You may not have been able to bolt for daylight THIS time, but there will be more chances. And you will remember….

I was living a good life at the active duty 12-13 year point…flying in the RTU/FTU, enjoying my job, and getting along well with my leadership.

But…I remember a night TDY from my previous Ops squadron, being put on a bus with ASSIGNED SEATING like a school kid, trucked at 4 am to a cattle car waiting in Frankfurt, and then getting on another bus with MORE assigned seating to ride to a WSEP deployment after we landed in ATL. The projo/MFWIC? A mx guy. A mx guy who wanted all the pilots to sit interspersed across 4 different buses because "he had already made the seating chart…" He was the kind of guy who probably kissed a girl the first time at age 23, and was the last guy picked for kickball his whole life. But he was in charge now, so that was the way things were going to be….

When I politely asked in ATL if me and several other pilots could bail from this ride, pick ourselves up a rental car, catch the AU football game the next day then drive down in time to make the in processing brief on Sunday morning (a 3.5 hour drive) the squadron DO said "Albie--you are not being a team player. I can't let every 1 or 2 striper do that…"

So--4 years of college, 10 years of being in combat coded squadrons, serving in Desert Storm, and every upgrade were nullified because although I could be trusted with a 40 plus million dollar jet and could lead a gaggle of same into combat, I was not worth letting a 19 year Airman's feelings get hurt because I didn't have to sit in the assigned seat next to him. Got it. Noted.

And you know what…I saluted smartly, rode the bus, slept quietly and was nice to everyone. But like Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, I had my "…As GOD is my witness, I will NEVER…" moment that night. I never minded giving up personal freedom to fight for the country. I detested being treated like an idiot because local leadership never had the balls to ruffle anyone's feathers and insisted on treating everyone like the lowest common denominator. I never forgot, and no additional bonus, assignment, or promise was ever going to let me forfeit that freedom again. The Lord of the Flies Bull**** you guys all put up with downrange started at PSAB in the 90s, with morale Nazis killing any patches, hats or otherwise squadron spirit enhancing garb. There was no PT uniform then, but you could see it coming.

So--when I got offered a choice flying staff job, and my wife was constantly serenaded with "…but you guys are such a good AF couple….you can do some great things…blah blah" at squadron events, I smiled. I was nice. And I dropped papers 11 months 29 days before I could separate. Three months before my terminal leave was to start 9/11 occurred. Lots of folks pulled papers. I didn't. I never even blinked. I even had to fight for a Stop Loss Waiver. As not many wanted them, it was not that tough to get...

So--we all got to make our decision. My suggestion is have it already made, so when the time comes there will be no waffling.

For those who don't the rest of the story….still flew another 6 years in the Guard, got promoted, and started a business. It wasn't always easy. It was, however, always worth it. YMMV.