About Me

I was born on April 17, 1974 to Roger and Sheila Belcher of Elkhorn City, Kentucky. Most of my family is still in or around Elkhorn City, although my parents now work in Pikeville. I love and I’m very proud of my parents. After graduating from Elkhorn City high school in 1969 my dad earned a full scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1973; he now works for the department of labor in Pikeville. My mom finished nursing school when I was in grade school, and now she’s the assistant vice president of pediatric nursing at Pikeville Methodist Hospital. I grew up close to our family, with aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents as regular visitors to our house. Family roots run deep with us, and its one of the reasons why I want to raise my two sons in the same place I grew up.

I’ve had, by any account, an exciting life. In seventh grade I went to Space Camp, and at the age of 16 I flew a little Cessna piper-cub solo for the first time from Pikeville’s then single strip airport. The day I flew my first solo I didn’t even have a drivers license; I only had a learners permit. I could fly a plane by myself but couldn’t drive a car alone! Next year I attended a month long course as part of the Talent Identification Program from Duke University. We spent a little over a month studying Japanese in Toyama, Japan. At 6 feet 2 inches tall, I really stood out in Japan. I missed the first week of classes for my senior year in high school since I was still in Japan. After graduating from Millard High School in 1992, I attended the University of Kentucky for the next four years, graduating in 1996. I played tenor saxophone in UK’s marching band and in the basketball pep band my freshman and sophomore years. I had courtside seats to every UK home basketball game and I loved it.

I joined the Air Force in the end of 1997, and finished officer training school in February of 1998. I loved my time in the military and I had a number of challenging jobs, from air weapons officer, section commander to flight commander, Chief of Military Equal Opportunity and most recently as the team commander for Combat PERSCO in Iraq, which stands for personnel support for contingency operations. I met my wife Elaine on my second assignment, and we were married a year later. We have two amazing sons, Sam who is two and Ian who is seven months old. Ian was born during my deployment to Iraq, but I was lucky enough to get a week of emergency leave and just made it in time for his birth. For handling two kids while I was gone, my wife is my hero.

During my time in the Air Force I used the military’s education assistance program to complete a Masters Degree in International Relations. From my own money I completed four more years towards a PhD in Political Science, and I’m presenting a paper on Iraq in August 2007 to the American Political Science Associations national conference in Chicago. I’m also a big believer in physical fitness, having run a half marathon and completed an Air Force desert adventure race, which was like a triathlon. I’m training for another triathlon which will take place in the summer of 2007.

Even though I was selected for promotion to Major, I left the military because I wanted to continue serving my country by starting a career in politics. I love a challenge, I love serving my country, and I’m excited about the prospect of becoming a candidate for Congress.