User:Yaquinaguy

My name is John C. Ratliff, and I work in the field of industrial hygiene, professional safety, and at times take on environmental issues. I am a Certified Safety Professional (CSP) through the Board of Certified Safety Professional (CSP) since the 1980s, and recently (November 28, 2006) also qualified is Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) through the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH). I am not of the younger generation, and was on swim teams for age group swimming in the 1950s, and on the North Salem High School Swim Team in the early 1960s. I also was an Explorer Scout (earning the Eagle Scout award) and served with the Search and Rescue Explorer Post 18 out of Salem, Oregon until I graduated from high school. After studying in college two years, I joined the U.S. Air Force and served as a USAF Pararescueman during the Vietnam War (1967-71 in the regular USAF, 1972-77 in the USAF Reserve; all in Pararescue). One of the units I served in was the 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (ARRSq) I have also been a scuba diver since 1959, an scuba instructor (NAUI #2710 retired) and have degrees in Zoology and Health (both Bachelor of Science degrees through Oregon State University). On August 15, 2009 I graduated from Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine with a Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) with an emphasis in Industrial Hygiene Tulane University's Distance Learning Program in their Center for Applied Environmental Public Health. My interests include bicycling (I use a recumbant, long wheelbase bicycle most of the time), photography, writing (essays, poetry, and I've started on a few books which have yet to be completed), scuba diving (including human underwater propulsion), aquatic biology, and am currently studying topics in industrial hygiene (toxicology for instance) through. I have written professional articles for the diving instruction, safety and industrial hygiene field, and write commentary in scuba, vintage scuba, bicycling, and other forums. Now, I ventured into the Wikipedia encyclopedia to write here, as a result of the James Kim family tragedy, where I decided to write about making a campfire in the Pacific Northwest woods.

John C. Ratliff