I grew up in Pleasantville, IA where my parents, Greg and Judy still reside.  I have one older sister Amber Pelzer, married to Larry Pelzer who lives in Newton.  While being over in Saudi Arabia my first niece, Kasey, was born.  In April 2004 my second niece, Kennedy, was born.      I enlisted in the United States Air Force and left for basic training three weeks after graduating from Pleasantville High School.  I was stationed at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX for basic training.  I was then shipped to Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS for tech school in computer programming.  After completing tech school at Keesler AFB I was then assigned to Maxwell AFB – Gunter Annex in Montgomery, AL.  After 9/11 I was sent over to Saudi Arabia.  After finishing my tour in Saudi Arabia I returned to Maxwell AFB – Gunter Annex.  In September 2004 I was sent overseas again this time to the United Arab Emirates.  While being over there I took CLEP tests to complete my Associate’s degree from the Community College of the Air Force in Computer Science.  After finishing that tour I again returned to Maxwell AFB – Gunter Annex.  While being stationed in Montgomery, AL I volunteered at the Archibald Senior Center teaching Windows 98 and later Windows XP to senior citizens in the area for over four years.  I was also a member of the Headquarters Standard Systems Group Sabre Drill Team performing precision drill maneuvers for local groups in the community and military ceremonies for four and a half years.  In June 2005 I was honorably discharged from the Air Force and returned home to Iowa.

I have worked for the last two years at Newton Manufacturing Co. as a computer programmer in their Systems Department.  I have been involved in a few groups in the Newton community.  I've done some work with the Newton Transformation Council, and the Jasper County Citizens for Casino Truth.  

I'm running for State Representative for a couple reasons, first I believe that in order to have good paying jobs in this state we need to home grow our businesses which is something we haven't been able to do very well, one reason is that we are ranked 41st in the nation for business climates, when you don't have businesses you don't have jobs and when your 41st in the nation your going to have problems.  The other is that I believe we need to be looking down the road 30-40 years and not always look for the quick fix in government I feel that we have too many politicians in Des Moines right now that are selling the current and future tax-payers up the river with their seemingly endless tax and spend policy.