On Thursday I was floating around on that endless stream of information that the wonders technology now bring to our fingertips. Electrons, on either side of thousands of miles of photon pushing fiber, happily dance around in anonymity until called upon to render up a solution to the requests of untold millions slapping at their keyboards.
By happenstance I landed at (tripped over) the National Personnel Records Center of the National Archives. I thought: ‘I’m a vet, wonder what they’ve managed to store on me’?
I followed along through several menu’s and ended up on the actual page that promised to provide me a copy of my service record, providing I could answer a few simple questions: (DOB; last name first, first name last, MI; country and state of birth, date/time of first orgasm; name of my mothers first dog). This, again, was on Thursday. By mid morning Friday I had an email stating the search was complete and I could download the PDF file. Not everything I thought should be in the records was in them, but there were some things there that I had completely forgotten about; like the Amphibious Warfare Training Course in the dead of winter, 40 years ago, three weeks after returning from a two year tour in Panama. I’ve never been so cold in my friggin life.
Anyway, I seem to have made a simple subject unduly complicated. If you’re a vet and are up for a few laughs, check out the archives and remember somethings that you may have forgotten.