War....what is it good for? Besides a deep tan? Pt 4 of the life!!

 Catchy title, yeah? Alrighty, let's finish the military portion of this.  I joined the Wa. Army Nat'l Guard in 2000, assigned to 81st Bde, Service Battery 2-146 FA. Deployed with them in 2003 for 18 months. Notable was the awesome befriending of a Bedouin family ( or 3 ).  More on that later if needed. After 6 awesome years with Field Artillery, I joined the 66th TAC at Ft Lewis, assigned to E co, 1-168 GSAB ( General Spt. Aviation Bn ). I deployed with them for 12 months in 2007, and again in 2011 ( oh....that's now ).  Still with a great bunch of troops here in the sand and looking forward to going home again. So.....currently at 18 years and 4 months. Now to head on back to April 2000....that's when I joined the Guard....I also began working for The Home Depot. Made some good friends there, but left the company in January of 2011. Would write more on that, but feel that a rant on a blog to become president may not be.....prudent.  I am currently a Staff Sergeant, hoping to finish my schooling and make Sergeant First Class ( E-7 ) or go to school and become a Warrant Officer to finish my career in the military. Any questions about any of my blogs or the information contained herein, don't hesitate to leave a comment, but realize that I can't write publicly regarding deployments.  Next up are my highs.....and lows. Will cover stuff in and out of the military.  Thanks for reading, and please pass this on, so more folks can see the build up to the presidency!!!!

My life Pt 2

  I want to ensure reader's and my friends and family, that they will be included at the conclusion of this series. I had so many friends and family that ultimately shaped my future.... too many to name now. Also, will use initials so as to not put your lives up for grabs, so to speak.
  Let's see, I left off at the recruiter's phone calls.  It just so happened that when I went to meet with the recruiter, I was out of work.  I made quick work of dissecting his "3 hots and a cot" and " You won't deploy " speeches.  Finally got him to tell the truth, and got down to business. I scored 129/130 on the Army's aptitude test and had passed their version of a linguistics test.  Many , many options for options lay in front of me. Unfortunately, being out of work....I leaned towards the Military Occupational Specialty of 88M ( Transportation Specialist ) because of it being the M.O.S. that I could join soonest. I remember driving home and seeing both my brothers and mom.  Didn't take me long to announce that I had joined the Army. What was harder, was telling them that I would be leaving for my Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training soon....weeks.  Was a surprise for everyone I think.  I left in August of 1992 for Ft. Leonardwood, Missouri.  Didn't take long to re-name it misery.  I was the oldest member of my platoon at 22 yrs and 4 months, and it didn't take the other soldiers long to lean on me for support and advice. 
   I left Ft. Leonardwood in December of 1992 and went home for two weeks before my flight to my first active duty station...Ft. Stewart GA.  It was December and I had never been that far south.  After leaving the plane, I soon realized that I was overdressed. It was 86F with around 95% humidity. Thus began, what would become, my military life.  END OF PT 2