For those of you who wish, I can be reached at TSD.RAVEN@wikianswers.com


What is the success rate of back surgery?


Battlefield 3: http://bf3stats.com/stats_ps3/TSD_-RAVEN-

I've spent over 35 years in Electronics and Computer systems operation, maintenance, troubleshooting and repair. I joined the Navy 2 years after graduating HS, and did 8 years as a Submarine Sonar Technician in the U.S. Navy (STS1/SS) aboard Nuclear Fast-Attack Submarines. Being a Sonarman on a Fast-Attack at the height of the Cold War was an experience I'll always treasure (the book "Blind Man's Bluff" by Sherry Sontag is a good insight into our world). I also did a 3 year Reserve tour with the Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon as an ASW/EW/C3I Systems Program Manager, through Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

During my Naval Reserve time, I managed a Hewlett-Packard OEM Integration / Test / Maintenance / Repair facility, before returning to the Department of Defense as an Aerospace QA Engineer. I was originally assigned to Fighter/Bomber/Helo Avionics QA at local defense contractor plants in the D.C. area but after 18 months I was assigned to QA on NASA programs for the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, working on Astronaut Tools, Hubble Space Telescope, and many satellites. I was also privileged to work on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs, and worked on NASA programs for about 9 years before I was forced to retire.

I've dealt with spinal and other pain for almost 25 years, migraines since I was a kid, and I've had my share of serious injuries in addition to my spinal problems. I have used every form of alternative form of therapy for back pain prior to my first spinal surgery. I was forced to retire on disability in 1999 after 2 spinal operations (C5/6/7, L4/5/S1), and I required a third fusion (L3/4) in 2006. I've been a high dose opiate Pain Management patient since 1998. Pain and I are very old, constant companions, and it's one of the reasons I began the Pain Management categories here at WikiAnswers.

Along with playing guitar and at one time teaching Karate (I'm a 1st Dan in Tang Soo Do), I've also had my own web hosting/design business for about 15 years. I'm also pretty knowledgeable in birds, fish, dogs, and cats, having owned them for most of my life, and at one time having managed a privately run pet store. I'm a very avid PS3 gamer, primarily FPS's (Battlefield,etc.).





"Qualified in Submarines"
"THERE ARE ONLY 2 KINDS OF SHIPS: SUBMARINES - and TARGETS"


USS RAY (SSN-653) surfaced through the Polar Ice Cap, May 1986.


Arctic Drift Ice Station Helo rendezvous with RAY in the High Arctic.


Top-Bottom: USS Hawkbill, USS Ray, USS Archerfish
May 6, 1986, at the Geographic North Pole
First multi-submarine surfacing in history at the North Pole.
I'm somewhere in the group around RAY. The picture was
taken from the open cargo door of a C-130 flown from Alaska
specifically to document the event.


USS RAY (SSN-653) - Myself and RAY's Gun Boss, Hansford Tyler.
Underway topside in the Bahamas, waiting on personnel transfer.


USS RAY (SSN-653) anchors at Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI.


HUBBLE/INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION PISTOL GRIP TOOL

A project that kept me up at wee hours into the night. This tool is important in that its battery pack (which slides into a socket under the handgrip much like a cordless drill) uses Lithium Ion battery cells. NASA specifically funded further development of LI battery technology for this tool, which has ultimately led to its widespread use in consumer electronics and tools.

This tool was originally designed by Engineers at the Goddard Space Center here in Maryland to replace the original tool developed for servicing the Hubble, the Power Ratchet Tool. The PRT was not as portable, and did not have torque settings and and torque feedback sensors that prevent the Astronauts from overtorquing a screw or bolt during an EVA. The design of the PGT caught the attention of administrators at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where another tool for building the International Space Station was being developed.

NASA HQ resolved the issue by instituting a competition between the 2 centers and tool designs. Ultimately, the PGT won the competition, because of it's design, battery life, and the fact the Astronauts liked it more. I was rewarded for my work on the PGT with a work trip to Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center, to receive and perform the final inspection prior to loading on the Shuttle Discovery for the HST 2nd Servicing Mission.



HST/ISS Pistol Grip Tool
Note the open slots at the battery pack holder
for holding the battery pack in place. The
different rotating cylinders are for setting torque,
speed, and feedback.




HST/ISS Pistol Grip Tool
Used during orbital EVA in main Shuttle Bay
The box he's opening is the Multi-Object Protective Enclosure (MOPE),
one of many storage containers that house tools
& assemblies they're going to work with or replace.
I inspected and bought the MOPE for NASA in 1995.


HUBBLE TELESCOPE NICMOS CPL RADIATOR PANEL AND CRYOCOOLER TURBINE



I'm the hippie in the blue shirt with the NASA logo on the right.
The others are the build team at Swales Aerospace, the contractor
I was stationed at and responsible for during that time.
The NCS Panel is ready at this stage for buyoff by
me for NASA, and shipment to NASA Goddard for more
assembly and testing. .



NCS Radiator Panel is now fully assembled
and configured for the HST Orbital Systems Test (HOST), attached
to its Shuttle Payload Beam.



With the successful results of the HOST mission test,
the NCS Radiator is cleaned and updated to its
final flight configuration, and then flown again on
HST Servicing Mission 3A to be installed on Hubble.





NCS Turbine Assembly, Flight
Configuration (Panels, Blanketing installed)
ready for final G-Force Vibration Test.
Everything you see except for the Turbine itself
I inspected at one point or more.


INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION




International Space Station S-0 Truss Radiator Panel
undergoing final prep prior to top sheet installation. The
bent pipes are Anhydrous Ammonia Heat Pipes.
The geek in the white lab coat at the top is me.



Biggest Influences: John Wayne, Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, Ronald Reagan, Gene Kranz, Abraham Lincoln

Favorite Quotes
"Common Sense and Intelligence do not necessarily reside within the same person."

"Tough & Competent - These words are the price of admission to Mission Control" - Gene Kranz, after the Apollo 1 accident

"There's no crying in Baseball!!"

"THE INTERNET: Where Men are Men, Women are Men, and Children are FBI Agents"

"Begin - The Rest is Easy" - Fortune Cookie

"Never, EVER, tell someone that their Baby is Ugly."

"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt" - Abraham Lincoln

Sun-Tzu "You have to believe in yourself." "Opportunities multiply as they are seized." "Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance."

"Responsibility is a unique concept: It can only reside and inhere in a single individual. You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you. You may disclaim it, but you cannot divest yourself of it. Even if you do not recognize it or admit its presence, you cannot escape it. If the responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance, or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else. Unless you can point the finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible."

"If you're going to sin, sin against God, not the bureaucracy; God will forgive you but the bureaucracy won't."

"Man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts."

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

"History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap."

"Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction."

"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects."

"The short memories of the American voters is what keeps our politicians in office."

"A fool and his money are soon elected."

"Don't let yesterday use up too much of today."