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Month: October 2011

Aiming High in the Air Force: 2005, Part Two: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Aiming High in the Air Force: 2005, Part Two: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on October 30, 2011

In August, not long after I’d returned from summer camp with the Boy Scouts, the annual Las Vegas Star Trek Convention came around again. This would be my third year attending the convention, and this year, I would enter the costume contest.

Me at the convention with Menina Fortunato, who played an Orion Slave Girl in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Bound”

Wearing a custom-made and fitted uniform from the movie era of the original Star Trek–specifically, the 2280s and ’90s, as seen in the films Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan through the first act of Star Trek: Generations–I made my way to the Las Vegas Hilton. The contest wasn’t until later in the day, so I wandered the convention area. I’d tried to make the costume as accurate as possible. Heads turned everywhere I went. People wanted to get their photo taken with me. Some people even thought I worked at Star Trek: The Experience.

Continue readingAiming High in the Air Force: 2005, Part Two: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
Aiming High in the Air Force: 2005, Part One: I’d Like a Mulligan

Aiming High in the Air Force: 2005, Part One: I’d Like a Mulligan

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on October 26, 2011

The events of the last two months clearly illustrated to me that my supervisor and superintendent were, most assuredly, not on my side. In fact, they were actively trying to find an excuse–any excuse–to build a case to force me out of the military.

Airman Harlan, 2005

I couldn’t figure out why. The most plausible explanation, according to another senior sergeant that I worked with, seemed to be that they felt threatened by how much more I knew about our job than they did: my supervisor wasn’t even from our career field and had never been trained for our primary job, and my superintendent had been in a headquarters position for several years, and the job had changed significantly in that time. Whether this was true or not, I’ll probably never know.

Continue readingAiming High in the Air Force: 2005, Part One: I’d Like a Mulligan
Aiming High in the Air Force: 2004, Part Two: Crash and Burn
Aiming High in the Air Force: 2004, Part One: With Frickin’ Laser Beams

Aiming High in the Air Force: 2004, Part One: With Frickin’ Laser Beams

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on October 19, 2011
Me (January 2004)

I started off 2004 on a high note. I was granted permission at the end of 2003 to move off base, and I was living in an apartment complex just across the street from the South end of Nellis Air Force Base. It was a one-bedroom, and it was the first time I had ever had a place that was completely my own. My dad gave me a kitchen table and chairs that he was no longer using, and I packed it into the back of my car during my visit at Christmas.

Continue readingAiming High in the Air Force: 2004, Part One: With Frickin’ Laser Beams
Aiming High in the Air Force: 2003, Part Two: Nerdvana

Aiming High in the Air Force: 2003, Part Two: Nerdvana

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on October 12, 2011
Me & Quan (aka “Coin,” aka Jerad Formby)

After returning to Nellis Air Force Base from my brief deployment in the Middle East, I was granted leave time. I drove out to visit my dad and his side of the family in California. While my relationship with my father hadn’t been the best since my parents divorced when I was young, the events of the past year had begun to force me to reconsider everything I thought that I knew.

Continue readingAiming High in the Air Force: 2003, Part Two: Nerdvana
Aiming High in the Air Force: 2003, Part One: Combat Stinkin’ Mobile

Aiming High in the Air Force: 2003, Part One: Combat Stinkin’ Mobile

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on October 6, 2011
Combat Stinkin’ Mobile

After spending the holidays with my family, I took my car, which had been sitting in my mom’s driveway in Iowa since I had left for Basic Training in August, and drove myself back to Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. I returned a couple days early, so I didn’t have to go back to my classes immediately. I was nearly finished with my training; only a few more tasks remained ahead of me.

Continue readingAiming High in the Air Force: 2003, Part One: Combat Stinkin’ Mobile