Jeff Arnold

I was born in San Jose December 25, 1944. I grew up in Campbell going to Campbell Elementary then Rosemary School and Campbell High.

After graduation from high school I attended and graduated from San Jose State in June, 1967. (B.A. Biology) During college I went through the Army ROTC program (This was the time before the lottery draft and I thought it would be better to go in as an officer).

Sure enough, right after graduation, I was off on my Army career. I got married right after graduation so we were off on about a two year honeymoon. We lived in Hephzibah, Georgia (Snuff sample arrived in mail box) for 3 months. Then we were off to Long Branch, New Jersey for 3 months. Next we lived in Mannheim, Germany for a year and a half. The orders then came for me to go to South Vietnam, where I lived in Ban Me Thout for a year. I had been promoted to Captain by this time but the last six months of my tour helped me decide I never wanted to be in a situation where I could not quit instead of working for a real jerk.

When I got out of the Army I was living in San Jose. There was a recession going on and it was really difficult to get a job. I finally got a position with Santa Clara County Public Health as a Sanitarian (restaurant inspections, septic tank permitting and the like). I originally wanted to be a veterinarian, but I did not like school and all that goes with school that much. My grades were not good enough to get into Davis. As it turned out getting in to public health really matched my personality and way of thinking.

During the time I was in the Army, every time I came back to San Jose, I was shocked by all the change – lots of new residential and commercial development. The rural and agricultural environment was disappearing. I decided I wanted to live in a more rural community so when I got a chance to work in Humboldt County, I took it. In nearly 30 years employment here I have served as Environmental Health Specialist, Director of Environmental Health and Public Health Director. I retired in 2004.

Hobbies – I enjoy woodworking, gardening and trying to keep up with technology. My most time consuming post retirement activity has been search and rescue, the training and actual response to incidents
.
Travel – Most of our travel has been within the US. We have been to Yellowstone twice and were planning another trip this year, but I think that is not going to happen. We visited friends in Sweden. We took our two granddaughters with us on another trip where we visited Brussels, Sweden and Norway for 3 weeks.

Family - I have been married for 45 years 20 with my first wife and 25 with my current wife. I have two sons, a daughter and two granddaughters.

I feel very fortunate to have grown up when and where I did. The school system was well funded and there were opportunities like the music programs that made a difference in my life path. My kids and grandkids did not have those kinds of opportunities in the school system here. - Jeff Arnold

When Jeff responded a month or so ago about what the top three things you wanted to do once we all were released from shelter in place, he said he wanted to get back to search and rescue with dog Elsi. I asked him to tell me about his experiences.

Lynda, I have been involved with search and rescue here in Humboldt County since 2004. After retiring in 2002, I got a German shepherd dog and eventually hooked up with the local California Rescue Dog Association training group; it took me 3 years to become mission ready. The training is a lot of fun and good exercise. We normally train twice a week. Our local group has 4 teams (a dog and handler). We hide for each other and bring volunteers out to hide as well. While the training is fun, I classify the actual searches as interesting. I have been places and seen things I never expected. We respond to the Sheriff’s Department in Humboldt but have also gone to Mendocino, Trinity and Del Norte Counties. The searches always defy expectations. My current dog, Elsi, and I are aging out. I hope to be able to make it another 2 – 3 years. The photo below was taken by one of the guys that hide for us as Elsi and I came upon him after about a mile long trail. If you search YouTube for jeffinmck you will see some video I took of some of the trainings with Elsi. ~ Jeff