Belated Merry Christmas, folks! I only missed it by 5 hours, but meh...

Had a sleepless night last night and Goggled up some military humor, which led me here - figured I might as well be polite and introduce myself briefly.

I served '89-'93 (Army Infantry, 11M - all dismounted, you can keep that mounted crap, I never wanted 11M anyway (was 11X)) and then a couple years in my secondary, 88M, here in Phoenix in USAR. Even though I'm 37 (yesterday was my birthday ), I've finally won my petition with the VA and they're going to pull the metal out of my leg, and then I'm re-enlisting. I hate civilian life with a passion. I'm sure the medical review board will fight me tooth and nail, but I have a buddy with AKO access and he's going to get me the regs verbatim so I can beat them at their own game and exceed every qual they want.

I'll lose some rank, but according to the one recruiter I'll not have to repeat OSUT... which is good and bad. Good for the obvious reasons, but I may request it because there are just SO many things to forget in 15 years out. To be honest, I'm scared to death - not to mention some 21-year old sergeant barking at me, which is going to take great resolve not to follow through with, "Listen up, sonny, I got hash marks older than you, and..." My problem is that I have no interest in doing anything but Infantry - they already offered me pushing pencils in a re-train, but I hate that. No AB option, as there will still be small holes in the leg, which bites.

So much for brief...

Anyway, as a civilian I'm an industrial electrician by trade, currently working property management until I get a little more use in the leg (just to lose it when they remove the metal). I own a small company and pretty much work from my home office and bark at employees when we're not drinking beer laughing at life. I'm working on my degree (MBS in project management and MaE in Adult Education (contemporary literature)) and also volunteer a bit at the local VA. I'm an avid shooter, fisherman and hunter, twice divorced, and have 2 biological sons and 3 adopted kids - two daughters and a son. They range in age from 20 to 14.

I'm pretty laid back, I love to debate, and I'm a firm proponent that laughter is indeed the best medicine. Obviously, brevity is not a trait I have mastered, so forgive me when I get long winded - such as I've done here. Looking forward to meeting you all!

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welcome.........

Welcome, it sure sounds like you've got a lot of things going on right now. All the best to you and I'm looking forward to reading your posts AZ_Infantry.

Welcome aboard, AZ_Infantry.

Welcome aboard. Happy belated birthday.

Welcome to the forums.

Thank you for the welcome!

Yes, a lot of things are going on. Without meaning to introduce overtly religious undertones, God has been doing a lot in my life lately, and I've found myself on a rather interesting ride. Not much of it has been fun, but it's all been fascinating.

The decision to have this metal ganked and re-enlist has been a difficult one. I've suffered over the decision, but I feel it is the right thing.

welcome!!

Welcome AZ Infantry.

Welcome (I'm lazy with welcomes). Looks like you and I have something in common. I turned civilian six months ago and I HATE IT.