Thirty years

My dad's retirement ceremony is tomorrow. He's been in the Air Force for thirty years, so it's a pretty big deal. My sister and her family, my grandparents, and my aunt and uncle are in town for it and a bunch of people he works with/has worked with will be there. A brief rundown of his long career:

*Started out in CE on Langley AFB in Hampton, VA. While here, he started working on F-15's, made friends with the Buffets, a family we're still friends with, had my sister and then me, and advanced in rank to Staff Sergeant. He's a go-getter.

*Stationed on Kadena AFB on Okinawa, Japan. Taught a class in F-15 maintenance. Basically became an expert on the planes. Advanced in rank to Master Sergeant. Made many more family friends that we've kept over the years.

*Stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB in Goldsboro, NC. Advanced in rank to Senior Master Sergeant. Decided to move back to Okinawa instead of going remote (by himself) to Korea for a year. Survived teaching my sister how to drive.

*Stationed back on Kadena AFB. Spent three months during the summer of 2000 in the desert of Saudi Arabia, came back much thinner. Advanced in rank to Chief Master Sergeant, a rank reached by only 1% of all enlisted members of the Air Force. Extended his stay on Okinawa so I could graduate high school with my friends instead of having to move in the middle of my senior year.

*Stationed on Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX. Sheppard is a training base where new enlistees go right after basic training and my dad was the first person these poor people would see when they got off the bus. He's very good at putting the fear in 'em. While here, he completed his bachelor's degree (in something to do with business) after working on it for ten years or so.

*Returned to Langley. Joined the Inspector General (IG) team as their maintenance guy. The IG team inspects bases and gives them a rating or a grade. If they fail the inspection, then they have 6 months to improve where needed before they're inspected again. If they fail again, people responsible get kicked out of the Air Force. It's a huge deal when bases are preparing for an inspection, so again he's instilling fear. While here he also received his MBA (in less time than it's taking me to get my MPP).

So now he's retiring and is still not sure what he's going to do after the military. Beyond going on a cruise with my mom in a couple of weeks that is. For his ceremony I put this slide show together of pictures from his life. I'm proud of figuring out how to do this, so I've posted it. Don't feel pressured to watch it since it's close to five minutes long, but if you do you will be rewarded with a horribly geeky middle school era picture of me at about the halfway point. You're welcome.