The Early Years
Born in Southern Orygun, Little Dickey Carroll (LDC), then known as Rickey, moved to Washington State as he entered 2nd Grade and Boeing began to tool up for producing the 707 jet airliner.  The cause-effect relationship is pretty clear, and the 707 ain’t his fault!

LDC remained in the Renton School District from 2nd Grade through his Junior Year at Renton High School (that’d be when his parents moved to Auburn in the summer of ’65).  LDC was introduced to Geology at a National Science Foundation-sponsored Summer School at University of Puget Sound that summer.  He joined the Senior Class at Auburn High School in the Fall, graduating in the spring of 1966.

Entering UPS that Fall in the Geology program, LDC attended for one year and graphically demonstrated his affinity for geology with this rock-headed observation:  “I was so smart in those days, I decided college was a bunch of BS, so I quit school and joined the Army as a Private.  I quickly found out what BS was all about!”

The Military Years
Following Basic Combat Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana he entered the Warrant Officer Flight Training Program and completed the Basic Rotary Wing Course at Fort Wolters, Texas, followed by the Advanced Rotary Wing Course at Hunter Army Air Field, Savannah, Georgia.  In October, 1968, Candidate Carroll received an appointment as Warrant Officer, WO1 and was awarded his wings as an Army Aviator.

Following a brief assignment at Fort Hood, Texas, he volunteered for duty in Viet Nam, allowing his brother – who had previously been drafted – to finish his tour of combat duty early and return to the States.  One of the highlights of his tour in Viet Nam was piloting a series of combat assault operations in Viet Nam with his brother as door gunner on his UH-1 Huey helicopter.  Being the dumb, invincible guy that he was at the age of 20, it took him 10 years to figure out why his mother and sister-in-law were so upset about that!

Upon return to the States, then Chief Warrant Officer CW2 Carroll accepted a direct commission as a First Lieutenant, Armor, decided the Army wasn’t such a bad gig, and hung around ‘til it looked like it wasn’t gonna be fun any more.  He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the Regular Army on 1 August 1990 to avoid a tour of duty with the Department of the Army Inspector General’s Office, inadvertently avoiding the first Gulf War as an unintended consequence.

Over the course of his career, Lieutenant Colonel Carroll served a combat tour in Viet Nam, and 2 tours in Korea, flew Search and Rescue operations following the disastrous Mount Saint Helens eruption in 1980, commanded the 120th Combat Aviation Company in Alaska, during which time his unit was awarded the Brigadier General Carl I. Hutton Memorial Award, an annual honor to one Army Aviation unit demonstrating outstanding professionalism and contributions to flight safety, followed by selection as the Army Aviation Unit of the Year in 1983.  Lieutenant Colonel Carroll’s career culminated in a 4-year assignment as Professor of Military Science, University of San Francisco.

The Information Technology Years

Following retirement from the Army, Little Dickey Carroll drifted into Information Technology and over the last 20 years has held a variety of Service Delivery Management and Project/Program Management positions in IT, working with companies such as Weyerhaeuser, Verizon, Getty Images, and American Greetings.  In the final position of his career, he served as a Senior Program Manager for The Walt Disney Company, specializing in IT Infrastructure and Private Cloud Services supporting Disney’s extensive on-line properties, including Disney.com, ABC.com and ESPN.com.

LDC entered full retirement in August, 2016 to pursue his Vision full time.