Hello friends and Hivers. Happy Hive Power Up Day!! Hope all is well with everyone. I'm doing ok just a lot of work lately and not a lot of rest. Looking forward to the weekend to catch up on some. Today not only marks another #HPUD here on the chain but it's also my 30 years of service in the United States Air Force (USAF). Today I will share a short story about my early beginnings with it.
It all started April 30th, now I had a break in service for about 30 days when I separated from the Military and got back in the door as an Air Force Civilian. I did a little more than 7 years in military. I worked in the Traffic Management career field my whole military duration. Those really were some great years as I traveled, learned somethings, and met many interesting people.
As a Civilian I job hopped a few times. I started in Traffic Management than moved to Medical Logistics. I only worked in Medical Logistics for about 15 months. It was the perfect job at the time because I only worked 8 hours a day five days a week. It gave me time to finish up my bachelor's degree. After that I got into Logistics Management which I'm currently doing to this day.
I remember the initial journey like it was yesterday. Alright now I'm going to share that short story which is my time before arriving at Basic Training or the USAF version of boot camp. It all started at a hotel I was put in by my recruiter because I had an early appointment at the MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) the next morning followed by an airline flight going to San Antonio, Texas.
I arrived the hotel at about 6:00 p.m. I was on a floor with all high school girls because they had a FHA (Future Homemakers of America) convention. Girls from the high school I graduated were there as well. I ran into a few of them along with a teacher who headed up their charter. Greetings were made and I told them why I was there.
I got to my room and found out I had a roommate which is doing the same thing as me. He was short and kind of chubby and we didn't really have all that much in common. I mean we got along and talked but not someone I would probably put in my circle of friends.
My plan for the night was to take it easy and get to bed early for the long day ahead the next morning. That did not happen because I got phone call after phone call from girls. I guess they liked my short chubby roommate 🤣 Anyways initially they were from girls that I knew wishing me well. I didn't give anybody my room number but I guess someone seen me enter it. It wasn't long after that I got calls from girls I didn't know. This was annoying and I tried to be nice to get off the phone. After awhile I just took the phone off the hook.
About 45 minutes later after doing that we heard a loud knock on the door. I said, "Go away," but the knocking continued. Not in the best of moods I got up to answer it. It was an older gray haired guy probably in his late 50's. He identified himself as someone who worked for the hotel.
The first thing he mumbled was leave the girls alone. We wasted no time telling him they were bothering us. We also told him we were getting ready to be sent to boot camp and just wanted to get some sleep. He had no sympathy and didn't care what we had to say. He threatened us by telling us to leave the girls alone. Just before he left he said, " If I come back your ass is grass and I'm the lawn mower." I was boiling a bit but I knew I had to keep my cool because I was about to start a new career in the military and didn't want to jeopardize that. It was already getting late and we didn't even bother calling the hotel staff to check on this. My guess is he didn't work for the hotel.
The next morning I went to MEPS and from there I went to the airport. It was snowing in Sioux Falls, SD when I left but when I arrived in San Antonio, TX it was a heat wave. About an hour after arriving we arrived at the base via a bus. Once off the bus we were ordered to form up and got ripped apart via yelling by training instructors aka better known as drill instructors by other services. It was a long six weeks.
Alright today I power up 50 Hive but I also give a helping hand to two newbies which I don't know. Hopefully they will notice and it gives them the extra motivation to continue their Hive journey. Let's welcome June, darn almost half way through the year already. I'm hoping for myself I can get back on track here. I hope the second half of the year will be better than the first half. A good start is I finally got back on track with HPUM.
That's all I have for you this time. Take care, stay safe and power up! Until next time.