the 2000's and how the decade was for me

I think I'm going to be extra selfish with this post and just reminice about how the decade was for me.

It started out with me graduating high school with some very close friends. The graduation itself was bittersweet as I was leaving an environment of normalcy that i had only known in my life. To top it off i was to leave for Recruit training in Great Lakes Illinois in two weeks meaning this third generation Nevadan was about to travel the farthest he'd ever gone to that point in his life.

Bootcamp was a rude awakening for me. The process shocked me as i found myself alone and in a situation where i felt i had noone i could trust. The fear and panic felt overwelming at first and the only thought i had was of going home. I wrote friends and family and although i knew that i would likely regret doing this, i wrote them telling them how i was going to quit and how i would be on my way home. In the end though, i just couldn't bring myself to quit. I had disappointed my father back in the 7th grade when i quite football and i remember the feeling of knowing how disappointed he was as one of the most crushing feelings i ever knew. At that moment i promised myself that no matter what i would never quit again, nothing would ever get the best of me. At boot camp i felt that pledge still sticking strong and writing the letters was a way to try and force me to break the pledge. I couldn't do it though, anytime i thought that this was the time to march in and demand to be sent home i found myself saying, just give it more time i can make it to x point than we'll see. Soon enough, and with some very encouraging letters from those same family and friends i made it through boot camp and went to Meridian Mississippi for my first A school.

I was there when 9/11 happened. It was amazing to hear the recaps in the news and to try and comprehend the devastation that had just happened. At first my young mind could only comprehend Iraq being behind this. Ironically I remember a newsticker stating that Saddam was already making it known he had nothing to do with the attack. Soon we found out what happened and my service took on a whole different meaning. In a month we heard the invasion of Afghanistan was on and it felt good. We were going to get the bastards that did this and we would keep them from hurting more people in the future.... or so we should have, Rumsfeld's bungle.

I finished off 2001 being stationed in San Diego. A great place to live and a very nice vacation spot, but at age 18 and with that fantastic E-1 pay it didn't offer me much to do. I made good friends though, and made a great reputation at work. The invasion of Iraq started in March of 2003 and i left San Diego in November of that year. All in all not too much to report... or at least not enough that i want to make public. ;) I'll just say that Tijuana was always a good get away during those days and the SDSU girls especially made it a nice place to go.

From there I went to Sasebo Japan and did two years on a ship sailing in the west pacific. Great times were had in Thailand, Singapore, S. Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, Bahrain, and of course Dubai. I was able to serve my country by standing watch on a 50 mount during our deployment to the gulf and, ironically enough, i, a paperpusher, was the one who had to fire some rounds at some overly curious Kuwaitis one day. Luckily noone was hurt and those Kuwaitis learned a valuable lesson, when the ship says keep you damn distance, you keep it.

Japan was a deciding point for me, I had to decide whether i was going to stay Navy or take the plung into the civilian life. I knew I wanted to stay Navy. I was proud of the uniform and i wanted to continue to serve, but my job as a paperpusher in aviation had run it's course. I had no interest in continuing at that job and I let the Navy know that it would either give me a different job or i was walking. The Navy responded by giving me exactly what i wanted in a job by working in intell. I was now responsible for keeping track of threats to this nation, and those in harms way on the front line. This was a job that i was made for.

I trained for this job in 2006 and went to my first duty station in Wash. DC also in 2006. Although i would lament certain parts of my stay in DC, i can't deny all the things i accomplished there. I acheived my associates degree and am currently 3 credits shy of my bachelor's all thanks to an environment that allowed me to be very aggressive toward schoolwork during my time there. During my last year there i was allowed to work as an analyst and i found my work more rewarding than anything else i had done to that point. It was a good time and i wouldn't trade it for anything.

I left there in 2009 and i find myself at my current stop down here in Virginia Beach, where i picked up my job 4 years ago. I find the work is great and i look forward to doing my job here, but there is no doubt that the thrill is gone for me as far as serving my country. These days although i want to continue to work in my job i find that i want to settle down with a family more than go off to war. I think i shall remain content to serve my current command to the best of my ability and than i will consider my time all but done in the military.

Although I have written much about my job and my professional progress i assure you the personal life was not lacking. I still have those great Nevada friends along with friends in the military. I have dated many good and great girls, my current status is more a result of my lack of want to settle down than anything else. For whom it concerns, i suppose that is enough said on that.

A very active decade and one in which i grew up quite a bit. I can only hope that this next decade is just as interesting.

-Zach