There you have it friends. I have effectively summed up a 23 year career, my Air Force journey, in a matter of 15 blog posts. But as I told you before, the journey certainly continues! I started writing my thoughts down on July 31st of 2017 on my 21st anniversary in the Air Force. I most definitely didn't expect it would take 3 and a half years to chronicle through my time in this great profession. It was great reminiscing through the years, trying to remember what I could from each assignment, and knowing that I forgot much more than I actually put down on paper. Throughout the coming months and years, I plan on writing more about specific memories or subjects as they come to me! Before I forget even more haha! Just know, even as a civilian now – I am still a POL troop through and through!
Continuing on, I retired from the United States Air Force effective 31 October 2019 in the grade of Senior Master Sergeant (E-8). I held my retirement ceremony on August 9th and officially signed out of Nellis, wearing my uniform for the final time on August 16th, 2019. During the lead up to my retirement, I was in talks with the company that I work for today, Encore Support Systems and was hired on as a Fuels Subject Matter Expert in June of 2019 with the expectation that I would be in my future location and start working in September. I had originally interviewed and hired on for a position at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida. However, I was given the opportunity to come out to Hawaii instead! This was blessing as much of my wife's family lives here on Oahu. I started working in an office in a very historical building on Hickam Air Force Base, just outside of Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii. I am currently the PACAF Fuels SRM/RMMR Program Manager working new and repair projects all over the Pacific with the PACAF Fuels Engineer. I can't say enough good things about my boss, Ms. Kay. She has honestly been like a mama bear this past year plus as much has happened in 2020. She's an amazing lady and I am so very appreciative of her. If she had a flaw, the one flaw, would be that she is an Ohio State fan! I guess I'm grateful that she still hired me knowing that I was originally from Michigan!!!
I've had some great memories of my first year in this new career, in this new position. I have even had the chance at a unique commute to and from work - in a kayak across the Pearl Harbor Channel!
While in the military, I was on the logistics side of fuels; issuing, storing, transferring, accounting, laboratory sampling, and overall management of the fuel that went from our storage on base to the aircraft. In my new career, I am on the engineering side of the house. I work with all the Air Force bases in the Pacific region (Japan, Korea, Alaska, Guam, Wake Island) to develop projects to keep their fuels infrastructure healthy. That brings us to where we are now; living in Ewa Beach and working on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam just outside of Honolulu, Hawaii. I’m pleased at how awesome 2019 was; it was great for my family and for me personally. 2020 brought on new challenges and a bit of heart ache to our lives as I'll detail in a future post.
While still on active duty, I always stated I didn’t know
what I wanted to be when I grew up.
Towards the end of my career, I was looking at a multitude of career
choices, from going into Human Resources as that’s what I majored in college,
to finding work in logistics and operations positions in large warehouse
companies like Amazon and Fanatics. I
truly feel those would have been just jobs; I feel I found my calling in the field
I grew up in, just didn’t realize that’s what I wanted to continue doing! But I am grateful for the opportunities that
have come my way; I truly love what I am doing and can honestly see myself
doing this until I retire for good!
When we first moved to Hawaii, we lived in a place called Kapilina Bach Homes; it was OLD Navy housing, but it was a great place to figure out where we wanted to live here on Oahu. We bought a house in June of 2020 in Eva Beach (Ocean Point) not too far from where we lived. We certainly have enjoyed our time here with all the different beaches and food opportunities (it’s no Vegas when it comes to food, but its good none the less!), hiking trails, availability to get back to the mainland, or potentially a closer trip over to Asia or Australia for a vacation at some point. The journey is different now, but continues just the same!
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| Kapilina Beach Homes |
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