Okay where should I begin. I am 35 years old. Happily married with 2 kids. Boys 12 and 10. Been married for 13 years. I was originally born in New Orleans, Louisiana. After graduating from Covington High School I then joined the Air Force and thanks to my recruiter I went into the Services career field (cook, etc.). I didn't really complain from the onset because it was an indoor job and I had plenty of food to eat. In 1994 I transferred to Crete, Greece and was supposed to do 3 years there but thanks to President Clinton and the military drawdown going on at that time, they decided to close Iraklion Air Station. But it was during my short 1 year stay on the island where I met my wife who is from Thailand. I knew her for approximately 1 month before I proposed to her. Partly because the base was at that point was within 2 months of closing. So it was something I knew in my heart I wanted to do and plus if we hadn't done it, I may never have had the chance to come back to Greece to pursue the relationship. Given at that time the internet was in its infancy, a long distance relationship would have been difficult. I ended up by getting out of the Air Force in 1995. That again was due to the base drawdown. To sum it up, back then and it may still be true today; you would normally receive a "rip" sheet from personnel informing you that you were now within your window to reenlist. That usually comes when you are about one year out. Well because that point for me was within about 4 months of the base closure, the personnel department never produced that rip sheet. So I never realized until after the fact that I was in my window which by the way was 3 months. So by the time I got to Whiteman AFB, Missouri, I went to inquire about reenlisting and when they entered my name in the system they realized I was outside my window. The only option as far as staying in would be to have my commander write a letter on my behalf asking for an exception to policy or I cross train into another specialty. I decided that would be the best route to take and I went to my commander to explain the situation to him. He told me in short that since I joined the Air Force as a Services Specialist for 4 years then I would fulfill that 4 years. Even though I explained to him my situation he didn't seem to care. He told me he would talk to the commander at personnel regarding my situation. Well he ended up by pcs'ing (transferring) and never got around to that. My Master Sergeant basically told me that he dealt with someone before in a similar situation and it was my fault for not being on top of things. So 1995 came around and I separated. About 7 months later I joined the Navy and went in as a Radioman (later Information Techonolgy Specialist). My first assignment was COMASWFORPAC, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. I did my 3 years there and later went to VFA 94 in Lemoore, California. I got out of the Navy in 2001. About 1 week after 9/11 I took a job with a company called SKE Support Services in Diego Garcia which is a small island in the Indian Ocean. I did about 5 months there and later went to work for ManTech at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo. After 1 year there I went to work for TAMSCO in Basra, Iraq for another 5 months. I then got on with General Dynamics at Camp Asaliyah, Qatar. I initially did about 6 months with them then I went home for vacation in August 2004 and to my suprise I found out I had 3 schwannomas on my spinal cord around my mid to lower neck. I underwent 14 hours of surgery. Afterwards I had to undergo some physical therapy and was making decent progress. Then in October 2004 I had hydrocephalus in the 1st ventricle and was kind of in a small coma for about a day. Basically I don't remember 3 days of my life back then. I then began physical therapy again because they hydrocephalus took me back to 0 as far as progress went. Around April 2005 I went back to work and came back to Qatar. Although I did have a lot of upper neck pain and headaches. I went back to my doctor in the states around Auugst 2006 and they performed a CT Scan and pointed out an abnormal 4th ventricle. When I asked him about this, he said it was nothing to worry about. So in the meantime I was given Demerol pills and so forth until we could pin down the pain issues. Well I took a new job with my company at Camp Zama, Japan. Took my wife and kids there with me. But really because of the pain and headaches I was unable to do any work there so General Dynamics flew me back to the states for treatment. Before I did leave Japan I was given an MRI by the Japanese doctors and they noted the abnormal 4th ventricle. This time when I sent the report to my doctor he did confirm that this was most likely the cause of my problems. Come to find out, I was diagnosed with 4th ventricle hydrocephalus and god knows how long this had been going on for. He wanted to perform another surgery even though he kind of admitted he hadn't had much experience with that type of hydrocephalus. I got another opinion and went with a doctor who did have more experience dealing with it. Well the surgery was successful but 3 days after I woke up I noticed I now had double vision, the right side of my tongue has a tingling kind of sensation and I had a small case of facial palsy. Well for the most part after having some vision therapy, my double vision has gone away but I now have some nearsightedness. I have serious problems tasting foods because of the tongue issue and have lost around 30lbs since 2004. The facial palsy did eventually go away. Well I went back to work in July 2006 and just recently left General Dynamics for Northrup Grumman. I am hoping to finish my bachelor's degree in possibly Information Systems Management. Needless to say, my life in the past almost 20 years has been filled with a lot of highs and lows.Working as a contractor for the US Military. Graduated from Covington High School in 1991. Attended various colleges but have yet to finish a college degree.
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