So, let’s catch up.

Since the start of COVID-19, my life has done quite a few backflips. It started with the worst news that I could have received. I thought, from there, things could only get better. I did not realize things would get worst first.

At the start of 2019, I was ending the worst turmoil of my life. I was settling back into my role as an Airman. This story still hurts too much to tell (maybe one day I will), but I will do my best to provide a good summary.

In 2018, after I returned from my deployment, the military told me it was time for me to retire. However, I thought I still had three years to go before reaching twenty years of active duty. Despite everything I did to correct this error, they persisted. I had 90 days to retire when I returned home.

I scheduled the retirement ceremony for 5 February 2018. Twenty years from the date that I signed on the dotted line, committing myself to military service. My mother flew in from Florida, and my aunt flew in from Georgia to see me end my career– just as they had been there to see me start it.

On the Friday before my retirement, I went into the office to finalize my planning, but I arrived to find my retirement orders canceled. Instead, my leaders told me to report to duty the following Monday. If that was not enough– I had until the end of the day to reenlist or separate from the military. At least my family was there to see me reenlist! Right?

When 2019 began, I finally settled back into the idea of being an Airman. In November, however, everything blew up when the pandemic started. I was able to stay busy by focusing on work while working from home, but before I knew it, a year had passed. I was again awaiting promotion results, and it was time for me to decide if I wanted to retire or reenlist.

I worked hard the previous twelve months to position myself for a promotion. At the end of the day, though, I would not be promotable from that position no matter what I did.   What devastated me, though, was hearing those words out loud. I called my wife to explain. It was then that we decided it was time to hang up my combat boots.

I applied for retirement. I even had to extend my enlistment for one month to have adequate time to retire. Once processed, I resubmitted my application only to have the system reject it. It took multiple emails and phone calls to find out it was because my leadership selected me to deploy. This was more devastating news, whose timing could not have been worst. (Let me know if you want the whole story. Maybe the chaos leading to my final retirement needs to be a post in itself!)

So I can end on a positive point, I will say, I have retired from military service. I retired effective 1 September 2021. I have been working for my local government for almost a year. My story does have a happy new beginning.

Now, with the reflection of my 23 years of military service, retirement, and new position, I get to redefine who I want to be. I get to take the lessons from my highly structured military life and implement them to be the leader that I studied so hard to become. .  I, for one, cannot wait to see what is coming up next!