[6] In the Navy, he trained to become an attack pilot and flew carrier night combat missions over North Vietnam.

[7] Steidle went on to command the Navy's F/A-18 program, and then became the director of the DOD Joint Advanced Strike Technology Office.

[6] The purpose of the Office of Exploration Systems was to design, develop, and produce the new architecture and vehicles to send the United States beyond Earth orbit for the first time since the Apollo Moon missions which occurred from 1968 to 1972.

[6] He also attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University where he earned a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering.

His daughter, Gretchen Ki Steidle is the founder of Global Grassroots (www.globalgrassroots.org), a nonprofit which assists marginalized women in Rwanda and Uganda and helps them start social entrepreneurships to better their communities.

His oldest son, Brian Steidle, former captain in the US Marine Corps, served as a peace monitor in Darfur during the Darfur Conflict and wrote a book with his sister about his experiences, The Devil Came on Horseback, which was turned into a documentary film of the same name that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007.