LAKE SENECA – He s a throwback.
The son of a career Army infantry officer, Albert James Jim Diehl III graduated high school in Germany; played Rugby and started jumping out of airplanes while a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy; and has set his muddy boots in 78 countries.
Recently retired and approaching his 69th birthday, two-thirds of Jim s 51 years in military and federal service were spent in and around the special operations environment and those ubiquitous three-letter agencies, where his jersey number was often called for the thorniest of missions.
And the decorated Marine is staying aboard – as a volunteer chaplain in a new program designed to offer spiritual succor to those serving in the intelligence field.