David Warner Mathisen enjoys analyzing just about anything:
terrain, literature, geology, stocks and bonds, and the mysteries of mankind's ancient past.
Born in San Mateo, California, he was given a Montessori education in his earliest school years, a form of education that emphasizes seeing connections, conceptual analogies, and independent learning.
As a child, he enjoyed swimming, reading, music, and trips with his family to Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, Sedona, the Tetons, Yellowstone, the Ann Arbor Museum of Natural History, and the mysterious Rosicrucian Egyptian Oriental Museum in San Jose.
He had the opportunity to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he encountered a rigorous curriculum of engineering, mathematics, science, literature, boxing, wrestling, gymnastics, and military history. The Academy library was home to floor after floor of arcane books, many of them from the nineteenth century. Most free time was absorbed skydiving for the cadet parachute team, and summers were filled with military training at the Army's Airborne School, Air Assault School, Light Leader Course, and with the 7th Infantry Division, as well as with more skydiving around the country, in Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona.
After graduation, Mathisen became an Infantry officer in the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the 82nd Airborne Division. He graduated from Ranger School and the Jumpmaster Course, and later commanded a company of the 4th Infantry Division in Fort Hood, Texas. Following command, he attended Texas A&M University to study for a Master's degree in English literature, enroute to a job teaching in the English Department back at West Point.
Since leaving the Army, he has moved back to California to raise his family. He enjoys surfing and the outdoors, and watching the stars move across the heavens every evening and morning.
terrain, literature, geology, stocks and bonds, and the mysteries of mankind's ancient past.
Born in San Mateo, California, he was given a Montessori education in his earliest school years, a form of education that emphasizes seeing connections, conceptual analogies, and independent learning.
As a child, he enjoyed swimming, reading, music, and trips with his family to Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, Sedona, the Tetons, Yellowstone, the Ann Arbor Museum of Natural History, and the mysterious Rosicrucian Egyptian Oriental Museum in San Jose.
He had the opportunity to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he encountered a rigorous curriculum of engineering, mathematics, science, literature, boxing, wrestling, gymnastics, and military history. The Academy library was home to floor after floor of arcane books, many of them from the nineteenth century. Most free time was absorbed skydiving for the cadet parachute team, and summers were filled with military training at the Army's Airborne School, Air Assault School, Light Leader Course, and with the 7th Infantry Division, as well as with more skydiving around the country, in Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona.
After graduation, Mathisen became an Infantry officer in the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the 82nd Airborne Division. He graduated from Ranger School and the Jumpmaster Course, and later commanded a company of the 4th Infantry Division in Fort Hood, Texas. Following command, he attended Texas A&M University to study for a Master's degree in English literature, enroute to a job teaching in the English Department back at West Point.
Since leaving the Army, he has moved back to California to raise his family. He enjoys surfing and the outdoors, and watching the stars move across the heavens every evening and morning.