Staying alive.

Lawrence Cade is a fighter, and like any good fighter he is also a survivor. As a result of Cade's tour of duty in Vietnam, he suffers from Delayed Stress Syndrome or--as it's more commonly known--shell shock. However, that hasn't stopped him from becoming a successful entrepreneur. Says Cade on his condition: "I observe it, acknowledge it and keep moving on."

Aided by his wife, Elsebeth, and their two daughters, Cade, 51, heads Cade Associates, a family-owned business that sells electrical components.

Before starting his Mission Viejo, Calif.-based business, Cade honed his entrepreneurial skills in the corporate arena. After leaving the military in 1974, he went to work for Digital Equipment Corp. as a senior support engineer. By 1990, he was the company's area network manager for the Southwest regional market.

Shortly after taking an early retirement in 1989, Cade used $60,000 in personal savings to hang his own shingle. He decided to stick with something he already knew-electrical equipment.

Cade landed a $405,000 contract with the U.S. Defense Electronic Supply Center, a Dayton, Ohiobased purchasing agency for the Department of Defense, to supply special connectors for use in Operation Desert Storm. It was this contract that convinced the Union Bank of California to issue him a $200,000 line of credit.

Cade's company, which sells such components as electron tubes and fiber-optic conductors to AT&T and the federal government, grossed $800,000 in sales last year. For 1992, Cade projects sales will hold even. "I have nightmares every night, but I can't waste time during the day thinking about the night," Cade says. "I have a vision and I won't let anybody get in the way of growing my business."

--Bruce Ward