Posted: Dec 2, 07 9:22am
I like myself ..and I get along with myself pretty well. As a matter of fact, me and myself have been pretty good friends since I "flew the coop" when I was 20. At that time I wanted to be "just like my big brother" so I joined the Air Force. My adolescence ceased to exist about 36 hours after the bus picked me up from the designated rendezvous point. "My God" ..what have I done to myself ?
For the next 8 years I "fed myself testosterone". I left boot camp with honors and my TI even became a human being for about 2 seconds when he put me and my class on the bus as we went to Tech School ..He gave me that look of humanity as he said to me "get on the bus, Shit-for-Brains"..! That was my first, Real Men "attah-boy" in life. The only time I went near an airplane or a jet, was on my way to my next duty assignment.
After spending 114 weeks in Tech School learning World Wide Command & Control Communication Networks, I was sent to England. My first duty station was "Gods gift to the world" for a comm geek. I was bouncing war plans off the moon in 1969 ! One of my finest days of walking with Real Men, was receiving my promotion orders for my 5th stripe. I didn't have the required "time in service" and "time in grade" to be promoted thru normal channels. A lot of people jumped thru hoops to get my promotion approved by a 2-Star General, who happen to be the Command in Chief of Allied Forces in Europe.
I had served my country with honor and integrity. I had walked with the "finest of the finest soldiers". I learned my trade and developed skills in communications technology that the average person didn't even know existed. By the time my service life was over, that young adolescent had transformed himself. He knew who he was and knew where he was going. Then life took an unexpected turn in complexity ..I met a woman ..! Nobody trained me for "the real thing". Play time was over.
I got my civilian job with no "fuss nor muss". I had entered the fast track to Corporate American success. I had something THEY wanted. But this "woman thing" was really weird. She wanted ME. That was a far cry from somebody wanting my skills, brains, experience, and corporate demeanor. Personal relationships know no boundaries. Emotions are uncontrollable and send you flying in a dozen different simultaneous directions. The only common denominator for this "woman thing" was expectations, "implied or otherwise". When you top all that off with Love ...well now you only have two choices. Be free and head for the hills or say yes to the next level of life and walk a different path with other Real Men.
I said YES ....."My God" .. what have I done to myself ?
That was my "relevance statement" for the group. I hope to be a good conversationalist and offer views and worthwhile subjective opinions. There is no way I can encapsulate the next 32 years of my walking with Real Men in a Modern Society without writing my own version of "War and Peace". I can engage in provocative dialog and as usual "BadFrog humor".
See yah on the forum..
BadFrog
