An Autobiographical Sketch by Mike Irwin 4/7/81

Enter mild mannered Mike Irwin followed by a stawart cohort and twin brother Mitch. My father was in the military so Mitch and I remained Air Force brats until we were in our sixteenth year, which is when my father retired. Due to this background I have lived all around the country and in several different types of climates.

I value friendships very highly, partly because I have moved around so much and left friends behind but also because I'm a friendly type of guy. I look for qualities I like in my friends and consequently I generally find quite a few, enough to overlook the occasional shortcomings one finds in people. I am not strongly religious (yet?) but I do come from a fairly religious background. I try to follow the golden rule and if given enough time I could probably recall most of the ten commandments.

Living on Air Force bases I was exposed to advanced technology and people trained to apply it efficiently. I find math and science interesting and have above average aptitudes for both. In light of these facts it is not astonishing that I became interested in space flight at an early age. I have remained interested and ultimately I hope to migrate into space. The asteroid belt seems like a nice location.

Studies are currently being conducted on the feasibility of establishing self-sustaining colonies, communities of around ten thousand people, .......

tired of typing .... I need to get downtown to talk to a buddy at the library anyway.

Field exercise 3. I donned my father's flight suit and armed myself with knowledge and data accumulated from previous combat chattering efforts and meandered downtown to propose a local hospice, emergency preparedness plan, proactive crime prevention (large long term payoff!), assistance for buddies with errant children running wild and careless in assuring themselves that their children might survive and stay out of trouble long enough to awaken to the finer things in life, and a few other things.

Made a twenty cent profit cause I picked up 3 aluminum cans and a plastic bottle along the way. Met a lot of fairly old, very competent, friendly individuals and chattered with them as the spirit moved us.

Today I pray that our Afghani brethren who love freedom for themselves and others as do we Americans, strive creatively to live long enough to prospor with a little assistance from their friends. Amen.