Best Friends Tom Moczynski Gary Truckey Todd Hanold Bruce Petters Susan Brandl Laura Grogan Jackie Halbach Mark Heather Larry Van Driest Christine Oestreich William Schwartz Tamara Fochs Dale Dahlke Michael Johnson
Best Moment 1.) Pinning of my Chief's anchors - 9/25/04. I never thought I ever had a chance to make Chief, and I tell people that when I got the phone call from my CO on 6/2/04 saying I was a Chief selectee, it changed my entire life! 2.) Two-week Annual Training at the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany June and July 2006, during the World Cup soccer shindig. I had a blast! I and three others from my unit went as a group. Unforgettable. We also got to visit Austria and Italy. Talk about the trip of a lifetime.
Worst Moment 1.) Having to take a bust one paygrade to come back into the reserves sucked. I left active duty as a CTO2, and had to come into the reserves as a YN3. I was 32 years old, and I felt so old to only be an E-4. But I had a 5 1/2 year gap, so I guess I was lucky I didn't have to come in as an E-3!
2.) Getting voluntold for mobilization as an IA to Afghanistan. I realized that my number would come up someday, but never like that. I feel that the IA is a back door draft. While getting a routine physical, the doctor discovered a large ovarian cyst. I'd had one rupture months before. My mob orders were cancelled, and I wound up having a hysterectomy in February 2007. They discovered I had not only the ovarian cyst, but a softball sized endometriosis mass that no test had previously detected. Fortunately, it was benign, just a little longer recovery than I anticipated. In December 2006, I made the difficult decision to go IRR and walk away from it all. I've had arthritis for awhile, and it got to the point where I could no longer run or pass a PFA, so I figured I'd go out on top instead of waiting for the Navy to kick me out.
Chain of Command USNR Retired 3/1/08
Former Unit LCPO of Reserve Support Unit 1336 (RSU-1336)
Other Memories Entered Navy Reserves May 1996 as a YN3. Went all the way up to YNC - pinned 9/25/04.
Annual Training locations 1998 - SSSU - Norfolk, VA (just made YN2) 1999 - E5 Navlead School - N&MCRC Omaha, NE (YN2) 2000 - SSSU - Norfolk, VA (YN2) 2001 - COMSCLANT - Norfolk, VA (YN2) 2002 - E6 Navlead School - NOSC Green Bay, WI (just made YN1) 2003 - USPACOM - Pearl Harbor, HI (YN1) 2004 - NWDC - Newport, RI (YN1 - found out I was selected for YNC 5 days after I returned back from this AT) 2005 - CPO Navlead School - NOSC Everett, WA (YNC) 2006 - NATO School - Oberammergau, Germany (YNC)