I was born June 25, 1940, at Agana, Guam, to a native General Baptist missionary on the Island of Guam. My parents were Joaquin F. Sablan and the former Beatrice Taitano Torres, both born on Guam. I have four siblings, one of whom passed away a day after childbirth.

I attended my early years of education in a little town - Oakland City, Indiana, while my father was attending Southern Theological Seminary in Louisville , Kentucky.

We went to Oakland City a couple of years after Guam was liberated from Japanese Occupation, during World War II, and after we were released from a Japanese Concentration Camp. We returned to Guam in 1949 where my education continued through high school at George Washington High School in Mongmong, Guam.

I departed Guam for the University of Kentucky in 1958 and attended 18 months until enlisting in the United States Air Force on March 4, 1960.

During my USAF enlisted years, 1960 through 1963, I was a nuclear weapons fuzing specialist before being selected for the Air Force Officer Candidate School, Class 63C.

Following graduation from OCS and commissioning as a Second Lieutenant, I returned to the nuclear and conventional weapons field as a munitions officer. After completing a Munitions Officer course at Lowry Air Force base, Colorado, I was assigned to support the Greek Air Force at RHAF Tanagara, Greece. Halfway through the assignment, we moved the support to Souda Bay, Crete. I was later selected to return to Lowry AFB as an instructor for the Munitions Officer Course. At Lowry AFB, I taught in the Munitions Officer, Munitions Staff Officer and Special Munitions Officer Courses.

After two years at Lowry AFB, I was assigned to Clark AB, Republic of the Philippines to the 13th Tactical Bomb Squadron, B-57 aircraft. The squadron, with its sister 8th TBS, performed reflex temporary duty to Phan Rang AB, Republic of Vietnam, in direct support of the Vietnam War.

After a short period with the 13th TBS, I was transferred to the 509th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, with F-102s and temporary duty locations at Bien Hoa AB, RVN, Don Muang AB, Thailand, and Udorn RTAFB, Thailand. At Udorn, the squadron experienced the only F-102 loss due to combat flight operations in Vietnam.

After two years at Clark AB, RP, I was transferred to Scott AFB, Illinois, as the Detachment Commander for San Antonio Air Material Area.

We supported and provided high priority worldwide airlift support for national assets. At Scott AFB, I applied for and was selected to attend the Bootstrap program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where I completed my undergraduate degree with a concentration in mathematics.

After one year at Bootstrap, I was assigned to the Command Safety Office, Headquarters, Air Force Logistic Command as the Command Nuclear Safety Officer. I augmented the AFLC Inspector General Inspection Team as a technical operations inspector during inspections of three Aviation Depot Squadrons and five Air Material Areas.

Upon completing two years with the AFLC Safety Office, I was transferred to the 374th Tactical Fighter Wing, Tahkli Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, with F-111A aircraft. I was assigned to the 6280th Munitions Maintenance Squadron as the Munitions Supervisor and later as the Squadron Commander during the close-out of Tahkli.

The remainder of my military career included assignments to the 31st MMS, Homestead AFB, Florida; Air Force Inspector General - Logistics Team, Air Force Inspection & Safety Center, Norton AFB, California, and HQ CINC Pacific, Camp Smith, Hawaii. I retired from the USAF as a Major, Active Reserves, on 1 Mar 1982 after completing 22 years of active duty service. While at HQ CINCPAC, I completed my graduate degree in Industrial Management.

After USAF retirement, I entered the Federal Civil Service work force on 30 August 1982, at Kelly AFB, Texas, as the San Antonio Air Materiel Center Nuclear Surety Manager. I continued in various safety areas and for the final five years - assigned with the DoD Explosives Safety Board until my retirement on 30 Jun, 2002.