Day One

First off I suppose I should explain the title for this Blog. Well, I’m old and in the NJ Army National guard so it just seemed an appropriate title.

I guess the logical place to start would be at the beginning otherwise none of this will make much sense to you…

It all started on a cold rainy October morning much like the one here today… Just kidding, I won’t go that far back. Actually, On September 11th, 2001 I was working as an editor for a South Jersey web site listening to Howard Stern talking about how much he would like to “do” Pam Anderson when they started talking about a plane hitting the WTC. Like many others listening that morning I assumed he was kidding, and was waiting for the punch line. Well I got it when I switched stations and began hearing the reports. The guys in the design shop across the hall thought I was insane when I told them, but willingly followed me to the TV room. As we all stood there watching the images live on TV I began to get that feeling in my gut that told me I had to do something, and that something was going back into the military. I say back into the military because from 1980 to 1984 I was a member of the US Navy assigned to the USS Constellation as a flight deck troubleshooter for the ground support division. I had a great time in the Navy, saw the world and grew up quite a bit in those four years. For those of you doing the math, I was 18 when I joined… After my initial enlistment was up I was all set to re-enlist, but as per SOP for the military, I did not get the duty assignment I requested, (BUDs training), instead I was offered recruiting duty in Denver Colorado of all places! Not really being one for cold weather, I declined the invitation and got out. Mistake # 1. That day (9/11/01) really got me thinking about the path my life had taken, and the bad decisions I have made along the way. Now when I say bad decisions I don’t mean I robbed any banks or stole cars, It’s just that growing up I was the kind of kid who played with GI Joes, watched every movie and read every book I could about WWII or Viet Nam, and grew to be extremely patriotic. I always knew that I would grow up, join the military and go off to war. Well, to this point I’ve only grown up! As for going off to war, believe it or not it’s more difficult than you would think! Due to a bad marriage (two actually, but that’s another story), I was postponed from joining the National Guard until February 16th, 2005. You see my second ex-wife told me she would divorce me if I joined. Had I known what I know now, I would have joined that minute… Well real life demands I get back to work so more to follow…