Many Years Ago...

Once upon a long time ago, when I was about two years older than Honor is now, I graduated high school and joined the Army.

That's me in the center of the back row. Why in the world did I look so happy? This was Basic Training! I must have been left out in the sun too long. Nevermind... I enjoyed my service. I liked the work I did, loved the people I worked with, enjoyed traveling, and I could handle the stupid bits. For what it's worth, soldiers didn't get paid enough then, they still don't nowadays, but what's new? There are pros and cons to everything.

One of my favorite posts was Ft. Campbell. I loved the helicopters. I always found flying in military airplanes to be uncomfortable and boring. There's nothing like being strapped in a canvas web seat for hours, freezing your rear off, and no place to put your feet but up on the wheel of the truck tied down - but still bouncing - in front of you. Wheee. Helicopters though, never bothered me. I loved riding in them.

Look. It's me acting a little more professional... 

Before I came along and broke the trend, pretty much all the family were Navy. 

My grandfather (b1893 -  d1971) served in the Navy. 

My father had these photos of his dad's ship and a school photo from 1918. The note on the back identified it as Dunwoody University, College of Technology. And his ship was BB-9, the USS Wisconsin, which I believe he was on in 1918, and was first launched in 1897. It has steam engines and masts too. 

Following in their dad's footsteps, my uncles, my dad's older brothers, also joined the Navy. One went into the Seabees. The other was in Intel. I have a couple of the one with an old airplane, WWII era. 

My dad dropped out of school and tried to lie about his age to go into service, but he looked too young and got caught. He ended up working on a farm, and then in a big kitchen in an area that is now O'hare airport. He eventually joined the Navy too and served at the end of WWII and during the Occupation.

China - during the Occupation

Upper right corner. The one who looks like a kid. 

He enjoyed his time in China and Australia as well. He learned to like warm weather and never moved back to Chicago.

His favorite ship - The USS NAVASOTA  AO-106

So, along comes Honor. She who loves to travel and be in control of things. 

Miss Just-Turned-9yo getting to start the truck for the first time. 

She wants to learn to fly, among other things, and has joined the Civil Air Patrol. So, 21 years after I put my own BDUs away, she gets to wear some of her own. We still need to get the name tapes and all sewn on, but she looks a lot more professional than I did when I first started wearing them! Somewhere I've got photos of her dad in uniform too, from once upon a time, and I'll have to include them in a future post.