Back in the U.S.A.R.

With apologies to the Beatles...

Yes, I'm putting it on, the last suit I'll ever wear... again. (bad MiB2 joke, I know, but I can never resist). 

As most of you know, I left the Army in 1999 after 10 1/2 years. Clinton was in office and I was tired of being a "peacekeeper" so I decided to finish my degree and do something - anything - else. I got my B.A., and briefly considered going back in when Tracy decided to join to pay off student loans (among other reasons), but the Army said no, they didn't need me. Then the US Army Reserve called me back up. They refer to it as "being mobilized" but it really meant I was back on the job. I went to CENTCOM in Tampa while Tracy did Basic & AIT, then she moved to Fort Gordon GA. When I was finally de-mobilized (after Bush declared victory), I moved there, too. I've been happily working as a government contractor ever since, first for Dr Ron Moody (still the best boss I've ever had), and now for Northrop Grumman (where I was hired by my first platoon sergeant from 19 years ago in Germany).

But what about retirement? Eight & 1/2 more years and I can retire, and while that would be nice, getting deployed again... not so much. I'm enjoying being home every night and watching Jordan grow up (and seeing Tracy isn't bad, either). Then I found this Reserve unit here on Fort Huachuca that is made up entirely of instructors. I'm not saying they DON'T deploy, but they haven't since the war began, and when they do send someone away from here, it's to another base in the US where they teach for a month at a time. Not bad... Plus, they're looking for someone who can teach this new Army intel reporting software. I think it's called CHARCS. I guess I can teach that since I designed most of it over the past year.

Two of the guys I work with will be joining me at this new unit, and I start Saturday morning. Last week I rode up to Phoenix with a recruiter to the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS), which is where new soldiers go to enlist. Spent the entire day doing medical reviews, then had to come back yesterday for follow up because I'm over 40. Apparently, I'm one of the few over-40 soldiers EVER to not need any medical waivers. Guess I'm in pretty good shape.

Of course, it wouldn't be a MEPS if they didn't try to screw me over. They told me three things yesterday: I'm losing rank (back to Sergeant), not getting a signing bonus, and have to do a month of Basic Training again. I made a few calls and the Basic won't happen, the rank'll be back within a couple months (and possibly more), and the bonus will be right around the same time.

So, I'm back in the Army, or at least, the Army Reserve. I guess it's true: some old soldiers don't even fade away...

SGT (again!) Dave Freeman

New website design

Ok, everyone, by popular demand I'm experimenting with a new design for the site. I've removed all the family tree information and will (someday) have it posted somewhere else. All the birthdays & anniversaries are already moved to my Google calendar (marked private, but ask and I'll share it with you). All the photos are migrating to Google's Picasa site, where the facial recognition software will allow you to find every photo for a specific person, and more efficiently that my old photo albums did (and automatically!)

Also, I've limited the display to the last two posts by me or Tracy, and the last two posts by Jordan (below). You can stop by and see the latest, and you can also subscribe to the RSS feeds if you use news readers like Google Reader (if you don't, try it!).

Finally, because of the new format, no usernames and passwords will be required. I'm sure this will make Aunt Jean and Kim very happy.

Let us know what you think of the new format, and remember, you can still add to the site using comments on each specific post. If we decide to keep this format, I'll start moving a lot of the older content over for historical purposes, but all the photos will eventually move to Picasa.

Stay in touch!

-Dave & Tracy