Let's See...
June, 1968: My first real remembrence of sadness and death (age 5) - both my paternal grandfather and Robert F. Kennedy died that month
July, 1969: Watched the First Man on the Moon - in B & W
December, 1969: Sang in the First Presbyterian Church of Key Biscayne's Children's Choir at the Christmas Pagent...including a solo. President and Mrs. Nixon were in the front row. Got to shake Mr. Nixon's hand...big thrill for a 7-year old
May 25, 1977: Stood in line for 2 hours to see Star Wars on it's opening night. Gah! Can't believe I almost forgot that one
!
May, 1985: Received my West Point diploma/commission from Vice President George H. W. Bush (Bush 41)
Fall, 1986: Rotated to the East German border after a little publicized border "incident"...spent ~ 48 hours on highest alert level in M-1 tanks with live rounds chambered watching the East Germans/Soviets through thermal sights...waiting for WWIII to start. Was told at a briefing during that rotation that the "life expectancy" of a main battle tank once the shooting started was ~ 15 minutes!
New Year's, 1988/89: Spent several days over the New Year's Holiday in West Berlin when the Wall was still up. Traveled into East Berlin though "Checkpoint Charlie" in Dress Greens. Got shadowed by Stazi. The Wall came down over New Year's 1989/90.
July, 1990: Project officer for the "50th Anniversary of the US Armored Force" at Ft. Knox, KY. Organized and executed a 3-day celebration for over 10,000 veterans and family members (mostly WWII vets). My last hurrah as an active duty army officer. Even helped design the memorial out in front of the Patton Muesum.
August, 1990: Started my terminal military leave the day before Iraq invaded Kuwait. One of my best friends was the lead element of the 24th Infantry Division's (Mechanized) big left hook through the desert. He was the lead non-SOF unit to cut the Bagdhad/Basra highway.
September 11, 2001: Was supposed to fly from Philadelphia to London on a 5:05 PM flight. Returned from walking the dog to find my wife in teary shock and just in time to see the 2nd plane impact the World Trade Center towers. I had several friends and business acquaintences that worked in the Twin Towers. Thankfully, they all survived but all lost close friends and/or relatives. Remember spending half the day on the old ENWorld boards reading/responding to NYC ENWorlders.
April, 2004: Met Senator John McCain at business function on Capitol Hill. The look on his face when I said "Go Army, Beat Navy" was priceless. Get a hearty laugh, a firm handshake and a slap on the back in return.
~ OO
June, 1968: My first real remembrence of sadness and death (age 5) - both my paternal grandfather and Robert F. Kennedy died that month
July, 1969: Watched the First Man on the Moon - in B & W
December, 1969: Sang in the First Presbyterian Church of Key Biscayne's Children's Choir at the Christmas Pagent...including a solo. President and Mrs. Nixon were in the front row. Got to shake Mr. Nixon's hand...big thrill for a 7-year old
May 25, 1977: Stood in line for 2 hours to see Star Wars on it's opening night. Gah! Can't believe I almost forgot that one
!May, 1985: Received my West Point diploma/commission from Vice President George H. W. Bush (Bush 41)
Fall, 1986: Rotated to the East German border after a little publicized border "incident"...spent ~ 48 hours on highest alert level in M-1 tanks with live rounds chambered watching the East Germans/Soviets through thermal sights...waiting for WWIII to start. Was told at a briefing during that rotation that the "life expectancy" of a main battle tank once the shooting started was ~ 15 minutes
!New Year's, 1988/89: Spent several days over the New Year's Holiday in West Berlin when the Wall was still up. Traveled into East Berlin though "Checkpoint Charlie" in Dress Greens. Got shadowed by Stazi. The Wall came down over New Year's 1989/90.
July, 1990: Project officer for the "50th Anniversary of the US Armored Force" at Ft. Knox, KY. Organized and executed a 3-day celebration for over 10,000 veterans and family members (mostly WWII vets). My last hurrah as an active duty army officer. Even helped design the memorial out in front of the Patton Muesum.
August, 1990: Started my terminal military leave the day before Iraq invaded Kuwait. One of my best friends was the lead element of the 24th Infantry Division's (Mechanized) big left hook through the desert. He was the lead non-SOF unit to cut the Bagdhad/Basra highway.
September 11, 2001: Was supposed to fly from Philadelphia to London on a 5:05 PM flight. Returned from walking the dog to find my wife in teary shock and just in time to see the 2nd plane impact the World Trade Center towers. I had several friends and business acquaintences that worked in the Twin Towers. Thankfully, they all survived but all lost close friends and/or relatives. Remember spending half the day on the old ENWorld boards reading/responding to NYC ENWorlders.
April, 2004: Met Senator John McCain at business function on Capitol Hill. The look on his face when I said "Go Army, Beat Navy" was priceless. Get a hearty laugh, a firm handshake and a slap on the back in return.
~ OO
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