There's some movie scripts in these posts. I wonder if any producers ever happen across boards like this.
I was born in 1955 the second of 5 kids and first son. Tough being the first son. Expectations run high from the father. That much I tempered when my son was born. My Pop was a career Air Force pilot and mother was a check out clerk he met at Keesler AFB, Biloxi, MS, in 1951. After a stint in Korea flying RF-51s he came back and they got married.
I worn born in Landstuhl, W. Germany (then) near Sembach AB where my pop was stationed flying RF-80s. Left there when I was 15 months old and went to Sumpter, SC. There 15 months and on the Wichita, KS. There for 15 months and on to Portsmouth, NH. There for 3 years and on to Biloxi, MS. There for 3 years and on to Westerville, OH. There for 1.5 years and on to Huntington Beach, CA. There for 3 years and on to Schaumburg, IL. 3 years later I joined the Air Force and became a crew chief on KC-135A tankers. Stayed 3 years, 10 months, 18 days and a wake up. Got out early under Palace Chase and went back to Schaumburg, IL. Stayed there 1 year and moved with the company I worked for to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I had to transfer into the Navy to finish my reserve commitment but by that time my military bearing had all but rusted. Fortunately the Navy reserve detachment in Coral Gable let me slip into inactive reserve to finish my time because of my active duty time being longer than their minimum 1st term requirements. I couldn't tell you anything about the Navy except their Honorable Discharge certificate beats the hell out of the Air Force's. Stayed with the company almost 4 years and quit go to school to get my BS in aviation maintenance management from Lewis University in Romeoville, IL. In 85 rejoined the world and became a technician performing overhauls of commercial aircraft parts at a company in Miami, FL. Stayed there for 4 years and started my own company doing the same thing. The events of 911 blew that all to hell so in May, 2003 I surrendered my FAA Repair Station certificate to the FAA, sold my company assets and went to work doing the same thing in Shelbyville, KY, as a general manager of a company there. Left that in 3/2006 and joined another company doing the same thing (yet again) for a company in Orlando, FL, as their chief airworthiness inspector, among other things.
In my life there has been a lot of drama, ups, downs and expanses of extreme boredom. I got married at 30 years old and we waited 8 years before we had kids. We lived like rock stars. We were both open water divers and really enjoyed ourselves for those first 8 years. I now have 2 boys (15 and 10) and rather than brag on them I'll just say I don't deserve them. But, their mother does. Married 24 years and happy.
I enjoy the career I've chosen. My avocations include dabbling in fine art (oil on canvas), playing acoustic guitar, airplane modeling (both plastic and radio control scale), and making small holes in paper targets with a Springfield Model 1911 Mil-Spec. I have flown a lot in my life privately and with with my Pop and my brother, who is soon to be a retired Air Traffic Controller, but to be honest it just doesn't do anything for me. I actually went through flight training and certification but the only time it ever meant anything to me was when I dropped medical supplies to m.a.s.h. units and similar field units in various unheard of skirmishes in the armpits of the world. After a couple sabbaticals to do that a lucky AK round in my ass woke me to the reality of playing hero and I quit. Otherwise, I've admitted to myself flying isn't for me. As far as the glamor of everything aviation I never got that. Raised by a career military and then 2nd career civilian pilot one gets a pretty clear idea where to put the glamor. Romance with it? That'll never die.