Greetings!!! I know... I know... I haven't kept true to my word about posting daily. Well... I had some important work stuff to get accomplished the past couple days, and my blogging had to be put on the back burner. Today I'm back... and better than ever! I woke up this morning feeling fairly awake for a change. It's funny... I just wanted to log onto my computer last night for a few minutes in my room (I was actually going to write my blog LOL), but it appears my 30 days of internet had expired. So... hopefully I have gotten that fixed now. If not I may have to call Babtel and find out what's wrong. Anyway, the computer thing was probably a blessing because instead of surfing, chatting, emailing, and what not... I went to SLEEP! What a concept, huh??? Then I woke up this morning and talked on Skype with my wife for a little while before I had to go and get ready for work and breakfast on the way there. I worked the first shift... which is probably my favorite one to work because it gets that part of the day over with then you have the rest of the day to do whatever... like work out! I will be doing that shortly in fact! :) All in all today has been pretty good. Another week is winding down already, too! I can't believe it! The days and weeks are starting to turn into months now... just going by so very fast. :)
Now... to continue my story where I left off about a week ago...
I arrived at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, with a ready made family of a wife and 4 step-children... that's a story for another time, though. I'm not saying it's insignificant, but it's really not the point of this story in particular. :) It didn't take us but a couple days to get a house in base housing, which was nice. I got there and went to report in to work with absoutely no clue what I was doing. The chief there was pissed at me for being in the local area and taking leave. I didn't know any better... I just figured I'd take a few days of leave there and start to try and get settled in. It ended up being ok, though. I got my own desk even!!! I was the ripe old age of 20! So I started to learn the job of a financial manager as an Airman Basic. Yeppers... I didn't even have a single stripe on my sleeve yet! Shortly thereafter, though, is when I got the first one. :) I certainly had my moments... both good and not so good. My first supervisor was a pretty cool guy and one of the last "Buck Sergeants" I've known in the Air Force. His name was Dave. I have no clue where he's at these days, but he was pretty decent to work for. He go out of the AF and went to work at a car dealer for awhile locally before moving, I think, to Colorado.
I proceeded to learn my job over the coming months... I worked through my CDCs (basically a set of books that are a correspondence course of some sort) and did well on them. That took about 8 months. During that time I was still learning the job, too. I picked up accounting really easily to the point of getting bored... which is not a good thing for me. If I get bored I actually tend to fall behind in my work, which is exactly what happened from time to time. It never got so bad to the point of getting in any trouble or anything, but I was always pushing the envelope when it came to meeting deadlines. I started out in Accounts Receivable... where I billed our customers for good and/or services rendered. After about a year and a half I was moved to the Accounts Payable side... where I was now tasked with actually PAYING the bills. I think I enjoyed it a little more on the other side of the house, but man did it start getting BUSY! We were in the process of a huge reorganization and regionalization of all of finance into a bunch of finance "centers". Ours was to be right down the road about 20 minutes away... which was eventually where we went to work. The hours were brutally long... plus I was working a part-time job at the time, too. So I was really never home. I would leave for work in the morning to get there by 6 and leave at 4... only to go to my next job at 5 or 6 in the evening until midnight. I don't think I realized how truly crazy that was at the time, but I would NEVER try and do that again!
In the meantime... I received orders to go to my next assignment... where I would be reporting alone... I was going to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, and I was very excited about it. What happened in the time prior to my leaving was something I never imagined would happen. My parents had come to visit for the 4th of July... and we were all just hanging out outside talking to the neighbors and stuff. The next thing you know... the neighbor lady comes out of my house yelling... "We're having a baby!!!" My mom just starting bawling right there... and I was speechless... my life would forever be changed. 2 months later I left for Turkey and left my newly pregnant soon to be ex-wife and stepdaughters behind to head overseas for 15 months.
There are a lot of fond memories of Ohio... and I think I would like to possibly go live and work there once I retire in the next couple years. I know so many people there... I even have an aunt and uncle nearby there as well. Not to mention it's a short 4 hour drive from home, too. There are a lot of reasons to go back there. The job market is huge for what I want to do as well. As you will see as my story progresses... my AF journey takes me back through Dayton some years later....
It is now time for me to head off to the gym and get my butt on the treadmill running! I've been glad to share another little piece of my past with you today. Take care of yoruselves and happy reading (and blogging if you do that, too!) :)
Peace, Love, and Poker
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