Mr. Donald Rawlinson, born in Kalamazoo Michigan in 1946, is the son of Francis and Joan Rawlinson. He was an all-round gymnast in High School and an avid electronics enthusiast.

Growing up all over Lower Michigan as a civilian dependent, Mr. Rawlinson turned his back on an offer (the draft) to be an infantry soldier and volunteered to join the Army. Upon being accepted in 1965, he joined the New Action Army for FUN, TRAVEL and ADVENTURE. And, as a New Action Army Warrant Officer Aviator, he was given an all-expense-paid tour of sunny Vietnam in 1967. Mr. Rawlinson was wounded on April 1, 1967, and was medically evacuated in April to Japan. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart and 4 awards of the Air Medal and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm during the three months of service in Vietnam.

After 4 years of service, Mr. Rawlinson joined the civilian workforce and attended college. There Mr. Rawlinson graduated with an emphasis in Management and Computer Science. He worked in a manufacturing environment as a Purchasing Agent, Foreign Steel Buyer, Specialty and Exotic metals procurement, Materials Manager and Comptroller. As with many an Army Aviator Mr. Rawlinson had a difficult time determining what he wanted to do when he grew up. He has held positions in the computer industry in design and development, working with Universal Energy Systems, Paravant Computers, Harris Corporation and Wright State University on the design and development of a 1556 data bus analyzer for military vehicles. Mr. Rawlinson served as the consultant to the Doctoral staff, Wright State University, on the design of primitives for the 1556 analyzer. He has held associations with the Harding Think Tank, GM Microcomputer Division, Atlanta Metropolitan Area Rapid Transit Authority and San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Authority on automation and rail maintenance technologies. He has worked on the Boeing Sikorsky design project for the LHX (Comanche) project, specifically the coding design.

In 1986, after teaching computer science courses for 6 years, Mr. Rawlinson was entreated to join the civil service workforce thinking that he could be a positive influence. This move leads Mr. Rawlinson into a very exciting period of introducing technology and software engineering to the military community. His goal has been to deliver products and services to the customer that improve, sustain and effectively support the soldier. He joined the United States Army School of Aviation Medicine (USASAM) in 1996 and is certified by the military as a Level II Systems Administrator and Network Manager.

Mr. Rawlinson has received 4 awards of the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service, 2 awards of the Army Achievement Medal, is the recipient of the Superior Civilian Service Medal.

Mr. Rawlinson retired from the Department of Defense (USASAM) in April of 2007.  His interests in retirement are his family, church, and home.  Not wanting to be idle he and Dr. Faulk have pursued the establishment of the Alabama Law Enforcement Alliance for Peer Support.  A non-profit organization for training of First Responders in Peer Support.

He is married to the former Helen Joyce Dukes of Dothan Alabama and has two daughters, Michelle (Mike) and Heather (Tim). Their love and devotion defy all logic. For the both of them have had the patience of saints and have hung around out of sheer curiosity as to see what the village idiot is going to do next.

Mr. Rawlinson has 4 grandsons (Jamie, Jeremy, Chris and Isaiah) and 1 granddaughter (Sarah).