Although I was born in Virginia, that’s not where I call home, I have had the wonderful opportunity to travel the world over as an Air Force brat, an Air Force spouse and an active duty Air Force member. I went to an American high school in Wiesbaden, Germany, lived in Aviano, Italy for two years and was stationed at Okinawa, Japan while I was active duty.
I’ve always had a desire to learn how things worked, taking something apart, putting it back together and it still work, is always exciting. That mechanical knack also caught the eye of an Air Force recruiter in Mountain Home, Idaho. He talked me into coming and taking “the tests” – the results being, I could have “any job I wanted”. I chose to become a Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory specialist. So I was off to Basic Training in San Antonio, Texas followed by the year long PMEL school in Denver, Colorado. Towards the end of school, I was asked if I would like to become an instructor, my reply was no, I felt it would be better to have some bench experience first. So after graduation, I was off to Okinawa, Japan. Towards the end of my four year enlistment I made the decision to not re-enlist. I had a beautiful 2 year old daughter that I didn’t want to be separated from.
Next up, the cold north – Grand Forks, North Dakota and my second wonderful daughter was born while there. Leaving the frigid temperatures behind for the warmth of the Deep South, we found ourselves in Montgomery, Alabama. There, I was able to put those PME skills to use as a civilian contractor at Maxwell, AFB. It was there, that I also was able to move from the electronic side of repair and calibration to the physical/dimensional side. That meant I got to work with a wide range of weight and measuring tools. Ask me about dropping a 50 pound weight on my toe.
A couple of exciting things happened while in Alabama – I used my GI Bill to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Sociology, almost completed a Master’s Degree in Personnel Counseling (all I lacked was taking the comprehensive exams and one elective course), my dad got me hooked on Mac’s and my third delightful daughter was born.
