I was born in Savannah, Georgia in December 1947. An alumnus of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Maryland, I attended Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, graduating in 1969 with a BA degree in History and a commission in the US Air Force. As a combat aviator I flew 100 missions over Southeast Asia in 1971 and 1972 before being shot down and captured.

Following the Vietnam War, I attended the School of Theology, an Episcopal Church seminary in Sewanee, TN, received a Master of Divinity degree and was ordained as a priest in 1976. In 1990, I earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Sewanee.

As a military chaplain, I served in the Air Force on active duty and in the reserves, serving in various locations, including the US Air Force Academy. I retired from the Air Force in 1999 at the rank of Colonel. As a parish priest, I served parishes in Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arizona, California and Georgia. When former President Gerald R. Ford died in late 2006, I was chosen to lead all the memorial services and to preside at his burial in Michigan.

Since 2007, I have served as an independent advisor to the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

I published my autobiography, Unchained Eagle in 2003. In 2014 I was inducted into the Georgia Military Veterans Hall of Fame.

I retired from parish ministry in 2012. My wife and I now make our home in San Antonio, Texas