On The Downward Slope

In a few short months, I'll reach 13 years in the United States Air Force. That leaves me with 7 years left until retirement...or as I've recently started counting, 14 PT (physical training) tests left until retirement. As the Grateful Dead opined in their song Truckin', "...what a long, strange trip it's been." That is certainly an apt description of my career thus far. As much as I love the Air Force though, I find part of myself ready for the next 7 years to come and go rather quickly. As much as I told myself I wouldn't do it, I've become "that guy" who is really only serving now to get to retirement.

I still love the Air Force overall and I still have a desire to serve my country. The problem is that now those two are not strong enough to cause me to deal with the constant stream of ridiculousness seems to happen every day. In the last 13 years, I've watch the Air Force become a very different force from the one I entered back on 28 April 1999. Some changes have been for the good, while many others have not been so good. Before I go any further, let me first make a disclaimer. I am in no way stating that the United States Air Force is crumbling or that it will soon be unable to accomplish it's mission. That won't happen because of the tenacity of the rank and file who refuse to fail despite the steady ridiculousness that flows from the top down.

The Air Force loves to preach about dealing with change. There is a whole block devoted to change management at the Non-Commissioned Officers Academy as well as a chapter in our Promotion Development Guide (AF info study guide for promotion). They say you need to be flexible in dealing with change. Many units, like the one I left in SC like to use the faux-Latin motto "Semper Gumbi" or "Always Flexible". I like to think that I'm actually pretty good dealing with change. If anything, the Air Force helped me be better with change than I was as a civilian. When you change assignments as much as I did my first 5 years in, you get used to a certain measure of change. While I'm flexible to change though, I've lost my willingness to be flexible to every change that comes down the pike. There are upsides and downsides to being the "new kid" among the branches. The Army, Navy and Marine Corps are steeped in hundreds of years of history and traditions. This can make it difficult to make changes, even if sorely needed. At the same time though, weighing changes against the tradition tends to prevent every little pea-brained idea from becoming reality (Ask any Soldier, Sailor or Marine though and they'll tell you it still happens occasionally). That fact that we're new means we're often not as resistent to change, but it often means we change things too often before we can really build any traditions. Many of us in the Air Force like to joke that our one true tradition IS change.

The last 10 months of occupying space without a real job has given me lots of time to reflect. I thought that a change of assignment after 7 years in the same place might give me a better feeling about things, but my current unit of assignment shows me that the problems I was dealing with are Air Force wide. While the Air Force is still good place to be for some, it's rapidly losing that status for me. I've heard since day one of joining that you get out of the Air Force what you put into it. Indeed, I used to preach that to my subordinates for years. I've found though that after busting my ass for the last decade (as I have since day one of my AF career), the measure of return has been nowhere near what I have put into it.

I was shown a clear example of that recently when my current unit was preparing for an inspection that occurred back in October. Prior to my stepping up to take the reigns of preparations, nothing had been really been done. Essentially, if I had not stepped up my unit would have been up the proverbial creek without a paddle. So put in a lot of time and deal with a lot of BS from all levels in the wing to prepare my unit and when showtime comes, we rock the inspection. Imagine my annoyance when I watch all these people getting kudos and letters of appreciation and I didn't get so much as a pat on the back for all my efforts. Understand that I don't do things with the intent of seeking praise, but watching others get lauded for your efforts is quite disheartening.

I will always be grateful for the opportunities that the Air Force has provided me, but when the next 7 years is up I'll be ready to pull chocks and go for the final time.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Back On The Job

19 March 2011. That was the last date I ran a fire call with the Sumter Fire Department in rural Sumter County, South Carolina. Roughly a week and a few days later, I was packed up and leaving South Carolina for the final time to begin my new assignment with the Air Force in central Maryland. About 307 days later (this Friday) I should finally be running calls again, this time with the Odenton Volunteer Fire Company.

I'm so ready. In firefighting, I have found a true calling and I have truly missed it. Staying back at the station while watching others go on calls has been frustrating to say the least. From being able to serve others to the camaraderie that is found in few places outside of military service, this is where I'm meant to be. I'm glad I finally have a chance to get back into it. I'm ready to learn new things and sharpen those skills that have been going dull over the last 10 months.

Look out folks. Firefighter Warshaw is back on the job!



Just like it is time to dust off my firefighting skills, it is also time to dust off this blog for the new year. Look for more posts in the near future.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Christmas Eve

Today is December 24th, 2011, Christmas Eve. In the blink of an eye it seems, 2011 has come and gone and 2012 is nearly upon us. This will be our first Christmas in Maryland and I'm thankful for having so many good friends close by this season as well as being in much closer proximity to family. Most of all this year I'm thankful that I'm home with my family. It has been over a year since I returned from my 365 day tour in the sandbox, but I remember very clearly the pain of being separated from my family just two Christmases ago. While I know there will be other deployments in my future that will cause me to miss holidays, I'm glad that at least this year I'm home.

Our Christmas shopping has long been completed. There are a ton of presents under the tree for Katrina and I can't wait to see the smile on her face as she opens them tomorrow morning. I need no presents myself for seeing that look of joy from her is more than enough for me. I already got to see the look of surprise on Kristin's face when I presented her with a brand new Canon Rebel T3 DSLR as an early Christmas present. I figured she could use that to take pictures of Katrina unwrapping her presents. :)

I did get sort of an early Christmas present myself this week. I joined the Odenton Volunteer Fire Company back in May and through the process of handing in all of my South Carolina certifications, it was discovered that my HAZMAT Ops certificate would not carry over. My two options were to take the class or take an equivalency test. I opted for the latter, but schoolwork towards my Bachelors put that on hold. Recently though, I was able to set aside the time to take care of the testing and I just got word earlier this week that I passed all the requirements. This was the last major hurdle I had to overcome to be able to ride up here in Maryland. I stil have a couple of minor things to take care of, but after almost 8 months I'm finally close to actually running calls again. Considering that I have not been "on the job" since March, I'm ready.


While this time of year is generally a happy one, there are some somber feelings that come with it. While I'm home with my family this Christmas, many of my brothers and sisters in uniform are still out in harm's way. I ask that everyone take a moment to think about those who have, and are sacrificing so much this season. There are also my brothers and sisters wearing the uniforms of public servants. Fire, police and EMS personnel. They may not be overseas, but many of them are still putting their lives on the line and are unable to spend time with their families during the holidays.

I'll close by wishing all of my friends and family (and anyone else who happens to read this) a very Merry Christmas and a bright and prosperous 2012!


That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Music playing: I Believe In Father Christmas by Emerson, Lake & Palmer

The Warshaw Family

The Warshaw Family, originally uploaded by VirginiaSouthern.

My ladies and I posing on a restored B&O caboose at Annapolis Junction, MD.

Deep Fried Goodness

Deep Fried Goodness, originally uploaded by VirginiaSouthern.

I have so many things to be thankful for this year. This is our first Thanksgiving up in Maryland. I've got my family with me and and we're all healthy. Most of all today, I'm happy that the power has come back on. Originally we thought our Thanksgiving plans might be dashed when the power went out at 830 this morning. It came back on though as I was heating the oil up for the turkey and we're back on with plans.

I hope everyone is having an awesome Thanksgiving out there. It's about time to pull my bird out of the oil. Cheers!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Duckula!

Count Duckula to be precise. This little guy decided to take a break from some light reading to pose for the camera.


The camera also managed to nab a shot of me at my command center.


As I'm posting this I'm jamming out to the song The Ikon by Todd Rundgren's Utopia. If you've never heard before and you're into prog rock, it is definitely worth checking out.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

New Sharing Options

Just a quick post to let all of you out in internet-land that there are new ways to share this blog out to your friends, twitter followers, etc. Gone are the Tweetmeme and Share This buttons at the top. They've been replaced with an Add This toolbar down at the bottom of the post. Among the features of this new toolbar is the ability to now share via Google + for those that use that site. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Archway

Archway, originally uploaded by VirginiaSouthern.

It has been a little while since I have processed my photos for High Dynamic Rage (HDR) so I thought it was time to try my hand t it again.

The photo above is of the entranceway to St. Dennis Catholic Church in Galena, MD. I had taken this shot along with a few others back in August, but somehow I had only processed half the set and this photo was forgotten. I thought that running it through my HDR software would be a fitting way to resurrect it. I hope you enjoy!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.