TC Cottrell was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky in June of 1944. He attended College High School, a training school for Western Kentucky University, graduating in 1962. After being awarded a Bachelor’s Degree from Western Kentucky University he entered the U.S. Air Force in 1968. For the next 20 years he served in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot, and later as an instructor and command pilot. During 1972 he flew combat missions into both North and South Vietnam. Before retiring in 1988 he received a Master’s Degree from the State University of New York, in Plattsburgh. In the fall of 1988 he moved to Florida to begin a second career spanning over 27 years with a multi-national corporation providing support and services to government customers throughout the world. In the spring of 2016 he ended his second career and now finds the time to pursue his primary interests including photography, writing, and genealogy.