Will Hoffman

Will Hoffman
Sex	M
Birth date	1974
Spouse	Jennlynn Swift
Father	Duane Hoffman
Mother	Ellen Hoffman

Will Hoffman is a young man living on his parent's cattle ranch near Ely, Nevada in 1990 and still in High School. His parents are Duane and Ellen Hoffman and his paternal grandparents are Carl and Shirley Hoffman. He also has an older sister, Sara, an Aunt Dorothy and her husband Chuck, and a cousin, Angela.

Early Life

Will was hurt on the day before Thanksgiving, 1990 when he went to round up some stray cattle on the Bar H Bar, but was biten by a rattlesnake. He wasn't discovered until the next day by Shirley and Jennlynn Swift while searching in her plane Magic Carpet. She also flew him to the hospital in Ely, which probably saved his life. He was described as "really big" and took both women to lift him into the plane.^MC05

Having grown up on the cattle ranch, he should have known better than to wear his hiking boots instead of cowboy boots. Cattlemen wear high boots for just such a reason. By January 1993, he's learned his lesson, wearing cowboy boots and otherwise no longer looking like a gawky kid, but "a prime young man who looked like he'd just stepped out of a Marlboro commercial". ^MC10.

Will graduated high school in the spring of 1992 and is joining the Air Force in January 1993. His cousin Mike will take his place as a ranch hand. He gets a memorable send off in Antelope Valley when he parties with Jennlynn at the Sagebrush Motel before she can start working at the new Redlite Ranch.^MC12

Military Life

Will's first term with the Air Force includes a tour in Kuwait. He reenlists but spends a vacation home at the Bar H Bar in 1995 with Jennlynn, also in need of a break. The pair spend a nice quiet time riding the fence.^MC17

Will was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and assigned to the Public Information Office at Dover AFB in 1997, where he missed the desert of Kuwait. His lieutenant's opinion was that he "didn't know Cowboy well, but he suspected that no one did. He was always steady at his job and didn't say much. He'd learned that he'd picked up the nickname from wearing cowboy boots and a Stetson when off duty, and at first he figured that he was some kind of a drugstore cowboy who liked country music and like that. He was supposed to be from some ranch in Nevada; at first Probst thought it was so much bullshit. But then, Colonel Loudermilk had mentioned that in his off hours Cowboy helped out at a riding stable where his daughter was taking lessons, and that Cowboy had forgotten more about horses than the stable owner had ever known. "A real horse whisperer," Loudermilk said. He was a steady guy, quiet, more mature than his age, more mature than you expected someone on the start of their second enlistment would be."^MC19

Will completed a tour of Saudi Arabia in 1999 and before his next assignment in Okinawa, he took leave to celebrate Jennlynn's 30^th birthday on an extended horseback trip. "There was no one she'd rather have spent the milestone day with but him. He was still the only man that she was truly comfortable with, just because he was as he was."^MC28 Will expected that "by the time I get done with this tour in Okinawa, I'll be a college graduate."^MC29 His degree will be in English with minors in Business Administration and Agriculture. Will had earned his private pilot's license while at Dover and a commercial license while on Okinawa.^MC30

By 2002, Will was now a Master Sergeant and assigned to Keesler AFB as the Public Information NCO and had the hot potato of the attempted hijacking land in his lap while his boss was off base.^MC31 As described on TV he is seen as "tall, handsome young man, wearing an olive drab jacket with a lot of stripes on his sleeve""^PUTP34 He greatly impressed General Ronstadt, the base commander, and together they managed to control the excited press while protecting the heroes of the day.^MC32 Despite this, with war in Iraq heating up, Will was assigned to another tour of the Persian Gulf in 2003.^MC38

His current enlistment was due to expire in 2005 and he made it known he would not re-enlist if he didn't get a favourable posting. He was still pleasantly surprised to be posted to Luke Air Force Base at Glendale, AZ, about fifteen miles west of Phoenix, from 10 December 2004.^HOG21 He had been offered a bonus to re-enlist for six years, and was later offered the same bonus to re-enlist for three years. Knowing most of those three years would be at Luke he took it.^HOG23

Life with Jennlynn

In April 1997, Jennlynn and Will took a rafting trip down the Grand Canyon with Canyon Tours, a couples trip was the prize in a raffle won by Jennlynn at her office with Lambdatron. We learn that Will can play guitar, not country-western but more authentic cowboy songs. Will was awed to discover just how much money Jennlynn was worth and made, but he was still committed to allowing her to be herself.^MC21

Will's original plan for joining the Air Force was to retire after twenty years and take over the ranch from his parents. The retirement income would allow a cushion against the meager margins of the ranch. That the Air Force kept assigning him to distant bases was undesirable, but accepted, but it also led him to consider changing his plan. He had been extremely frugal with his money and started purchasing his Aunt Dorothy's share in the Bar H Bar. If he kept getting tours he disliked, he was prepared to subdivide and sell lots.^MC29

Will had a small cabin built on Bar H Bar property that could be his and Jennlynn's home. Together they also develop an idea that starts as a joke, but over time becomes a more serious consideration, Learjet Jenn's Fantasy Ranch.^MC30 Although not realized by 2002, Jennlynn is prepared to "haul it up to the front burner."^MC33

When the couple first rode the fenceline in 1995, Jennlynn noticed how different sex was with Will. She considered this the first time she'd ever made love. However, she also thought she wasn't in love with him.^MC17 By the time of their Grand Canyon trip in 1997, they had agreed they weren't boyfriend/girlfriend, yet they accepted those roles for the trip. She also says "it'd be very easy to fall in love with you, and maybe I have, in a way." And he agreed, but thought they were still too different.^MC21

Still, the next year Jennlynn telling others that she has a sort of boyfriend, describing him as "heir to a huge cattle ranch."^MC26 It wasn't until early 2002 that Jennlynn labelled Will as unequivocally her boyfriend "and maybe the closest thing to a fiancée I'll ever have."^MC33 If they are to get married, they think they should wait until he gets out of the Air Force.^MC35 With Jennlynn's reconciliation with her parents and Will upcoming assignment overseas again, they change plans again. At a private ceremony on Christmas day at their small cabin, the two get married. Jeff Waldemer presided.^MC38

After their marriage, Jennlynn flew to Biloxi for the weekend every two or three weeks to have time with Will, except for the six months in 2004 when he was in the Persian Gulf. In September 2004, when he got his posting to Luke AFB for December, he asked Jennlynn to find somewhere for them to live together in Phoenix. She surprised him by finding a horse ranch, which she bought after he'd approved it.^HOG22