Year 16: 1999
We found out during the year that the owners of our house were coming back to the area, so it was time to call the realtor and find another place to live. We found another place without too much trouble and moved ourselves about 8 miles down the road to Pasadena. This time the kid's school was just about three or four blocks down the road. It was a nice walk each day as Lisa or I would walk the kids to and from school. Shauni was now in third grade and Brandi was going to start Kindergarten. Brandi would start a non-typical life for a military brat and spend most of her schooling years in the same school district.
Our new house had two floors and a basement. The yard was nice and we had a carport to park our cars. There was a nice piece of woods nearby and we would take walks in them a lot.
In April, we took the kids down to Disney World. It was a real good time. We got to see Paul, Sandi and the kids and spend a day in the park together. I think we scarred Brandi for life by taking her on the Tower of Terror. I didn't think her eyes could get any bigger.
I took the Service Wide Exam again. Last year I ended up at #12 and they made 11. After this test, I ended up #1, so I was next no matter what. Once the cuts came out I just had to wait to put it on. Not too long this time.
In June, we headed to PA and took a little backpacking trip. It was very short due to the kids age, but we all had a great time. My sister and her kids came over from Pittsburgh and we duplacated the first day of a three day trip I took back in 1982 with my brothers and cousins. I gave myself the trail name Chuck Wagon for that trip as I had so much gear hanging off of my pack including pots and pans.
Brandi learned to swim underwater that year. We spent the forth of July in Cape May and watched the fireworks in Wildwood.
In September we signed up for another season of wallyball at Serverna Park. We would take the girls to the club and play all night, while they ran around the club and tried to stay out of trouble.
I went to my first NFL Football game. Unfortunately it was a Ravens game. They played the Saints and Lisa and I snuck down to the first row, right behind the Ravens' bench at half time. We had a good time. Lisa shook Rod Woodson's hand at the end of the game.
It was the end of the millennium and time to party like it was 1999. There was a big thing that everyone was afraid of called Y2K, which turned out to be nothing to worry about. It was a total non-event.
Year 17: 2000
The year started off with a pretty good snow storm just before Shauni's birthday.
I advanced to ETCS at the beginning of February. This would cause me to be short toured out of Baltimore. I ended up going down the road to our Headquarters in Washington DC. It was kind of cool the first few times riding down the road and seeing the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building. Little did I know how long I would work out of HQ.
Living where we do, Cape May and Conneaut each year were becoming a regular thing. We went to Cape May again in early July. This time we saw fireworks over in North Cape May. Conneaut was in August and we did the usual things there. Swimming, kayaking, eating and drinking.
Lisa's foot was hurting and when she got it checked out something was wrong with the bone along the side of her foot. She had to wear a cast for a couple months until it healed.
In September we went to see Hanson again. This time the concert was in the Warner Theater in downtown Washington, DC. We put earplugs in Brandi's ears due to all the screaming that goes on and she actually fell asleep during the concert.
In November we went on another cruise. This time all four of us went and Lisa's family too. The ship left out of San Juan, so we flew down there and did a Southern/Eastern Caribbean trip this time. Our stops were in Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts, St Maarten and St Thomas. I remember going horse back riding in St Lucia and my horse was the smelliest on the island. My cloths, bag and hands smelled for days. Brandi spent a lot of time in the Kids FunZone. She kept calling it school. It was a very good time.
Year 18: 2001
This year started with the Ravens winning the Super Bowl. This is significant only because I happened to be off work when they had the victory parade and Lisa and I went into town to check it out. The last time I had gone to a Super Bowl parade was when my beloved Steelers had won their forth Super Bowl back in 1980. I remember that day being so cold, I lost feeling in my hands, but still had a great time. Lisa and I had a good time watching everyone celebrate the win.
I was offered a commission to Chief Warrant Officer. I turned it down as the billet was on a ship out of Seattle which had just started a six month out of hemisphere patrol. I didn't want to put my family through all of that and I was already an E8, so I put my sights on Master Chief and continued on. I choose the path less traveled, and that has made all the difference.
I bought myself a cheap guitar and started teaching myself how to play. I never have gotten very good. I just like to play around with it. I use it as a sort of therapy.
In May, Shauni had an overnight field trip at Arlington Echo. I volunteered to help out and I got to run the row boats and do another segment called Paws and Jaws. It was a cool experience and I think Shauni had a good time. Lisa and Brandi came the first evening for the night hike and camp fire.
Brandi played T-Ball. Everyone gets a hit and everyone scores. Yea!
In August, when we were taking one of our vacations, this one at Conneaut, Lisa and I went to the next town and got a tattoo. We both got the same thing. It was a heart with our daughter's names. Mine was on my arm and Lisa's was on her ankle.
Everyone has a story of where they were and what they were doing when the Twin Towers came down. Here is mine.
I flew out to CA on September 10th for a conference in Oakland. We were scheduled to present on the 11th. My body was still on east coast time so I was up around 5 am pacific time and decided to go for a run. When I returned, I turned on the TV and the first plane has already hit. I called Lisa and told her to turn on the TV and while we were talking the second plane hit. Shortly after that we heard that the Pentagon had been hit too. I quickly called my mother to let her know I wasn't in DC and was ok and that was the last call I could make before all the lines jammed up.
We spent the morning going back and forth form the TV in the lobby and our conference room. I couldn't believe that the whole tower had collapsed even when I watched it. It was just inconceivable. We soldiered on and finished our presentation, but our problem now was how to get back home. Four of us had heard that Travis was possibly flying MAC flights to Andrews, so we headed up there. We got on base after a long wait, but found that all flight were still grounded. We decided to rent a car and drive.
We went non stop. The front seat people drove and the shotgun person stayed awake and kept the driver alert. The back seat shift tried to sleep. It was a very interesting trip. We started seeing American Flags everywhere. Every overpass seemed to have grown a flag. We were about halfway across when we saw the first plane in the air, but we were on a roll.
My trip mates were all out of Portsmouth, VA, so the plan was to drop me outside Richmond and Lisa would come and get me. This was before I had a cell phone, but I was able to use one of the other's to give Lisa information on the plan. They dropped me off at a gas station off an exit of 264 and not too long after, Lisa and her dad came down the road and picked me up. We had been driving about 47 hours straight by then. My boss, who had stayed at the hotel and waited for the airports to re-open got back east about eight hours ahead of me, but my story was much more interesting.
Life went on. We all got used to the "new normal".
One other thing that happened to me this year is a mole on my back was diagnosed as melanoma. It wasn't too deep, but I got a nice 9 centimeter scar on my back when they removed it and a lot of skin around it.
Year 19: 2002
Brandi played basketball this year. It was fun to watch. I remember bringing my little portable TV one game to watch a Steeler game while they played. We didn't get all the games here, but when we did, we had to watch. And it was the Playoffs. There was one girl on the team who was very good. The game plan was to give it to her and let her score. Of course they didn't really keep score, because Everyone is a winner in these types of things. Just like real life. Not... Actually they won the final, so I guess they did keep score.
I sent a letter to get on the waiting list for Steeler Season Tickets. The response was I was like number 39000 on the list and it will be at least 15 years. Still waiting...
A few years ago, we bought a Tiger Oscar for our small aquarium. We named him ShereKahn and as he grew we got a bigger tank. We used to buy him feeder goldfish, which he loved. We would also go into the garage and find one of those crazy looking spider crickets and ShereKahn would get all excited when he saw us coming with his lunch. One goldfish who escaped his clutches grew pretty big and we named him King Louie. The Kahn eventually got him, but in May our old Tiger went to the big aquarium in the sky (sea?).
Brandi had a yard sale and made almost $8 and Shauni went on an overnight girl scout campout. She came home with a nice tick feeding on her. Shauni was also playing the drums at school. She was pretty good.
As Shauni finished the fifth grade, she was promoted to the sixth and Middle School. She received the President's Academic Excellence Award.
On the work front, I took my last Service Wide Exam and scored #1. Even though I was the next person to make it starting next January, the cut started off at zero, since we working on merging with the Fire Control Technicians. There was a chance that I wouldn't make it and that would pretty much mean I would be retiring next year. I even went to my first Transition Assistance Program that helps you prepare for retirement.
I had been working on my college credits for a while now and it was time to enroll and finish it up. I enrolled at Excelsior College. All I had to do was take one essay test and I was pretty much done for an Associate's of Applied Science degree.
Brandi joined Tae Kwon Do and before long all of us were taking classes. Lisa, Age and I competed in our first Adventure Race, the Venture Quest. We were the last team to finish, but we beat all the other teams that didn't finish. It was a blast. We really learned how much a person can do when given the chance. We were hooked after that.
We went to another Ravens game. The highlight was going to the all you can eat seafood at Phillips afterward. I seemed a little bummed that the home team won. :)
Year 20: 2003
This year I retire, right? Wrong. Sometime life takes you where you least expect it. My original plan when I first raised my hand and swore to support and defend my country was to do four years, maybe make second class and move on to something else. My first unexpected detour was meeting a girl that would become my bride who supported and defended me to no end. At the time of our wedding I was just finishing up the first four years, was going to make first class and we had decided that this really isn't too bad of a life. Yes, there would be times that we would have to be separated because of the nature of the job, but we knew we could handle it. By the time I re-enlisted for the second time, we knew this was going to be a 20 year thing, that would reap a pension that I could start drawing the day I retired at the age of 40.
Well, the plan was still sound as the year began, but a new wrench was thrown into the mix. I found out (at Outback Steak House) that they had moved the cut for Master Chief to 1. Me. I'm number one... Shit, I'm making Master Chief! The way we found out was funny. I was off work that day and Lisa and I were at the restaurant having dinner. All of a sudden we saw Tony, who was my first class back in Cape May and now worked in Baltimore as a Chief Warrant Officer. He said congratulations, I saw you were making ETCM. I'm like what??? It was true. We were making Master Chief. This was the end of February.
We had a nice blizzard in February too. Lots of days off for the kids and me. It was around 28 inches.
In April, Lisa and I did our second Adventure Race. This one was in PA near Philly we once again took our time, but beat all the others who gave up. Finishing was always our goal. It was a pretty tough race here we did things like mountain bike, shoot a bow and arrow, cross some low ropes course and hand over hand boulder climb up a mountain side. We had a good time.
Later that week, the family went up to the Poconos and spent a couple of nights in a hotel. I think we received the vacation from our bank or something. We got to enjoy a nice Easter Day buffet.
I too my English test for college and I passed. I "graduated" in July.
June was a busy month for us as far as racing goes. First we went to NJ and did a Duathalon. Age did the Tri and Lisa and I did a Run, Bike, Run race. Since it was an individual thing, I went ahead to see what kind of time I could get. It was decent, but no podium finish. Next, Lisa and I did a Beer Chase with the local Orienteering Club. You get a map and do a short course. When you return to the start, you drink a beer, get a new map and head out again. You do this three times then have a cookout. It was a great time. The last thing we did that month was a ROGAINE in PA near Age's house. A ROGAINE is like regular orienteering, but you have a time limit and you have to pick which controls to find in any order. You get points for each and the harder the control the more points. We finished in almost 7 hours and came in at about the middle of the pack. It had rained a lot the night before and the parking area was muddy. My van got stuck and some other racers helped get us out.
I made ETCM 29 days before going over 20. It looks like we will be putting off retirement for at least two years to reap the full benefit of advancing to E9.
Also in August, it was time for our third Adventure Race. It was called the Unknown Soldier and it was out on the west side of DC along the Potomac. Lisa and I came in second place. Our first podium finish. We got a shirt or something. In October, we did a Night Race. It didn't start until 10 pm and it was a blast. We finished sometime after 4 am, crawled into the back of the truck and snoozed until 9 am.
Our fifth race and last on of the year was the Rappels of Carderock This was in the same area as the Unknown Soldier, but ended with doing 10 rappels down a rock face. We learned different ways to rappel and it was a very good time. We came in third place in the co-ed division on this one.
2003 was definitely our most prolific Adventure Racing year.
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