User:Robfergusonjr

Summary[edit]

I was born in Nashville TN in 1969. Later I grew up on the Choctaw reservation in Mississippi. After I graduated high school, I went to college (University of Southern Mississippi) for some time studying music theory and application. After that I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps (USMC).

Serving for half a decade, I lived, ate, and slept in "green." In 1993 I went to Parris Island for boot camp just in time to experience the Storm of the Century (1993) while in the field. My MOS was 0341 -- mortar man--M252 Mortar. I spent one year in a Reconnaissance Company while on Camp Schwab, Okinawa and 4 years with a Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion on Camp Pendleton. My last billet was a LAV-m Vehicle Commander. My last rifle qualification designated me as a sharp shooter with a score of 244 on the known distance course. The Corps allowed me to travel extensively, by way of contract, to such countries as Okinawa, Japan, Persian Gulf Countries such as the United Arab of Emirates and small city states like Hong Kong while under British rule. I am a certified Marine Corps Institute counter-terrorism marine. While under General Charles C. Krulak's leadership, I participated in "Operation" Sea Dragon. The operation was to test new technologies for the USMC for 21st century threats.

Receiving an honorable discharge in 1997, I got acquainted with internet technologies while in southern California in the San Diego area. Though not my first encounter with programming technologies, it was the “spark” to determine my conviction to academic goals that needed to be realized. During the dot-com bubble I worked for several startups. I have used C++(C plus plus), PERL, PHP, Java and Visual Basic 6. I also use markup languages like HTML. I created a web application in PHP for a non-profit foundation. In summer 2004 I wrote a $25,000 grant for a Mississippi Red Cross chapter to expand their facilities just in time for Hurricane Katrina. In spring & summer 2005 I worked for the Montgomery Institute in Meridian MS and was honored when my request for a letter of recommendation was given to me from the honorable Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery.

In August '05 I earned a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems (IS), History, and English. In IS I studied databases management, wireless technologies, management information systems, programming languages. In History my courses were the early U.S. Republic (1780-1800), American West, American Indian, and Technology histories. In English I studied American Indian literature, advanced English grammar, and technical writing. I also hold an Associates in Applied Science in Multimedia Design.

In December of '07, I completed my studies at the College of Business and Industry at Mississippi State University. While studying for my masters I took classes in computer security, advanced database design, Systems Development Lifecycle, Business Statical models, Management & Production, and managerial/accounting courses. I currently work for a governmental organization developing Information Assurance policy and information systems. My past employers include the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Department of the Navy. I'm now considering new directions.

Education[edit]

• Masters of Science
• Bachelors of Science
• Associates in Applied Science

U.S. Military & Society Medals[edit]

• United States Marine Corps
• Parris Island
• SOI Camp Lejuene
• MOS 0341
• Camp Schwab, Recon Platoon
• Camp Pendleton, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion
•   Good Conduct Medal
•   Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
•   Sea Service Deployment Ribbon w/1 bronze star
•   National Defense Service Medal

Places Lived[edit]

• Nashville, Mississippi, Okinawa, Camp Pendleton (Oceanside) San Diego (Ocean Beach) California, Washington, D.C.

Places visited[edit]

Panama City Miami Orlando Tampa Bay Manatee Springs Tallahassee Jacksonville Englewood Florida, Mobile (and surrounding communities) Alabama, Cherokee North Carolina, Springfield Branson Willow Springs Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, New Orleans Slidell Louisiana. Yuma Flagstaff Arizona, Las Vegas Lauglin Nevada, Amarillo Dallas Texas, Hong Kong, Thailand, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Singapore, Manila.

Places to visit[edit]

Alaska, Scotland, Ireland, London, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Moscow, Australia.

Hobbies[edit]

• Running, Swimming, Martial Arts/MMA, Sleight of Hand (Billard Balls, Cups and Balls), Mechnical Puzzles, Guitar (Mauro Giuliani - Grand Overture, Leo Brower - All twenty simple studies; also liked playing pop, rock, & heavy metal.)

Interesting Things[edit]

• An ancestor of mine was part of 2nd Maryland Regiment, under Captain John Gassoway and Captain Samuel McPherson in the American Revolutionary War; he was 14 when he joined. (1779)
• John Boles, the actor, is related to me from my paternal grandmother's side.
• I'm a half breed, I was born unto a white father and Native American mother (1969)
• Participated in the Close Up Foundation and met my U.S. Representative (1988)
• Performed Classical Guitar Works at the White House elipse (1992)
• Graduated Marine Corps Boot Camp from Parris Island (1993)
• Lived on the island of Okinawa (1993-94)
• Met the infamous J.T. Ready while in the USMC before he went 'crazy.' (1994)
• MEU West Pac on the USS Anchorage (LSD-36) supporting Operation Southern Watch (1995-1996)
• Jumped into Box canyon at 60 feet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xCycHCem_U) "not me in video" (1996)
• Stayed a weekend in a posh Beverly Hills Mansion (1997)
• Swam "in the wild" with a school of dolphins at Camp Pendleton's beach (1996) and a leopard shark or Tiger shark at La Jolla Cove in San Diego (1998)
• Survived Hurricane Katrina near Meridian, MS (2005)
• Toured the CIA Museum at the Headquaters (2007)

Pages I've Contributed Heavily To[edit]

• Bob Ferguson
• Choctaw
• Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
• Peter Pitchlynn
• Chunky Creek Train Wreck of 1863
• Jena Band of Choctaw Indians
• Choctaw Freedmen

Articles Tracking[edit]

• Bob Ferguson
• Information Assurance
• Pushmataha
• Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

Articles Created[edit]

• Peter Pitchlynn
• Washington City (a redirect to Washington, D.C.)
• Jena Band of Choctaw Indians
• Chunky Creek Train Wreck of 1863
• Choctaw Freedmen
• Neshoba County Fair
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
• Task Force Frigid
• Martha Masters
• List of Choctaw Treaties
• Gideon Lincecum
• The Civilization Fund Act of 1819

juggernaut - An overwhelming, advancing force that crushes or seems to crush everything in its path.
parapraxis - A minor error, such as a slip of the tongue, thought to reveal a repressed motive.
apodal - Having no limbs, feet, or footlike appendages.
marionette - A jointed puppet manipulated from above by strings or wires attached to its limbs.
spillway - channel for an overflow of water, as from a reservoir.
froward - Stubbornly contrary and disobedient; obstinate.
dumbwaiter - A small elevator used to convey food (or other goods) from one floor of a building to another.
penury - Extreme want or poverty; destitution.
pinafore - A sleeveless garment similar to an apron, worn especially by small girls as a dress or an overdress.
cudbear - A purplish-red dye derived from certain lichens.
fulsome - Unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech.
conniption - A fit of violent emotion, such as anger or panic.
drollery - A quaint and amusing jest.
postulate -Blemished by imperfections of the skin.
degage - Showing lack of emotional involvement.
cathexes - Concentration of emotional energy on an object or idea.
impermanent – not lasting or durable; not permanent.
peripeteia - A sudden change of events or reversal of circumstances, especially in a literary work.
floorwalker - An employee of a department store who supervises sales personnel and assists customers.
facile - Working, acting, or speaking with effortless ease and fluency.
nerveless – lacking strength or energy; spiritless; weak.
dissociate – to remove from association; separate.
motley – consisting of haphazard assortment of different kinds.
prostration – an abrupt failure of function or complete physical exhaustion.
ocular – seen by the eye.
disdainful – expressing extreme contempt.
abaxial – located away from or on the opposite side of the axis, as of an organ or organism.
ethereal – characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy.
lanate – having or consisting of woolly hairs.
extralegal - not permitted or governed by law.
lidless – watchful; vigilant.
haply – by accident.
bridgehead – a forward position seized by advancing troops in enemy territory as a foothold for further advance.
disfavor – put at a disadvantage; hinder, harm.
buoyancy – irrepressible liveliness and good spirit.

Quotes[edit]

“ Not only the individual advances from infancy to manhood, but the species itself from rudeness to civilization. ” - Adam Ferguson

"Quality not quantity" - Anonymous

"We have bigger houses but smaller families: We have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgements; more experts but more problems; more medicines, but less healthiness. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but we have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we have less communication. We have become long on quantity but short on quality. These are times of fast foods, but slow digestion; tall man, but short character; steep profits, but shallow relationships. It is time when there is much in the window but nothing in the room." - Dalai Lama

"In attempts to improve your character, know what is in your power and what is beyond it." - Francis Thompson

"A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents." - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

"People wish to learn to swim and at the same time to keep one foot on the ground." - Marcel Proust

"Great bodies of people are never responsible for what they do." - Virginia Woolf

"Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country." - Calvin Coolidge

"In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone." - John Kenneth Galbraith

"Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?" - T. S. Eliot

"Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through." - Jonathan Swift

"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be." - Thomas Kempis

"The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself." - Sir R. F. Burton

"I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our own particular path than we have yet got ourselves." - E. M. Forster (1879-1970)

"A professional politician is a professionally dishonorable man. In order to get anywhere near high office he has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker." - H.L. Mencken

"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." - Cornelius Tacitus

"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't." - Anatole France

"An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not the invasion of ideas." - Victor Hugo

"Pay attention to your enemies, for they are the first to discover your mistakes." - Antisthenes

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."- Henry Ford

"Misery acquaints a person with strange bedfellows." - William Shakespeare

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln

External Links[edit]

• Sea Dragon