Thursday, April 5, 2007

First call to my recruiter

After thinking about joining for way too long, I called SFC Kevin Askew on Maundy Thursday, April 5, 2007, and asked him about joining the Army National Guard. We talked for more than a half hour. He told me that the Army National Guard has a unit that both looks for WMDs and provides Hazmat response support in the region. He said to send in my DD214s, pay statements and any other paperwork I had that would establish my prior service and he would determine if I could actually join. I collected the papers over Easter weekend and started faxing them on Monday morning.

May 9: Soviet Victory and One-Third of My Broken Bones

May is a big day in my life--and for those who still celebrate the victory of the Soviet Union over the Nazis.  While I am happy the Soviets...