As I wrote before... I signed up for the Air Force about a year after high school. Prior to leaving... while I was still in the Delayed Entry Program... I moved with my ex-wife to Florida (not married at the time). It was a short stint in the Sunshine State. I left for basic training about 3 months after moving there. Basic was interesting to say the least. It wasn't really "hard" so to speak. It's more of a mind game than anything else. It was only 6 weeks... but there is A LOT of stuff crammed into that time period. You have very little time to think or sleep that's for sure. It's GO GO GO. There was marching, running, cleaning, learning in classrooms, shooting, etc. So much stuff going on... the only time you really got to yourself was church on Sundays, and EVERYONE loved going to church! It was the one place you could actually relax and talk to people without having a drill instructor in your face. The one strange thing that happened to me during basic was that I started to gain weight... A LOT of weight in fact. It's weird how that worked... I was all skin and bones... 6 foot 1 and 155 pounds... when I left for basic. By the time it was over I had gained 18 pounds in 6 weeks! I thought nothing of it at the time, since 173 pounds really looked and felt a lot better on me.
So, I made it through basic and it was on to Tech School for the Financial Management course. That was about 12 weeks long in Wichita Falls, TX. What a hole in the wall of a place that is I tell ya! I've gotten to go there twice in fact. I had fun there, of course, but I enjoy anywhere I go for the most part. If you don't life will drive you crazy! I was a top student in every facet in both basic and technical training. I have been in every academic type thing I've done in my life, though. I still maintain a 4.0 GPA to this day at Boise State, in fact. Again... following tech school I had gained even more weight. I left for my first duty station a pleasantly plump 188 pounds... 33 pounds heavier from just 4 1/2 months prior when I joined. By the time I had been in 6 months I topped the 200 pound mark. I will never fully understand what happened during that time period, but I have fought my weight ever since... I have recently lost a good bit of weight, but I'm still fighting it even now. Also... I tied the knot for the first time during tech school... I flew "home" to Florida and had a very small wedding. It was off to Dayton, Ohio, in March of 1993 to actually start doing the Finance job.
March of 1993!!! How very long ago that seems now! Here I sit in Iraq almost to the end of 2010. I will hit my 18 year mark on my dad's birthday just 10 days from now, and my dad will turn 70. My how the years go by. I'm closing in on 40 and retirement faster than I could have ever imagined. It's been a roller coaster ride of a career at times... as you will see soon enough. I have 5 more months to tell my story, so I really don't want to give you everything in a day or two now do I??? :) Saturday is my first 2/3 day off... where I only work the morning until 11 AM. I am really looking forward to that... not sure what I will do yet on that day, but I plan on enjoying it to the fullest!
Until next time...
Peace, Love, and Poker
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