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.

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.

Aiming High in the Air Force: 2004, Part Two: Crash and Burn

Aiming High in the Air Force: 2004, Part Two: Crash and Burn

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on October 21, 2011

The Vegas Strip, seen from my office on base

The year had been rough so far, but with only two months left to go, the worst was yet to come, with only brief moments of excitement to shake things up.

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

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.

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) — 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.

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

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.

Aiming High in the Air Force: 2002, Part Two: Fort Lost in the Woods

Aiming High in the Air Force: 2002, Part Two: Fort Lost in the Woods

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on September 30, 2011

Leaving Basic Training behind and beginning the next step in my career as an Airman was surreal. I left Lackland Air Force Base, which had become my home over the past two months, at oh-dark-thirty. Stripes on the sleeves of my dress Blues uniform and a duffel bag in my left hand, it seemed strange to shake my TI’s hand and say goodbye.

Aiming High in the Air Force: 2002, Part One: This One Time, in Boot Camp…

Aiming High in the Air Force: 2002, Part One: This One Time, in Boot Camp…

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on September 27, 2011

During my second semester at Iowa State, in the early weeks of 2002, I came to realize that I wasn’t able to live up to the expectations of a university environment. Ever since September 11, I’d been floundering academically, and although I was an Air Force ROTC cadet, my major in Journalism ensured that I wouldn’t get the scholarship I needed, as they were only going to math, science, and engineering majors. Without that scholarship, my debts only continued to mount, and I was rapidly reaching a tipping point. Something needed to change. With all of this–and more–in mind, I chose to drop out of school and enlist in the Air Force.

Service before self

Service before self

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on September 23, 2011

At the end of 1990, American servicemembers began to build up in Saudi Arabia, along the border that country shared with Kuwait. This action, Operation Desert Shield, was precipitated by the fact that Kuwait had been invaded by its larger neighbor to the North, Iraq. While these events were front-page news across the globe, they had an immediate, direct impact on my life, as I was a teenager growing up in Baumholder, an Army post in Germany.

Role Models and Father Figures

Role Models and Father Figures

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on September 21, 2011

I wanted to be a scientist when I was a boy. To be an astronaut was even better: they were scientists who got to go into space! Of course, I had other dreams as well: writer, teacher, even becoming a priest… well, at least until I discovered girls. The desire to someday become a father outweighed the boyhood interest in the priesthood and its accompanying celibacy. All these dreams had a unifying pattern: they were all professions of highly intelligent people that I respected and admired.

Slacker!

Slacker!

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on September 12, 2011

I’m falling behind on updates for this blog. I need to rededicate myself to this project, as well as to others. Mostly, though, it’s just because I’m so damned busy. Between working 30 hours per week at two jobs and taking a full-time courseload of 12 credits of upper-division history classes, I don’t have a whole lot of extra time left over for, well, anything, and most of what little free time I do have gets eaten up by playing video games. (Star Trek Online is, in fact, a key offender in that area.)

Tag: Personal