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The U.S. Army joined me in 1972 and I served for 14 1/2 years in Thailand, Hawaii, Taiwan, Georgia, Korea, Arizona, and Hawaii.  I worked in communications starting off as a teletype operator and finishing up as a network technician.

I joined the Army Reserves after getting off of active duty and served another 15 years as a weekend warrior.  I did get to participate in a couple of exercises – Ulchi Focus Lens in Korea and a couple of Cobra Gold exercises in Thailand.  I retired in 2001 as a Chief Warrant Officer 4.

While serving as a citizen soldier I held a variety of jobs in Hawaii – temp help at a legal firm, telemarketer for a long distance company, part-time teacher for foreign students, and a tutor/counselor at a alternative school for alienated youth.

With the help of one of my Reservist buddies, I got a job as a government contractor as a network controller for the Defense Message System (DMS) monitoring the official email system for the Department of Defense.  Found a better opportunity (or so I thought) working as an Information Assurance Security Officer on the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) and then jumped to another contracting position at Ft. Shafter as an Information Assurance Analyst.

This job led me back to Thailand for Exercise Cobra Gold and a working relationship with a Major that eventually landed me a civil service job as a GS-12.  I worked on various communications aspects of Army Pacific plans and did some budget work and completed 5 years there.

So, a total of 38 years serving my country, the US of A as an Active Duty soldier, Reservist, Contractor, and a Department of the Army Civilian (DAC).

I will now receive a small pension from the DAC job (5 years plus I bought back 14 1/2 years of “other Federal service”) and will wait approximately 2 years 1 year to start receiving my Army Reserve retirement.  Then Social Security in 2014 if it is still around.

The day after I finished working, I was on a plane to Thailand with a one-way ticket.  The flight was a nightmare with a 4-hour delay and missed connections, but I eventually made it to the Land of Smiles.

Let the retirement begin.