Comments:
Greetings all, here's a bit of info on how my life's progressed. 5 days after graduation I was in USAF boot camp and ended up spending the next 22+ years in the service. I'll leave the war stories out of this note but if you're curious contact me. During my time in the service, I managed to complete a BS degree in computer science from the University of Maryland. I started out in high voltage powerline maintenance and then crosstrained into computer maintenance. After that I volunteered for flight duty and spent my last 14 years as a computer tech/instructor on AWACS E-3 aircraft. My assignments included deployments throughout most of Europe, counter-drug ops over the jungles of Peru, Japan, Okinawa, Korea and Thailand, Alaska and a few other stateside locations. After retiring at the rank of Master Sergeant, I thought I'd never set foot on another base. One month after retiring, I was hired by Rockwell Collins and started work in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as a database programmer and software process instructor. A year later, I took a promotion and transferred to the Richardson Texas facilty as the Engineering Training Coordinator. However, 6 months after taking the position our company restructured and I was scrambling to stay employed. Fortunately, I fell into an opening in Field Service. Given my miltary experience and computer background the job fit extremely well. I've been in Field Service for over 18 years now and I've been almost around the world and have seen a lot more military bases. I'm currently the primary engineer responsible for the installation and upgrades of 13 HF Communications sites located around the world.
As for my personal life, I'm currently on my third marriage. The first two lasted just over 10 years and I'll be celebrating my 18th anniversary this September. My children are all from my first one and my stepkids are from my current marriage. My wife Rae Jean is a retired RN and we spent our free time taking our grandkids out on the pontoon boat for fishing or enjoying our time together going to restaurants or movies.
During this past year, I've spent a lot of time on the road and this contract will keep me traveling through at least June 2023. I just returned from Hawaii on 17 dec and then took a short trip after Christmas to see my latest family addition, Nyla Reese Denny (7th Grandchild), who was born on my birthday. She's a real cutie. In January I'm off to Guam for 3 months then a short trip to Okinawa followed by a possible revisit to Hawaii. Later in the year, I'll be going to D.C. and then back to Guam followed by several other garden spots over the nextyear. All I can I say is that it's good to be employed. I hope all of you are getting by in these tough times. I wish you the best, Brian (2009)
Greetings fellow classmates, life has definitely changed for me. I continued to work with Rockwell Collins which later became Collins Aerospace until my situation changed. Over the years, my beloved wife’s health was going downhill. First she had issues with her heart which resulted in a triple bypass and then she started manifesting signs of pancreatitis in 2019, In January and again in February 2020, she ended up in the hospital twice because her symptoms had gotten worse. Unfortunately, I was on the road doing my job when they happened and I wasn’t there for her. Once more back on the road in March 2020, it happened again, I called my boss, left the job site and headed home. Unfortunately, the lockdown occurred, the hospital refused to schedule any procedures until things were to become more manageable. So, I made a decision and retired early in order to spend time with my wife and be there if she needed me. I She was only with me for a little over three months more before succumbing to her illness. Since then it’s been difficult to say the least.
