About

Painting A Picture Of The Man Behind Lead230.com

About Lee Roberts from Lee Roberts on Vimeo.

My name is Lee Roberts and it is my pleasure to welcome you to Lead230.com, which features stories on a range of topics including music, legal, water safety, construction, education, government, military, and recreation.

I’m a professional journalist and I hold associate degrees in avionics systems technology and public affairs from the Community College of the Air Force, bachelor’s degree from Texas State University with an emphasis in public relations, and masters degree in new media journalism from Full Sail University.  I have more than 20 years experience as a public affairs specialist and journalist.  This About page includes a little bit about my life’s journey that shaped my pursuit of gathering news and telling stories.

I was born in Nashville, Tenn., but grew up mostly in Virginia. In the 60s and 70s, I remember watching Walter Cronkite on my parents’ black-and-white television and reading the Richmond Times Dispatch newspaper. My sister once bought me a subscription to Sports Illustrated and I admit the swimsuit issue with Bo Derek was pretty cool. I listened to University of Virginia basketball and football games on a handheld AM radio. That was pretty much how I received my news and information.

I left home at age 14 in 1980 to attend religious boarding schools. I remember typing class and writing over and over – “Now is the time for all great Americans to come to the aid of their country.” Yes it was a real albeit electronic typewriter, not a computer.

When I graduated from high school I thought I would enjoy electronics so I joined the Air Force and worked on fighter and reconnaissance aircraft and even deployed to the Gulf War. After coming home from the war I took up an interest in writing. I graduated from the Basic Journalism Course at the Defense Information School and went to work as a journalist and public affairs specialist.

My early experiences in a newsroom in the early 90s included using word processors, DOS computers, and cutting, waxing and pasting copy every week at the publisher. Praise the Lord that desktop publishing soon replaced these time intensive tasks.

I’ve been writing about the military ever since. I edited the Gulf View newspaper in Saudi Arabia in 1994. I covered the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff in the capitol region from 1996 to 1999. I served in the media center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in early 2002 in the wake of the 9-11 attacks. I deployed one last time as the only American assigned in a NATO assignment at the Kosovo Force Headquarters in Pristina in 2005.

In Kosovo I volunteered for humanitarian missions delivering food and clothing to people who really had nothing. I walked in one home and the kids played with their imaginations, because they had no toys. We gave them shoes and the fruit we had packed for ourselves. It wasn’t much but they smiled and were very excited. I covered the many news and human-interest pieces in Kosovo, and would share these stories with my own kids when I finally returned home.

I later spent time as deputy chief of the Air Force News Assignment Desk and Superintendent of Air Force News Public Web before retiring from the Air Force in 2008. In all I served 24 years in the military, visited 18 countries, got married, had four kids, and have six grandchildren.

I returned to civilian life and worked as executive director of an automotive trade association. I wrote stories and published their magazine, established their social media presence, and recruited new members.

In 2010 I decided to serve my country again and accepted a civil service position with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At age 45 I returned to Nashville, where I was born, to work in the Nashville District Public Affairs Office. I have a passion for writing, taking pictures and producing videos that informs, educates and entertains readers that follow this website.

You might notice I use the term “lead230” for my web and social media handles. I like it because in journalism the term from “lead” to “-30-” essentially means from beginning to end. I think it encapsulates how I’m writing and sharing the whole story, and audiences can benefit from some of my lifetime experiences as a reporter. I hope you enjoy my work on Lead230.com.

Check out my biography if you want to learn more about me. I encourage you to follow me on my social media sites and you can reach me via e-mail with feedback.  I will entertain requests for my resume via e-mail.  Those resources are below.