John Edward Collins

In 1969, my wife and I traveled to West Germany courtesy of the U.S. Air Force, where I served as a military operative for the NSA. Rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant, I worked as a cryptologist, signals intelligence analyst, and computer programmer. My wife worked for the Stars and Stripes Newspaper. When not at work, we traveled extensively in Europe, using Darmstadt’s central location as our base.

Upon completion of my four year enlistment in the Air Force, the training I received led to a civilian career as a computer systems architect. I still regard my experience working for the NSA as the most challenging and exciting in my long career.