It Was 22 Years Ago Today

It was 22 years ago today that I joined the United States Air Force. It's hard to believe it's been that long! I could have been retired for 2 years now. But, of course, my whole life would be different. Having been a medic, I'd probably be in Iraq or Afghanistan right now. Even worse, I would have never met Rhian and had 2 beautiful children. (I know it's sappy. :o>}) It's a funny story how I ended up in the Air Force. Well, it's funny now, but not so funny then. (I'm sure Dad would agree!) After high school, I had earned a scholarship in soccer to Armstrong State College in Savannah. Being 18, on my own with 5 other guys from Atlanta on scholarships, with nobody telling me I had to go to class, nobody telling me I need to study, I obviously wasn't mature enough to handle this situation. I finished the year with 32 quarter hours due to dropping one class and failing another. I wasn't too worried, because during my senior year in high school, I had taken what was known as joint-enrollment English, which was an English class taught at the high school by a college professor. It counted towards high school hours as well as college hours. I was under my own false impression that these hours counted toward my scholarship. 36 was required, so the 32 I had earned at Armstrong along with the 15 I had earned in high school gave me 47, so I was good! Or so I thought. Stupid me never verified this, and the requirement was 36 hours in a school year. Unfortunately, I wasn't made aware of this until the middle of August, a week before I was due back at school to train for soccer, when the coach called and said I hope you're taking a class. If not, I no longer had a scholarship. I was afraid to tell my Dad this, so I waited until the day before I finally told him. (He did find it odd that I wasn't making an effort to get ready). I told him that I could attend Armstrong, but I'd have to pay for tuition and could train with team, but couldn't play because of the lack of hours. He had already committed to paying for Karen's school since she was starting at West Georgia College, and wasn't prepared to pay for me as well. He had counted on my scholarship and I had messed that up. He tried in vain to find a local college that I could maybe get a class, but it was too late. He wasn't about to have a son living and working at home, with no real prospects for going to college. Especially one who had blown a great opportunity. The only choice was the military. I had scoffed at the idea immediately after high school. I had thought there was no way I was ever going to join the military. Now I had no choice. Having been a Navy man, the first place he took me was to the Naval recruiter behind South Dekalb mall. There I met a recruiter by the name of "Pac-Man", who of course was highly interested in recruiting me. I told him my goal was to get a job in meteorology (weather), and he told me that they didn't have that kind of job, but should find something I like. He had me take a pre-test for the ASVAB (a military entrance exam) and I got a perfect score. He started salivating and told me I need to go into nuclear engineering. I thought to myself, that sounds hard, and it is nothing like weather. I told him I really wanted to do weather, but he just kept trying to sell me on nuclear engineering, telling me that there was a lot of money to made once I got out. Really wanting to do weather, I asked him if any other branches offered weather, and he relucantly told me the Air Force did. It was next door, so off I went, and met the recruiter by the name of Tech Sergeant Alford. He was more laid back, and shared with me all the info about the Air Force, weather, and the requirements. He set me up to take the ASVAB, where I scored high in all areas. I still remember my scores believe it or not. I got a 93 in Administration, a 94 in General, a 98 in Electronics, and a 79 in Mechanical, which qualified me for every job the Air Force had to offer. I went ahead and signed up and got my physical in October of that year. It was at this time I tried to get weather. There were no openings in weather, so I ended out going into what was known as "open general" (since weather was in this category), meaning you selected your job choice in order of preference (a dream sheet) when you reached basic training, and wouldn't know if you got it until a week or so prior to leaving basic training. The requirement to get into meteorology was only a 38, so I figured with my 94 in General along with the fact I had taken a meteorology class at Armstrong, (and it was my only A grade), I was golden. Nobody was going to be more qualified than me! My dream sheet had my job choices in this order: meteorology, computer operator, computer programmer, photographer, and air traffic controller. I was told specifically that Air Force needs would supersede my needs when it came to job selection. As it turns out, my 94 kept me from getting into weather, and put me in aerospace medicine! I had no clue what this job was, but it turned out to have the toughest requirement score-wise, and the tech school had a high washout rate, so I fit the Air Force needs perfectly. When I reached tech school at Brooks AFB in San Antonio, I learned a lot of valuable information that I still carry today. When I called my mom to tell her everything I was learning, she thought I was going to be a doctor! :o) It was really hard too. You had to score 80 or above on all 7 tests to pass. You were allowed to "fail" one test. If you failed two, you had to meet with head of the school and he would determine if you could stay or be "washed out", meaning you were given another job, and sent to another tech school, usually it was security police. I had failed an earlier test, and I scored a 78 on the last test before the final. Fortunately, I had done well with everything else and was given one more chance. I scored a 97 on the final and was able to graduate! I ended up at Moody AFB in South Georgia near Valdosta. I tried to cross train into weather after 3 years, but there were never any positions available, and not wanting to make the Air Force a career as an enlisted man, I got out after my 4 years of service. Like my Dad, I got an honorable discharge! I spent 4 great years with great people. I learned a lot, and I grew up a lot. I know I had let my parents down by losing my scholarship, but feel I redeemed myself somewhat having spent 4 years growing up and being successful in the United States Air Force.