Robert Allan Ochs, better known as "Bob" to his family and friends, is a jack-of-all-trades. When he was 12, his father took him under his wing to teach him the carpenter's trade. Working with him throughout the summer months and occasionally on weekends during the school year, he graduated from high school with the skills of a journeyman carpenter. Capable of earning a journeyman's wage and establishing himself in the trade, he opted to accept an appointment by his congressman to the United States Merchant Marine Academy instead. During the second semester of his freshman year, he was assigned to a cargo ship as part of his on-the-job training. What he discovered was a world that he did not recognize, and he went within himself to ascertain whether his decision to become a sailor was the path he should follow. What initially seemed like an adventure, he soon found, would confine much of his downtime to life around harbors inundated with bars and brothels. Home became a cabin on the ship. When his sea training was completed, he decided to make a change. He resigned from the academy, returned to his parents' home, and started working as a framing carpenter during the summer. He attended college again the next year, married his high school sweetheart, helped his new wife fulfill her college aspirations, and eventually enlisted in the Air Force. After seeing his aptitude scores, the Air Force recruiter directed him to a highly specialized job in the Air Force Security Service. After a year of intense study to learn the Arabic language at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, Bob was assigned to an Airborne Security Squadron in Athens, Greece, where he flew reconnaissance missions to targeted countries in the Middle East and North Africa It was during his three-year tour in Athens that Bob learned Greek and developed a keen interest in archaeology. What he learned from that experience is reflected in the books that he writes. When his term of enlistment ended, he used the GI Bill benefits to return to college, where he earned a degree in civil engineering. After graduation, he established a 30-year career with the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center (OCALC) as a multidisciplinary engineer, during which he earned numerous accolades and awards on high-visibility projects that drew attention from the Air Force's Strategic Air Command and Congress. His work was highlighted in the highly acclaimed magazines Aviation Week and Space Technology and Modern Machine Shop. With this acclaim, he was recruited by the University of Oklahoma as an adjunct professor, in partnership with OC-ALC, to help improve the curriculum for its introductory design engineering course and gain ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) certification. He was able to teach part-time simultaneously with his full-time job on a flexible schedule. Once eligible for an early retirement with a pension, Bob left OC-ALC to build both speculative and custom highend houses. As the economy waned, he shifted gears to become a certified high school teacher. He was hired by the local technology center whose classroom was in the local public high school. He taught both freshmen and sophomores in the Introduction to Engineering Design and the Principles of Engineering courses. Under his tutelage, his classes grew from 12 students in the initial year to full capacity in subsequent years. With his recommendations, most of his students went on to earn degrees in engineering and build successful careers in the engineering disciplines of their choice. With a career that spans 50 years, he has been a journeyman carpenter, an adventurous seaman, an aerospace, mechanical, civil, and manufacturing engineer, a home builder, a respected university adjunct professor, and a popular high school teacher. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1972 to the office of priest and in 1983, to the office of elder in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latte
