This will probably be the last entry in this blog as I am, as of today, once again and officially out of the military. I "ETS"ed, which is Army-speak for allowing your contract to expire. No IRR or anything like that. I'm out. I'm going to start up with Greater Philadelphia Search and Rescue to fill the void, but I know it's not the same. No more wondering if "the phone call" is going to happen. It's not my problem anymore.

So how do I feel? Well I'm not as glad to be out as I was when I left the Navy. Granted, in retrospect I missed the workload of VP-64...well let me rephrase that: I missed the sense of purpose and feeling of accomplishment. The Guard was full of great people and one of the best COs it's been my pleasure to serve under, but we weren't exactly brimming with work to do. Overall it was fun: I got to work with helos, learn some land navigation, learned to operate and strip down an assortment of manly toys like the .50 cal, put a few practice rounds through the Mk19, put a couple hundred rounds through the SAW, qualified with the M16 (though I never want to clean another one of those things again unless it's mine), learned to drive a 5-ton truck, and got to hang out with some fun folks (including more germans, who can still drink us all under the table).

Regrets? A few. I would have liked to drive a Humvee, fire the M203 and gone for a ride in a Hawk. Oh and actually getting real experience on T700s would have been nice, too. On a grander scale I still wonder what would have happened if I had gotten into the Med company. Even beyond the fact that I would most likely be headed for the big sand box, I wonder if I would have enjoyed my drills more. Too late for that now. I guess I'll always have that "what if" swimming around in my head.

We'll see in a few years what I decide. After nursing school and when Gabe's old enough to better deal with me being away maybe I'll end up back in the service. I don't know if the Guard will be my first choice. Hell I might have to join the Air Force Reserve aeromedical unit out of Macguire just so I can say I've been in 3 of the 4 branches (yah I'm not that shallow: the job they do is a great opportunity for nursing and is much more stable when you deploy since besides their other more hazardous missions they also ferry patients back to the states, so you get built in family QT). My other choice would be a V-22 unit, but I think they'll still be Marines-only in my career lifetime and I'm too old for that (literally: they won't take me). Who knows, maybe HCS-4 will get some.

Though I will miss "Sergeant Dave". I had an 18 year old kid stop me in the hallway, asking me where the recruiter's office was. I told him and he said "thank you Sergeant" as he headed off. I have to admit that I've grown to like the sound of it.