He was born in Kilgore, Texas, as one of three children to Albert and Janice Slaughter Yantis. The family home was in the middle of the East Texas oil field, with "oil derricks all around us," he recalls. His father, a Navy veteran of World War I, worked for Hercules Oil Company and raised chickens. His mother took in ironing. When Albert was twelve, his father was killed in an industrial accident. During World War II the family moved to Galena Park, Texas, where Albert graduated from Galena Park High School in 1955. He entered Texas A&M University and joined the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets. Selected for the fencing team, he lettered in the sport. To help with school expenses Albert worked summers for Sheffield Steel as an electrician's helper, and, during the school year in the student center, cashiering and serving tables. On December 28, 1957 he married Shirley Jean Rich. (They would have four children.) In 1959 Albert graduated with a degree in business administration and marketing, and received his commission as a second lieutenant. Hired by Goodyear Rubber Company, he worked in one of the company's tire stores in Galena Park until the U.S. Air Force assigned him to Harlingen Air Force Base, where he became food service officer. He went through navigation school at Harlingen, then electronic warfare at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. At Lockbourne Air Force Base in Lockbourne, Ohio, he was assigned to an EB-47 Electronic Countermeasure aircraft. He went on several missions to RAF Brize Norton Air Base in Oxfordshire, England, and was there during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Given a Headquarters USAF classified assignment in 1964, he was sent to Clark Air Base in the Philippines. From there flew over Surabaya, Indonesia and recorded sound sites. "We had MiGs coming up at us all the time," he says. His unit established the ROB or Radar Order of Battle, and the AOB, or Air Order of Battle. He also flew above the demilitarized zone (DMZ) dividing North and South Korea. For his service, he earned three Air Medals and two Commendation Medals, while his unit received the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award. Albert returned to the States in 1966. At Kincheloe Air Force Base in Kincheloe, Michigan, he flew as electronic warfare officer in a B-52. In 1969 he was sent to Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, Louisiana, as part of the inspector general (IG) team. By then a lieutenant colonel, he worked in Operations Plans and War Planning, helping to set up 116 KC-135s to Air National Guard units. He retired from Barksdale in 1979. Albert worked in real estate, ran his own document imaging company, then retired again to write books, one concerning his wife's death from cancer in 2002.