I am a veteran. I served in the United States army from 1994 to 1998. I was honorably discharged from Ft. Hood, Texas, at the rank of e-4. My MOS was 54B. Chemical operations specialist. My service was sort of unique. My MOS was actually 3 specialties all jammed together. After I left, they broke that specialty into 5 new jobs. Even training was a little different. Instead of eight weeks of basic training and then a separate school for my MOS, it was a new program called OSUT or one station unit training. Twenty-two weeks of combined basic training and military oriented specialty training. In my case, chemical school. It just occurs to me now that maybe I shouldn’t be talking about all this. Is it top secret? After 30 years? I’ll try to keep it boring. Just like my time in the service, lol.

Anyways, from chem school basic training, straight to the republic of Korea. Not Seoul, either. This was real “MASH” type Korea, up in the mountains. There were some cool things I saw and did there, some things I missed out on. I regret not trying kimchi while I was there. Young people are idiots. The point is that technically, I’m a veteran of a foreign war. Not long ago, I went ahead and got a lifetime membership to the vfw. I have no home post. Someday, I’ll probably get more involved. I don’t know. I mainly use it when I’m traveling alone. VFW is an okay place to get food and a couple of beers, if you can stand the company.

Veterans Day is personal to me, but i also get it’s kind of a bologna holiday. If you don’t work at a bank or a government office, you don’t get the day off. Mainly, it’s a day to avoid going out to eat. I haven’t ever taken advantage of the free meal. I’ve wanted to, do sure. The day sneaks up on me, and i forget to take the day off work. Somehow, the free meal thing just doesn’t seem to work out. I do like to act super entitled all day (or more) saying things like ” You’re WELCOME for my service!” And “That’s not what I served for!” Is all in fun.  Just jokes.

Know what isn’t a joke? The Veterans Day 5k at English Landing Park in Parkville, Missouri. Put on by our friends at the kc running company. Somehow, after weeks of training, I came in the first male – masters division. Masters are runners over 40 years old. I was eighth overall. Not too shabby!

I’m still doing no Shave November. I’ve pretty much given up on the movies, though. It was a neat idea, but who has time to sit and watch a movie every day? I got through some, though. Syd and I watched “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.” I watched “A Night at the Opera. ” I was looking for “The Dirty Dozen.” That’s about when I gave it up. I thought about spreading it out into t.v. shows (My Name is Earl) and even cartoons (Yosemite Sam), but in the end, it’s better to call it quits. There’s always next year, after all.

There are some big events coming up! Thanksgiving! Ollie’s Ultra 24-hour race! Christmas themed runs! It’s going to be a great season.