This is a story all about how my life got twisted and turned upside down.
The Real Story
Sorry, I will not be continuing this as Fresh Prince parody.
Back to the beginning…
I grew up in Gig Harbor, a small town in Washington State. Straight out of High School I joined the Army and stayed there (nearly continuously) for the next 15 years. During my time in service, I deployed 5 times and traveled the world. I went to Egypt, Guantanamo Bay, Iraq twice, and Afghanistan once. In the middle of it all, I got out of the Army briefly but went back in. I also changed duty stations a few times, had 4 kids, married twice, and divorced twice.
Needless to say, my hair has prematurely gone gray — but I still have a full head of it!
This brings me to the present.
I still have my struggles with post-military life, but I’ve found solace in confiding in other veterans and writing about the things I deal with. My wife has been really supportive as well and is great at calming my nerves. She’s been my rock.
I dove headfirst into community and veterans issues, and have been an active part of many organizations over the years.
When I struggled to keep a decent job that I could physically keep up with, I went back to school. At the age of 40, I got my Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and Media Technology from Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
Some of the things I enjoy outside of spending time with my family are fixing things around the house, playing video games, blogging, and making music. Oh, and if you’ve seen me in recent years, you can’t forget photography. I play guitar and like to sing for my family and friends, but have no desire to ever do it professionally – well, secretly I do.
I hope you enjoy my incessant ramblings about life, politics, and whatever else happens to come to mind as I use this blog as an outlet – kind of a therapy for me if you will.
“We, the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.”
Konstantin Jireček