I joined the United States Air Force at the age of 20. My ‘military occupational specialty’ was 45455, Strategic Electro-Environmental Systems Specialist. I was part of the Strategic Air Command 379th Bomb Wing at Wurtsmith AFB, MI. My duties mainly involved troubleshooting & repairing flight line electrical and cabin environmental problems on the Boeing B-52G bomber and KC-135a Strato-Tanker.
A year after joining , I volunteered to serve in the Gulf War. I spent about 3 months in Saudi Arabia supporting operation Desert Shield/Storm. While there, I earned several awards including the National Defense Service Medal, The Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, South West Asia Service Medal with 2 devices and the Kuwaiti Liberation Medal with a device. Our commander, Colonel William H. Campbell, Jr. awarded to me the Air Force Achievement Medal for meritorious service.
Colonel Campbell stated: “Airman Messner displayed superior mechanical skills and dedication to duty. His keen attention to detail while rewiring a B-52G engine strut and wing that had been damaged by excessive heat ensured the job was completed right the first time. The repair was recognized for its complexity and rapid completion, resulting in his section earning the Deputy Commander for Maintenance Achievement Award. While deployed in support of Operation DESERT STORM, a B-52G aircraft was restricted from releasing weapons due to a rear main landing gear retract malfunction. His swift repair returned the system to mission capable status in minimum time, ensuring the aircraft met its launch window for a critical combat sortie. His ceaseless efforts contributed to the unit producing 846 combat sorties in 42 days.”
I left the Air Force in 1993 when the Pentagon closed Wurtsmith Air Force Base. I immediately enrolled at Michigan State University in East Lansing majoring in Electrical Engineering. I studied for a year before receiving an offer of a paid internship at Lever Brothers Co. in Hammond Indiana. Working as a Maintenance Engineer I set up preventative maintenance & inspection programs for power distribution systems and the plant’s 5,000 electric motors. Eight months later I returned to MSU to finish my degree. I enrolled in several independent research projects to satisfy elective requirements.
My love for independent study became obvious through those projects where I was mentored by experts in their respective fields. I developed a PC interface for an ultrasonic imaging device using simple 7400 logic gates. I designed & fabricated a portable video display using diamond crystals I grew in a class 100 clean-room using a process called Hot Filament Chemical Vapor Deposition. I conceptualized and prototyped a 1/12th scale electric vehicle which used two electric motors wired in parallel to eliminate the need for a mechanical differential saving weight and increasing range. I contributed to my mentor’s publications by writing their abstracts and supplying critical data.
In my free time, I worked as the assistant secretary at the department of Biomechanics where I first learned how to use a word processor. I also worked as a night clerk at Quality Dairy (I sold corn nuts, dough-nuts and scooped ice cream). I took between 15-21 credits each semester and attended classes year round graduating in 1996, one year ahead of schedule.
My first job out of college was at Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc., an aluminum wheel foundry and machine shop. The plant manager required his Controls Engineers to work every production job in the plant before being allowed to design, program, repair or purchase equipment.
The experience gave me practical insight and an appreciation for the art of metalworking. I supported production by troubleshooting power distribution & control system problems and as a program manager, was given the responsibility to properly allocate $2MM for plant expansion and work cell automation.
During my career I worked for other companies as an engineer, project manager and supervisor. As I grew in the various roles, I began to realize that the independence, creativity and freedom I enjoyed through undergraduate research at MSU was unavailable at the corporate level. In late 2001, I began searching for an alternative career.
I began working part-time originating residential mortgages in 2002. Financial success and the entrepreneurial environment of the business led me to leave my engineering career for full-time employment as a branch manager. I worked independently and enjoyed it. I dreamed of starting my own mortgage company and after a painful learning process involving rookie business mistakes and trusting the wrong people, I finally obtained a Michigan mortgage brokers license and launched RMG Financial in 2005. A mentor of mine suggested cross-selling life insurance to expand my offering so early in 2006 I added life insurance solutions to my list of services.
Right about the time I engaged RMG Financial’s autopilot, the housing market began its downward spiral and I was forced to return to base and adapt to the imminent recession. In 2007 I was offered a position as a Financial Advisor at a brokerage firm that had thousands of representatives across the country.
The experience was surreal from my vantage point. It was kind of like walking into a battle zone where panicked investors walked around in shock searching through the rubble of what, at one time, resembled a secure future.
In some cases, the environment was a lot like working on the flight line during combat. To me, returning their lives to ‘mission capable status’ in the shortest time possible was just as urgent as ensuring a B-52 met its launch window for a critical combat sortie.
In hindsight I can see I was exactly where I needed to be at the time. My troubleshooting skills at the ready, I met with a lot of new people and served them by figuring out what went wrong with their financial strategy. I helped them pick up the pieces and brought order to chaos. It was an incredible learning experience too. I learned the difference between a Salesperson and a Fiduciary and how the two roles opposed one another. I learned that Fiduciaries always act in the best interest of their clients whereas Salespeople instead have a Fiduciary duty to the companies they represent.
It was apparent that fulfilling the role of Fiduciary was most congruent with my background, education and who I was intellectually and professionally. As such, I returned to independence in August of 2010 and launched the independent advisory firm RMG Advisory Services where fulfilling the role of Fiduciary could be my number one priority.