Outskirts Press, INC.

Having endured a childhood marked by poverty, hunger, and rejection, Robert Kimball dropped out of school after the ninth grade, primed to head down the same impoverished path taken during his childhood. Instead he became a career Army officer, earned a doctorate in educational leadership, and served as a school administrator and university lecturer. The story of his 27-year military career, which culminated in his command of a nuclear missile base in Europe, is a behind-the-scenes look at the inside workings of the Army during the upheaval of the 60s and 70s, the dangers and absurdities of day-to-day life in the jungles of Vietnam, and Army policy during the race riots in Watts and on Army bases. When he blew the whistle on the “Texas Miracle,” exposing the fraud and falsified data on which it was based, his personal courage and willingness to fight shed light on a nationwide cover-up and exposed him to retaliation by an angry school administration seemingly more concerned with appearance than education. Details of the scandal, its effects on the innocent, and his lawsuit against the school district for retaliation are described in intimate detail. In his fight against oppression and discrimination, he took on a for-profit, educational services corporation that he described as a drop-out factory, and became a champion in its demise. He concludes his memoir by describing his work as a pro bono educational consultant and his efforts to be an agent of change, to make a difference.