November 5, 2014 – (by Jimmy) As you look at me now, you may not know it, but I was a lieutenant in the Air Force.  Yes, it was thirty years and 70 pounds ago, but I do have memories that tell me it was part of my reality.  Ok, Ok, I know there are a bunch of you out there laughing right now, so here’s a picture to prove it. Yeah, I had hair too. No, this is not a patriotic post telling of the sacrifices of those in the military and their families.  I have a great respect for those that serve and always will.  This is about a memory that I had when I was going through Basic Training.  You see, I had finished college when I got into the military, so I went to Officer Training School (OTS) as my entry into the military instead of enlisted training.  There were many similarities. but there were also some differences and I learned a great deal about discipline, respect, and leadership.  I like to think I retained a lot about what I learned throughout the years. Anyway, OTS was 12 weeks long, and every four weeks, one group would graduate and another group would come in (watch An Officer and a Gentleman).  As my group got closer to graduation, we started a countdown.  This countdown was passed down from class to class. I don’t think anyone knew when or how it started, though I know there were many in Vietnam who had countdowns that lasted the entire year they were in that country.  The last day we were at OTS only lasted to 10:00 AM.  We woke, up got ready, had breakfast, had our ceremony, threw our hats in the air, and left campus.  So that day was simply known as “a wake-up.”  So, if we had two weeks until graduation it was 13 days and a wake up.  Once we had fewer than ten days, we turned into what was called “Single Digit Midgets.” That was a long story to say this: in our countdown to our journey on the road, Angela and I are now single digit midgets.  We will be moving into the RV in 10 days; that’s nine days and a wake-up. It’s starting to feel real.