Okay the year is 1996, and the month is April, and the day the 11. I'm on a bus with a few other people, and I see the sign, Welcome to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Yup that's it, now all of a sudden it's hit me, like a ton of bricks. I'm scared. Yeah I knew that I was going to be in the military, but man was I not ready for it. I was only 19 years old...and fresh out of high school, well a few months out of high school but still. Well I finish my basic training and go to tech school and finish that up. Get to my first duty station and get an eye opener, of how the real Air Force is. I meet my first supervisor, Arthur Coleman, staff sergenant type. Me being the young, A1C type was scared and kept my mouth shut alot. Well Art, took care of me for the first 8 months before he had to get out for Medical reasons. Then I get put into support and learn more stuff and get praised, that I was the only Airman on the shift working the counter and getting tool boxes out for the morning rush. I was in support for the summer, and then came back into the flight, yeah my first two days spent down at wash rack cleaning a jet. Well I went from a 3 man to a 2 man, and actually became a better 2 man then most of the people we had. Then I get my third stripe and people are actually listening to me more often. In fact I think I might of had more pull in the shop then some staffs we had...lol. I also started learning alot more from some of the guys, that took me under their wings, like Stevie Ward, Earl Kast, and Chuck Lockwood just to name a few. Stevie taught me the swing shift way, and that I also needed to be the team player and help out other people instead of sitting on my ass, eating my honey bun and watching tv. Then we go to Saudi, and well I was at my 3 year mark or there abouts, and said the hell with this I'm getting out. I just couldn't take it any more, me and my supervisor, was fighting a lot. Actually in fact it was the whole crew that was fighting. But Jack talked me into staying in, saying that we were going to do the buddy system. Yeah well he's up north and I'm here in Florida. Well anyways, I do go and say sign me up for another 6 years. In fact this was the only time my parents really came to something that was military related to me. Yes it was nice to have my dad there, b/c he got to see me reenlist as I got to watch him retire. In fact it was kind of a big deal, I had the Commander, Col Hyatt reenlist me. All the pilots came to see it, and my flight chief and a few other people I worked with watched. Well, I decided shorty after that, that I needed to leave Shaw. So Korea bound I was, spent my year there and had orders to come to Tyndall AFB, FL. I figured this place would be skate compared to Shaw. Nope I was wrong. This place hardly had the people to work, and well they had some stupid things going on within the shop. Just cuz I told one NCO how I felt I got paper work and then the dumb ass miss quote me so of course I had to set him straight on it. So my supervisor here, was a dumb ass. You know I always hated going into work, and when I got off work I was pissed off also. Then he gets moved into support and I get a kick ass supervisor in Brian Norris. Well for 6 months straight we were load crew of the month. Yeah we were that good. Then he goes and leaves us, that punk. Then I get Kevin Cummings, and well I learned some stuff from him that I didn't learn from Brian. In fact, I really thought me and TSgt Cummings were going to butt heads but we didn't. We got along just fine. I learned the get out of my way appoarch to teaching, from him. But I always learned that you get the job done fast and well you might get cut back. In fact he's the only shift supervisor that I've told no to. But then I also explained my reason behind it, and he agreed with me. I've got my crew after about a year working with him, and well I've had to kick one troop out, I've seen one leave for a different job, and one make staff and get his own crew. And well I also had a female that back stabbed me a few times, dumb bitch! Sorry about that. Now I have this nice easy job down at EOR, and well I like it. Oh well last year I decided to go ahead and sign up for another 5 years.
I look around at the new people coming in and talk to them seeing if they are staying in or not. And most of them say no, to which when they are done I'll say thanks, it was fun having you here and I'm glad I got to work with you. In fact I see alot of young people, and I really do feel old. Sometimes I think back to when I first got to Shaw, and wonder was I ever that young and stupid. And of course the answer is Hell No! No just kidding cuz I was. But I've always had Art there to tell me, "Llamas what would your father think of you doing that?" I really do miss Art...but I do know this there's one thing I did learn from Art, and that was how I wanted to be when I was an NCO. I didn't want to be a dick like some, I wanted to be nice, and do things for the Airman. In fact I've done that, I've tooken out my crew to eat at Olive Garden, although Art took us to Ryan's and we had the buffet, and of course Art always had coupons to use for Burger King...lol. That's something I'll always remember about Art. He was one of the best supervisors I've had. And in 10 years, I've had a few. Brian and Kevin just taught me things, about the jet not really about how to take care of your troops that's something I learned from Art.
So on April 11 of 2006 I celebrated my 10 years in the Air Force. But since I've had to think about what I wanted to say, it's been a few days afterwards. So now I got 9 years and 361 days till I can retire. I'm halfway there, never thought I would see the day. "Llamas, what would your father think of you doing that?" Well Art I think my day would think wow, it's been that long I didn't even know. And I knew he would be proud of me. Like I knew you are Art. I do wish you could read this. I'll be honest with you folks, I still have that little voice asking me that question, and it's always in Art's voice. So what does the next 10 years have in store for me, only time will tell. Hopefully I'll beable to write about those 10 years, as I wrote about my first 10.
