Who is the Author and where is he from?
Robert Boyd was born in San Diego, California, U. S. A. in 1947 at Mercy Hospital,
the son of an American Army NCO, and a working mother.
At age three he moved to Germany as a military brat where he lived in Hurkst just outside Frankfort
for three + years with his family.
At around age seven, Robert moved back to the United States
to Fort Lewis, Washington, a US Army post, where his father was stationed. He lived there for several years until
his parents purchased a home in Lakewood, Washington.
It was here, beginning at the young age
of 11-12, that Robert began his intense training under his fathers, the local NRA rifle and pistol instructor, tutelage,
as a highly competitive match shooter. Every week and weekend of his life, until he left high school anyway, was spent
training at various rifle and pistol ranges in his home state, on Fort Lewis and in shooting in matches across the west coast, the
Fort Lewis rifle range being used as his hub and main base for training while his father was stationed there as
the commander of the West main post dispensary.
Fort Lewis's large training grounds,
thousands of acres of untouched lands were the fields and forests Robert trained himself in while he became proficient
with both rifles and pistols. It was there that Robert learned about long range and extreme distance shooting with non-scoped
and scoped rifles and hand guns while competing with his friends. Robert spent many hours every week in the forests
of Fort Lewis and although he never fired on an animal, of which there were many on the post, including bear, elk, dear, wolves,
fox's, he learned many self-taught stalking techniques that served him very well while in the service.
In his high school years Robert Attended Clover Park H.S. located in Lakewood, WA. where he delved
into more shooting competitions, even at the high school. Many high schools had on campus indoor shooting ranges back
then. Back then owning and knowing how to use a firearm was expected. His only other focus during those years
was his greatest love, aircraft mechanics, aviation sciences, airframe, power plant and commercial aviation.
Most of which were taught by Mr. Dale Welfringer at the Clover Park Vocational Technical school, all part of the Clover Park
school district. And then, after his parents built a home on Lake Louise in Lake City, WA. while his dad was in
Landstuhl Germany operating as a first sergeant, while commanding five hundred men, Robert transfered to another school
district, to Lakes High School, in Lake City, Washington.
Robert, a patriot at heart and a military
raised traditional man, angered over President Kennedy's assassination, a man he'd met at Tacoma Washington,
a man he shook the hand of, angered too at how the war was going in Vietnam, wanted desperately to do something, anything,
to help his country fight communism and the enemy. In that effort he left high school early, during his senior
year, to join the United States Air Force. He took his oath of service in Seattle, Washington with several
of his friends from both his high schools. One of their fathers, an Army officer, swore them in. They
all took basic training together at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, but upon completion, were transfered to different
locations within the US for their continued training in various fields of endeavor. Robert, just after he graduated
from basic training was offered a position at Lackland AFB, Texas, as a drill instructor (DI) by the unit commander that had
trained him but he passed on the offer so as to allow himself to become the aircraft mechanic he'd always wanted to be.
Robert was then
sent to Amarillo Texas to train as an Aircraft Mechanic on the last class of students on the B-47 bomber. Then, as is
explained in the book, even though he'd been trained as that mechanic on Bombers he was never actually allowed to work
on an aircraft for the remainder of his tour of duty.
When Sergeant Boyd returned home to the United States, after his tour of duty, he never saw any of the men he'd
joined the Air Force with, all his friends, again.
Because much
of what had happened to him while he served in the Air Force was so off center from the norm and didn't make any sense
to most peoples thinking, he lived off the so called grid for many years, always afraid that someone who'd commanded him
in the US Government or the US Air Force wanted to make sure he wouldn't talk about what he'd done while he served
his country. Of course, now that the novel Codename Litefoot has been written and published, that is a moot point.
Today, Robert is a member of the Elk's club, now on demit, and
a member of the teamster union, also on demit due to his being disabled. He has traveled across the United States many
times as an over the road truck driver hauling (FAK) and on Motorcycles and has been a chef to many prominent Americans on
the east and west coasts of America.
Today, Robert lives with his 86 year
old mother, in her home, where he takes care of all her needs and even cooks all her meals while maintaining her home and
property for her.
