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Philip joined the US Army in 1978 and become a NATO Tactical Control Assistant on a Hawk Missle site in West Germany from January 1979 to June 1992. Being second in command of a radar unit site, he worked with numerous NATO Officers and NCOs to train and evaluate operational readiness in order to guard the skies over Western Europe.
After taking a severance from the US Army in June 1992, Philip began to research his family history. His Atkins Family History web site is a testament to this research. With interactive stories and photographs that reads like a storybook, an individual can find out about the Atkins / Adkins family history of Lincoln County and West Virginia.
Some of the web site projects that Philip has headed during the past 2 years include (1) a home page featuring Brigadier General Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager, who is a native of Lincoln County, West Virginia, and (2) Special Research Sites, which won the GenWeb award for the 3rd quarter of 1996 as one of the top 8 Internet genealogy sites. His West Virginia web site and BG Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager web site were listed from the Prodigy Computer Network as the first outside links ever from their Intranet. Philip was mentioned by name and both web sites were listed simultaneously. In addition, his Atkins Family History web site was included on a CD ROM produced by the Walkabout Company. The Walkabout Company produces the majority of programming for West Virginia Public Television. Because of the documented storyline and photographs, they felt that including parts of Philip's web site would benefit their West Virginia History CD ROM Project for children.
The Atkins Family History web site of Lincoln County, West Virginia is currently integrated with the Lincoln County, West Virginia GenWeb Project. This project is headed by James J. Adkins II, Philip's 4th cousin. The GenWeb project allows individuals to request research information from the CD ROM library of James J. Adkins II, who has adopted Lincoln County as part of his web site. They share a 5,000-name database that is surname searchable, including pedigree charts, and is integrated into other Internet genealogy web sites and resources. At last count, there were approximately 1,000 databases linked together for the GenWeb Project and there were more than 900,000 visitors to the Adkins / Atkins Family History web sites this year.
A brand new Atkins / Adkins Family History Discussion Group, or ListServ, started about a month ago by James J Adkins II, can also be found listed on the Atkins Family History home page. The MOUNTAINEERS Newsletter that Philip writes can be found archived there as well.
Some of Philip's current projects include "Atkins Family History", which is a Book and CD ROM expected to be published by the end of 1996, and a Heritage Photo Project for Lincoln County, West Virginia, which is expected to expand throughout the entire state of West Virginia. The West Virginia Cultural & History Center Archives has published his Public Service Announcement for the project. Philip is also in the US Army Reserves and works with the Army and Department of Defense on web site policies on the Internet. In addition, he is currently consulting with a newspaper in Lincoln County to assist in getting their newspaper on the web with a home page, at which time he is to have a column in both the online and print addition. In the meantime, the newspaper's printed genealogy stories are to be transcribed and archived on Philip's web site.
Philip will be teaching the "Basic HTML Internet World Wide Web Home Page Publishing Course" at Tacoma Community College beginning the winter quarter of 1996, as well as "How to Conduct Genealogical Research on the Internet's World Wide Web" at the Federal Way Regional Library beginning December 1996. In addition, the Tacoma Public Library Community Relations Officer has asked him to teach their "Internet Business Course", with a projected date around the first of the year.
Philip's personal home page has many help sections, as well as motivational areas, including "Famous Quotes", "This Day in History" and a "Teachers and Educators" section.
His mottos are: "When something comes around the first time that you wanted to do, just do it" and "Many accomplishments are a continuing project".
He often quotes the following author: "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions". - Mark Twain
Philip is currently studying for his Certified Network Engineer Degree.
He resides in Milton, Washington with his wife, Diana, and their two daughters.
Contact information is provided below.
8 November 1996
(Local reproduction authorized)
Web Master