When I was researching graduate schools, my dad told me“Go far away. Look for someplace and something interesting and build yourself an exciting life. We’ll come visit you.” So I packed-up my Austin Healey Sprite and drove from New Jersey to Glendale, Az for graduate school, earned aMasters of International Management, replied to a ‘help wanted’ advertisement in the New York Times – and found myself in London, U.K., a trainee metal trader for Harlow & Jones, Ltd., a metals trading house.
Metals trading is a European phrase for export-import. At H & J I learned about booking cargo for ocean shipment, reading the metals markets, how to open/cash letters of credit, the documentation necessary forexport and import shipments, how to write a contract, and how important wereethics in the business world. On weekends I ran in Hyde Park, visited the Tate, Parliament, Soho, the War Museum, the National Gallery and sampled different beers and single malts- how cool was that!
Upon returning to H & J’s American office, Iconcentrated on trading primary and die-cast grades of aluminum ingot, along with supporting materials as silicon metal and magnesium ingot, which I mostly sold into companies such as Reynolds Metals, Alcan, and similar. After leaving H & J to work for larger traders, I finally started my own – which lasted ten years until Google introduced ‘googling’, and as my customers googled‘Chinese silicon metal suppliers’, and my suppliers googled ‘American aluminum companies…suddenly neither needed me…alas, the need for small-but-competent trading companies like mine disappeared very quickly.
Not that I foresaw Google, but I already had a second career in the works; I was teaching a variety of international business courses at a local college. Having both hands-on experience and a Masters degree qualified me as an Adjunct Professor; and frankly the only major differences between importing aluminum ingot, car parts, or plywood is the volume in each container and the import duty. “Ladies & Gentlemen; welcome to International Business 101; I’m Professor Lubin…”
But on September 11, 2001, America was attacked, and as dozens of thousands of young Americans volunteered to defend their country, I’m proud to say my son was one of them. Quitting college to enlist in the Marine Corps, my now-artilleryman son was a proud member of 1st Bn, 10thMarines, who as part of Task Force Tarawa invaded Iraq in March 2003. Their victoryin the savage fight at an-Nasiriyah enabled the other American forces toadvance and seize Baghdad. Upon his safe return to the US, I wrote my first book, “Charlie Battery; A Marine Artillery Battery in Iraq.’’ This led to acareer of combat journalist, with 14 embeds totaling approx. 2 ½ years in Beirut, Ramadi, Fallujah, Western Anbar, Eastern Afghanistan (RC-East) and Helmand Province…where I covered and lived with the Marines as they implemented their boots-on-the-ground strategy that made Helmand Province one of Afghanistan’s quietest. Plus I got to spend my 60th b-day on a gunship filming a raid on a Taliban communications network – exciting times indeed!
But being almost 3x the age of most of the young Marines finally began to catch up with me, so I returned to writing, speaking, and eventually teaching; again a variety of international business & related courses, and at one point I ran two departments. But by 2025 I knew it was time for me to retire, and I did.
I’m very proud to say a surprising number of my former students stay in contact; they let me know of their successes, promotions, marriages, and babies – how cool is that! And in between my never-ending job weaking my ’68 MGB, I travel to such “climes & places” as Iwo Jima, Petra, Belleau Wood, Machu Picchu, Victoria Falls, and Rorkes Drift. Dad; I listened, and yes; it’s been an exciting life!!
