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Biography of Bob Tippett
When Phil asked
me to write a Biography to post to the website, one must stop to
think, “What do I say that does not sound like bragging and how
do I say it?” That is just what I had to do, for you see there
is more than can be put into a website. So with that in mind I
have put together this Biography and I have decided that I would
stick with hitting the high points of a 65 year experience that
continues to be a fun and sometimes a roller coaster ride.
Life for Robert G. Tippett began in the sunny state of
California early in the morning of June 19, 1944. My father was
a career Army Officer and was in the Pacific when I was born.
After returning from WWII in 1945, we all moved to Ft. Bliss,
Texas [El Paso, TX]. It was here that my parents had my two
brothers, John and William. We lived there until 1949 when we
moved to California to await going to Japan.
My Dad got orders for Japan and he left in 1949 and we followed
him in 1950. We arrived in Japan on my sixth birthday. We
spent three years in Japan during the Korean War. It was fun
living at times in a foxhole because the North Koreans would fly
their MIGs up to Mt. Fujiyama then turn around and fly back to
North Korea. Every time they did that the island of Japan was
put on alert and to the foxholes we would go. We can home in
1953.
We moved every year from 1953 to 1957, to Pennsylvania, to Ohio,
then to Massachusetts setting up Nike missile bases around
Philadelphia, Cleveland and Boston. It was during this time
that I got to meet Yogi Berra while playing little league
baseball. He became my idol when he taught me how to peg a
baseball from home plate to second base without getting out of a
catcher’s stance behind the plate.
In 1957 we moved to Germany where we stayed until 1960. During
this time we lived in Worms, Kaiserslautern and Karlsruhe. I
attended high school in Germany in the summer of 1959, had the
fun of riding my bike, along with three other guys, around
southern Germany. We traveled nearly 4000 miles on our bicycles
that summer. It was great fun and we did not end up in jail.
We returned to the States going back to El Paso, Texas where I
attended one year of high school and then we off to attend New
Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico. No I did not
see any aliens while I was there. I went to NMMI from 1962 to
1965. It was while I attended NMMI that I had the pleasure of
knowing and playing football with Mr. Roger Staubach of the
Dallas Cowboys. He was the first string QB, I was a third
string end, but oh well, I played with Roger on the same team.
Leaving the Institute, I went to school at UTEP, then it was
Texas Western College. In 1965, I let college to move to
California to learn to fly. I soloed my first aircraft in July
1965. I went to work for TWA airlines working in the evenings
and flying during the days. In July 1966, on July 7th,
I received a letter from TWA advising me that I had been
accepted for flight engineer school that was scheduled to start
in October. Then the bombshell, on July 28th , I
received a letter from the draft board advising me that I was to
report by August 22, 1966, for induction into the military.
August 22, 1966, started a new life. Now it was my turn at the
military life and career. I went to Ft. Polk for basic, Ft.
Bliss for AIT then after a short wait, off to flight training.
First I went to Ft. Wolters, TX, followed by advanced training
at Ft. Rucker, AL, graduating as a Warrant Officer. Following
flight school I was assigned to the 101st Airborne
Division at Ft. Campbell, KY until the Division deployed to
Vietnam in November 1966.
Arriving in Vietnam I spent one month with the Division and then
was infused to the 240th Assault Helicopter Company
[the Greyhounds]. After two months in country I was made an
aircraft commander and picked up the handle of “Greyhound 10”.
We supported mostly the 5th Special Forces and the 51st
LRRP’s in the III and IV Corps areas for the entire year. It
was a very busy year with the war at its highest point of enemy
action with TET of 1968, and I flew many, many hours and saw
action from both the air and the ground having been shot down in
March of 1968. After spending two and half days in the jungle
E&Eing [that is escaping and evading] just to stay alive, my
crew and I met up with the ground forces we were supporting.
There were 12 soldiers left out of a force of 125. With my crew
of five we had 17 individuals that wanted to continue living.
Through working together and getting some outside support from
my aviation company and the 25 Infantry Division we were all
able to get out of the action alive. It was this action for
which I was awarded the Silver Star Medal.
I returned home in November 1968 with an assignment to Ft.
Wolters as an instructor with the school brigade. I was
commissioned in 1970, as a 1st Lieutenant in the
Military Police Corps. Shortly after being commissioned, it was
back to Vietnam on my second tour. This time I was assigned to
the 164th Combat Aviation Group in the Delta of
Vietnam. I was first assigned as the Group training officer.
That assignment lasted 8 hours. The company commander was
looking for a replacement and he picked me to be the company
executive officer and then to become the Company Commander. I
was the Company Commander until July 1971. In 1971 I was
assigned to the University of Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska.
I spend one year at UNO and graduated in 1972. I was assigned
to Ft. Riley, KS for 42 days when the battalion I was assigned
to was reassigned to Germany. We were in Germany this time from
1972 until 1976. During that time I was an MP Company
Commander, a Group Assistant Operations Officer, I was approved
to be assigned as a CID Special Agent officer until the program
was closed in 1973. I was reassigned to the Group as the
Nuclear Weapons Control Officer for Europe. That was a very
nerve racking job. We returned to the States and I was assigned
to Ft. Gordon for advanced officer training. Then off to Ft.
Sill, OK to fly Chinook helicopters.
I left active duty in 1978, and entered into civilian law
enforcement with the Anadarko Police Department in Anadarko,
OK. I rose through the ranks to Captain of Detectives with the
police department. In 1980, I was recalled into the Army and
sent to Washington, D.C. and assigned to the Army Criminal
Investigative Division Headquarters. I was assigned as the
Command War Plans officer. I had the privilege of being the
developer of the Army’s CID tactical deployment of criminal
investigators and units for the battle field. One of my
greatest rewards was to develop the battle plan and then to see
it deployed on the battlefield during Desert Storm and have it
work. In 1983, I returned to civilian life and stayed in the
Army Reserves.
We moved to Florida in March 1983 and I worked at Kennedy Space
Center as the Chief, Uniform Law Enforcement Division. We were
at the Space Center until January 1987. During this job, I was
the senior law enforcement officer on the ground when the
Shuttle Challenger exploded in January 1986. During this time I
was also a reserve deputy sheriff with Brevard County Sheriff’s
Department.
January 1987, I became a Special Agent with the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement and worked assigned cases in all
major crimes in the central Florida area. I worked every type
of major crime from homicide to white collar fraud cases.
During my time with department I was assigned in Orlando,
Tallahassee at the Headquarters. I worked in training for
several years as the Chief of the Executive Institute which
provided training for all the Sheriffs and Chief’s of Police for
the State of Florida. During my time at Tallahassee I became
the Battalion Commander of the 160th Military Police
Battalion, Army Reserves in Tallahassee. One week after taking
command, the battalion was alerted for call up and deployment to
Desert Shield/Storm. We were mobilized on September 10th,
1990 and deployed on September 27th to the desert. I
spent one year in Saudi Arabia and Iraq after the war ended in
100 hours.
I returned home to Tallahassee and was reassigned, at my
request, to Orlando to be the regional polygraph examiner. I
remained in that capacity until 1997. In February I retired
from FDLE for all of six months when we moved to Iowa to help
with a family problem. After six months we had to leave Iowa
and we returned to Florida. I was asked to move back to
Tallahassee where I became the Deputy Director for the Florida
Capitol Police, a subdivision of the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement. As the Deputy Director I was responsible for the
day-to-day activities of all the more than 200 members of the
Capitol Police who were assigned from Key West to Tallahassee
and from Jacksonville to Pensacola. I had the “joy” of being at
the Capitol Police during the election of 2000 with the hanging
“chads”.
I retired from the FDLE in 2003 and moved to Perry, Oklahoma,
where I took the position of Chief of Police. In 2005, while
serving as the Chief, I was advised that I needed heart by-pass
surgery. Following the surgery, I retired for the last time and
we moved to the “hills” and Table Rock Lake. After to years in
Shell Knob, I attended a boating safety course and joined the
U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. The rest is history.
June and I have been married for thirty years and we have four
sons and one daughter with 10 grandchildren. We have a great
time working and supporting the kids and their families.
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