So here it is. That moment I have waited a lifetime for. I have retired from 20 years of Naval service. Not too shabby I hear. I’ve gotten all the pomp and circumstance of a ceremony. All the thanks and well wishes and I am on terminal leave. (Terminal leave is like using all that saved up vacation time and sick time at the end of your time of service. There’s gonna be a lot of these terms you cake eating civilians don’t understand, so I’ll try to translate when the need arises.)
Let’s start with the beginning so you understand who I am and what got me to this point.
I am a Navy Nuclear Electrician Chief. (That’s a USN Chief, rank E7. Remember this. You will see this material again.) I can already hear the lot of you saying, “What does that mean?” What it means is that I was part of the power company onboard an aircraft carrier. I made and distributed power to everywhere. I also fixed what was broken and mitigated any crisis associated with said purpose.
“Well that explains the electrician part, but I don’t get where the nuclear part comes in.”
Throttle down junior, I’m getting there.
I also supervise and operate one of two nuclear reactors on a war fighting vessel. See? I told you I’d get there.
Ive been to 17 countries, moved 11 times in 20 years. I’ve taught in classrooms and OJT. (That’s on the job training. Keep up, the material will get harder.). I’ve BTDT (Been There, Done That) and had good times and bad. While some of you were watching 9-11 in fifth grade home room, I was on my way to the coast of Pakistan. While you were figuring out what to wear to the club, I was trying to figure out how to est without using my poop-scooping hand in an Iraqi bistro.
“Poop-Scooping hand?! WTF are you talking about old man?”
I’ll tell you if you give me a chance. In Arabic countries you don’t use your left hand to do anything because that is the hand you wipe your butt with, therefore it is seen as unclean. As a Squid (Sailor) you try not to piss off the natives, so you try to follow the rules of a foreign country and blend. (Yeah…all these people wearing long pants and collared shirts with really short hair will blend with Arabs!)
So after all this is over, and the uniforms are all packed, what comes next? Well that is what this is all about. This blog is about that next step. Trying to re-assimilate to “normal” society and maybe maintain a little sanity in the process.
What can you expect? There will be stories about the Navy. Things you know nothing about, or maybe have heard about. You will read about the trials and tribulations of not using profanity as a punctuation mark, and maybe the rediscovery of who the hell I am without an anchor on my collar.
Maybe this his will work, maybe it won’t. Maybe it’s just therapy that nobody will read and even fewer people will give a fuck about. There will be profanity and my unfiltered opinion so know that going into this.
Heres to to the next chapter and a new beginning. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Starting over. Life after the military. 