho, Philippines, Maryland, Florida, Japan, and Hawaii as well as around the world in temporary duty assignments. He has flown missions conducting Search and Rescue, Special Operations, Distinguish Visitor Airlift, Air Refueling, Shipboard Operations, and Night Water Operations. He has been qualified in 5 different aircraft or aircraft variants ( HH-60G; C/HH-3E; UH-1N; UH-1H; TH-55) throughout his career and accrued 3000 flying hours.

Maj Colonnieves is married to Amor Calalang of Mabalacat, Philippines. The couple, three children (Karla, Natasha, Joshua) and mother-in-law (Mrs. Dalmacia) moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, joining the “Navigators” Christian Organization after his retirement from the Air Force.

Currently and during his 20 years in the military, Maj Colonnieves served in many Chapels and Churches, hosted or led numerous Small Group Bible Studies and is focused on outreach in the community. Although primarily involved with The Navigators, Maj Colonnieves has been involved in several Officer Christian Fellowship activities including leading OCF Bible studies for couples while stationed in Hawaii.

Maj Colonnieves’ current tasks include ministering to the soldiers at Fort Carson and developing a men’s wilderness ministry giving men an opportunity to leave behind the noise of life to spend time in solitude focusing on hearing God’s plan for their lives.

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