An Attitude Adjustment

The next 3 years were nearly idyllic. We were young newlyweds with a terrific little boy. We had our issues, money was tight for one thing, but we worked through things as they showed up, just like all newlyweds do.

Douglas was almost perfect too. He was as crazy about his Mom and Dad, as we were about him, and the 3 of us bonded well. He was the ideal first born.

Before I knew it, my hitch was almost up. Originally, I was going to do my four years and then go back to Loudon, but with about a year to go I had to start rethinking that idea. I had a family now and that changed everything. I could still go back to Loudon, but what would I do when I got there? Plus, she wasn’t too anxious to be so far away from her family. So, if I stayed in California, what would I do? After a lot of discussion, we decided I should look at re-enlisting.

So I did. The only rub was my career field was full so if I re-enlisted it would have to be in another field. Yuck. Remember those military tests in high school that I thought were no big deal, just a day out of class --- the same tests that severely limited my options in basic training? Well, they took one look at them and said, “Unless you retake these and make lot better scores, we can’t use you.”

So I did. There were tests in 4 categories; General, Administrative, Mechanical, and Electronics. Originally, the highest score I made was a 30 in Mechanical, after the retake the lowest score I made was 75 in Electronics. So now when I looked for a new career field, I had a bunch to choose from, especially those with bonuses. I selected Weather and received a $5000 re-enlistment bonus.

How did I get so smart in 4 short years? I didn’t. I just had an attitude adjustment.

The downside was I was going to have to go away for 4 months to go to school in Illinois, but besides missing Barb and Doug, it was a really good time. I met a lot of good people and learned that I wasn’t such a dumbass after all, not when I applied myself,