About the Author

William Hamilton, J.D., Ph.D., was raised in southwestern Oklahoma where he says his only pet was a tumbleweed and it blew away. Shortly after being elected Governor of Oklahoma Boys' State, he entered the University of Oklahoma on Regent's and Danforth Scholarships where, in combination with law school, he completed the requirements for a degree in government. But he claims his main interests were campus politics and Army R.O.T.C. As evidence of that, he was named a Big Man on Campus in both his junior and senior years and was commissioned as an infantry officer. A member of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity, he finished his last year at O.U. as president of the Interfraternity Council. Although he had seen snow only once or twice in Oklahoma, he developed an early, life-long yearning to become a ski bum

Fortunately for the world of downhill skiing, the Red Chinese decided to attack some islands in the Straits of Formosa. This prompted the U.S. Army to call hundreds of R.O.T.C. infantry lieutenants to active duty. So, he became an officer and a gentleman by an Act of Congress. Only years later would he complete his legal education. Although he never practiced, he refers to himself as a "recovering lawyer." But he is a member of the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association.

According to Dr. Hamilton, he spent most of his twenty years in the military impersonating officers of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Central Intelligence. For some reason, the U.S. Army kept trying to get rid of him by loaning him to other government agencies, other armed services and service branches. For example, at the height of the Cold War, he was sent to a school for intelligence agents followed by German language school and then posted to Europe where he, like all "spooks", worked for the Director of Central Intelligence. Of course, the DCI didn't know it. He remains a member of the Association For Intelligence Officers (AFIO).
Pressed for information about his assignment as an intelligence agent, Dr. Hamilton says many secret details relating to just how much German beer, wine and cognac were consumed at U.S. taxpayer expense while he and his intelligence partner conducted "bar counter-surveillance" on operatives of the KGB and the East German Intelligence Service cannot be discussed on this UNCLASSIFIED web page. But you might try www.kgb@ussr.gov/ for the real story. If you cannot find the KGB web page anymore, blame former President Ronald Reagan.
Following a tour as a company commander in Vietnam with the famed 1st Air Cavalry Division, the Army loaned him out once again. This time to the U.S. Air Force where he served as the Ground Liaison Officer to the 19th Air Force, the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing and the 58th Bomb Wing. Thanks to then 4th Tactical Fighter Wing Commander, Colonel Chuck Yeager, he spent many hours impersonating a "guy-in-the-back" in the Air Force's F-4 fighter. Of those years, Dr. Hamilton says he only recalls two statements by Colonel Yeager: "Get in the back" And, "Don't touch anything!"

Following a second tour with the 1st Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam and Cambodia, the Army sent him to study at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, RI, for a year where he majored in sailing, skiing and looking for a wife, not necessarily in that order. In his spare time, he earned a master's degree in international affairs from The George Washington University, was named a Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Naval War College School of Command and Staff and served as a sailing instructor for the Naval War College Yacht Club. At Newport, the legendary ski movie producer, Warren Miller, presented one of his makes-you-want-to-ski films. That led to a week of ski instruction at Killington, VT. Years later, Dr. Hamilton raced in the Winter Park Press Cup and won gold medals as a NASTAR racer.

After the Naval War College, he served briefly in the Pentagon in the Office of the Special Assistant for the Modern Volunteer Army. There he wrote the Adventure Training doctrine for the Modern Volunteer Army. Many years later, the Army's concept of Adventure Training became the inspiration for the highly successful TV series, "Survivor."

After commanding an airborne/mechanized infantry battalion in Mainz, West Germany, the Army's Infantry Branch loaned him to the Army's Armor Branch so he could command an armored cavalry squadron stationed across the Fulda Gap. About that time, Colonel Hamilton says he began to notice he was spending half of his career being farmed-out to other government agencies, armed services or service branches.

So, when the Governor of Nebraska offered him a post as his deputy director of policy research, Dr. Hamilton retired from active duty and traded his green uniform for the gray garb of the faceless bureaucrat. In the years to follow, Dr. Hamilton headed a government reorganization task force, was executive director of the Nebraska Republican Party, founded an advertising/public-relations/political-consulting firm, served as an assistant professor of history and political science at Nebraska Wesleyan University, worked for a Wall Street investment banking firm, created "Central View" for the Lincoln SUN newspapers, and later, served as editor-in-chief of The Capital Times of Lincoln, Nebraska. Shortly after he became a syndicated columnist and editor, Dr. Hamilton began his on-going tenure as a featured commentator for USA Today, the nation's most widely read newspaper.

Due to two years of combat service with the helicopter-borne 1st Air Cavalry Division, two years with the U.S. Air Force and an inexplicable bad habit of jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, Dr. Hamilton became an instrument-rated, general aviation pilot. For over two decades, he has served as a regional representative for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) the world's largest aviation association. His wife of over three decades is also a pilot. Together, they co-hold a world aviation speed record.
In 1992, after becoming convinced her husband would never learn to keep a steady job, Dr. Penny Hamilton (known to readers of "Central View" as Wonder Wife), insisted they move to Colorado where her husband now spends his time writing "Central View," skiing at the Winter Park/Mary Jane Ski Resort. While the road to his lifetime goal was long and fraught with danger, he finally made it. Any one who skis over 30 days each season would have to be considered a successful ski bum.

When not skiing, sailing or teaching sailing or flying or serving on various volunteer boards and commissions, the Drs. Hamilton concentrate on being good companions to their Old English Sheepdog and on co-writing their novels. To meet a busy schedule of business and speaking engagements, the Hamiltons fly their Piper Turbo Arrow III aircraft which they hangar at the Granby/Grand County Airport (GNB). See www.granbyairport.com for airport information and links to gorgeous Rocky Mountain scenery.

Dr. Hamilton is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, the George Washington University, the U.S. Naval War College, the University of Nebraska and the Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
During his military service, he was awarded: the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Legion of Merit, four Bronze Stars, the Purple Heart, twenty Air Medals, the Army Commendation Medal for Valor with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Combat Infantry Badge, the Master Parachutist Badge, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm and with Silver Star and the Vietnamese Medal of Honor.
He is a former Distinguished Research Fellow at the U.S. Army Military History Institute of the U.S. Army War College and a 1992 winner of the Valley Forge Freedom Foundation Medal for his writings on national affairs. Dr. Hamilton is the former chairman of the Nebraska Aeronautics Commission and former chairman of the Nebraska State Airline Commission. More recently, he served a three-year term as a member of the Colorado Aeronautical Board.

In addition to being a 28-year member of AOPA, he is a member of Air Safety Foundation’s Hat in the Ring Society, the Patriot Guard Riders, the Experimental Aircraft Association, the National Rifle Association and is a life-member of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). Under the AOPA Air Safety Foundation, he and his wife have endowed the Penny and Bill Hamilton Scholarship Fund, the purpose of which is to encourage more pilots to become certified flight instructors.

With Penny, he is the co-author of The Grand Conspiracy, by William Penn and The Panama Conspiracy by William Penn. See: www.buckanddolly.com or www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com. The Berlin Conspiracy and The Umbrella Conspiracy are works in progress. See: www.buckanddolly.com for progress reports on the remaining novels in the "conspiracy" series.
Dr. Hamilton continues as a member of the Delta Upsilon International Social Fraternity which recently honored him in 2005 with Distinguished Alumnus Award at the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of Delta Upsilon at the University of Oklahoma. Their son, John Matthew Hamilton, pledged D.U. at the University of Nebraska.

In 2008, Dr. Hamilton was named to the University of Oklahoma Army ROTC Wall of Fame and inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame. Readers of "Central View" are invited to offer suggested topics or comments by writing to P.O. Box 2001, Granby, Colorado 80446. To insure a reply, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope and a valid, adult ski-lift ticket for Vail or Beaver Creek. He already has a season pass for Winter Park/Mary Jane and Copper Mountain. Alternatively, email to: william@central-view.com.