Bradford Lehman is an officer in U.S. Air Force Intelligence.
Born and raised in Washington on the Olympic Peninsula, Lehman learned to love mountain climbing, an activity that will bring him into missions against Soviet agents high atop towering cliffs and crags. His father had been an avid climber and both young Lehman and his sister would acquire a similar love of it from childhood.
5'10", lean and sinewy, Lehman's brown hair has been bleached blond by the "high summer sunlight of the mountains" where he spent all his available time growing up. These were vital times for acquiring his skills in and on that rugged, dangerous terrain because rookie mistakes and plain bad luck will almost get him killed or at least seriously injured a time or three. As a result, by the time he reached his majority, he was well seasoned and far wiser than his years, at least as far as mountain survival was concerned.
When we first meet Lehman it is as an 17-year-old just about to graduate from high school and ready to head to university to major in history but working the summer for the Ranier Guide Service combining his love of mountaineering with a desire to help people. It is in that capacity he is asked to escort Defense Secretary Robert McNamara on a climb up the mountain which is how he will come to the attention of the government when someone of his expertise will be needed. It would be a simple climb for fun but it would let certain people know of his and his skills.
Lehman's "day job" was working in the intelligence section of the Strategic Air Command monitoring Soviet air movements and preparing for any attack by them. It was, however, as a mountain climber that Lehman will find a whole different way to combat communism.