The Electronics Technician Who Became an Electrician (Bobby Rindom)

Send us a text

What does it mean to shoulder adult responsibilities before you've even finished high school? Bobby Rindom takes us through his remarkable journey from a childhood marked by instability to finding purpose and stability through military service and skilled trades.

Bobby's story begins in Florida, where frequent moves and family struggles meant attending 10-15 different schools growing up. By age five, he had already become the "man of the house" after his father's departure, later working full-time while still completing high school. All this while navigating undiagnosed ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia that wouldn't be identified until adulthood.

His path led to the Coast Guard in 2006, where he specialized as an Electronics Technician, working with navigation systems and communications equipment at stations from Alaska to Massachusetts. The technical skills he developed there became the foundation for his civilian career, transitioning through the Helmets to Hard Hats program to become a union electrician with the IBEW.

Throughout his journey, Bobby maintained unwavering commitment to family responsibility, supporting his mother financially for years and navigating personal relationships with the same dedication he brought to his professional life. Now remarried and established in Michigan, he reflects with hard-earned wisdom on resilience and critical thinking.

For veterans considering their next steps or anyone facing significant life challenges, Bobby's story offers a powerful reminder that with determination and adaptability, we can build stability and success despite difficult beginnings. As he puts it: "I'm not a very smart guy, but I'm very wise because I learned from everybody else's mistakes to not make the same mistake or try to avoid them."

Support the show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today is Monday, August 18th.
We're talking with Bobby Rindem, who served in the United
States Coast Guard.
So good morning, Bobby.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Morning.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
I'm glad you found us , yeah, and so we'll start out
very simple when and where wereyou born?

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Well, I was born in Florida, hollywood Florida or I
guess technically FortLauderdale, and that was back in
uh 87 okay, now I feel old.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
In 1987 I was in the navy, uh in, uh in the med.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
So thanks for that on a monday morning yeah so
welcome so tell me, what was itlike growing up in in florida.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Did you have brothers and sisters?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
um well, I had asister who actually had a kid a
month and a half after I wasborn.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Oh, so you weren't close in age at all then.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
No, she was born 17 years before me.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Okay all right.
So essentially did you kind ofgrow up as an only child.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
No, because after that I had a brother who was a
full brother, two years youngerthan me okay, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
And uh, were you and your brother friends?
Did you hang out together orhow'd that work?

Speaker 2 (01:13):
we, um well, I never liked him, okay, I'll be honest.
Um, we grew up together and Ikind of had to raise him because
, um, well, my father droppedout of the picture pretty early
on.
Okay, um, but yeah, we uhstayed in contact with each

(01:37):
other one way or another,because a little bit forced,
because my mom tried to push thewhole togetherness thing
between us, yeah, until about2019.
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
All right, well, let's talk a little bit about
growing up then.
Okay, it sounds like it mighthave been a little tough.
Dad drops out of the picture.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Was mom working then?

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
So kind of latchkey kids then.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
I'm not familiar with the term.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Oh well, so that's a seventies term.
Uh, my parents were divorced.
My dad lived a block away, butwe never saw him much and my mom
worked all the time.
So we actually had a house keyaround our neck and when we got
home from school we letourselves in and, uh, so we were
called latchkey kids.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Gotcha, yeah, um yeah , I just kind of when.
Well, we moved a lot too,because my mom, being only um
parent, didn't exactly make awhole lot of money as a waitress
, yeah, so we wound up moving alot um to people houses, like

(02:43):
she would have move in with thisperson for X amount of time and
then, when they were fed upwith us, essentially we would
move to another house, and so onand so forth.
Okay, I moved a lot.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Did that involve moving schools too, or did you
stay in the same area?

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yes and no Okay.
It depends on when, where.
Um trying to remember, I thinkI wound up going to like 10 or
15 different schools growing up.
Totally wow, okay how?

Speaker 1 (03:18):
how was that for?
How'd that impact you?

Speaker 2 (03:20):
um, honestly, me personally it didn't really
bother because I was always kindof a loner.
Um, recently I found out that,uh, I have adhd in that and one
of them is possibly the whole,or is at what they used to call
ashburgers.
Yeah, so I guess it neverreally affected me on a personal

(03:44):
level because I didn't reallycare to interact.
Um, but, um, I was always thenew kid.
Which never really bothered mewas just, I always was right, so
right.
A lot of the same questions allover and over again who are you
?
Where are you from?

Speaker 1 (04:04):
right and, and based on what you're telling me, you
didn't really care to get toknow those other kids anyway um,
I got to know some like withfriends.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
I was always really picky.
Where I know some kids, they goto schools and have 20, 30
friends.
I had like two or three maybeyeah.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Okay, so your friendships mattered to you,
then the people you chose to bearound.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, at least at the time.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Okay, all right, and so how was school for you?
I mean overall, how did you doin school?

Speaker 2 (04:43):
I was fairly well.
I did pretty well up untilsixth grade, which is I failed.
I want to say english, which Ifound out now again when I got
tested a few years ago that Ihave dyslexia.
So that didn't make anythingeasier.

(05:04):
But I failed that year, had togo to summer school, and after
that I swore I was never gonnahave to repeat that bullshit,
right?
So I was at least passing umall my other classes.
When I got to high school again, uh, struggled with again

(05:28):
english, um, but I at least didpassing grades.
So, um, for the most part I didfairly well.
Um, I always kind of exceededin math.
I did do that, even though Ihave a little bit of dyscalculia

(05:50):
too.
But uh, yeah, I, because of theway I grew up, you know being
told hey, you're never gonnahave a calculator in your pocket
all time.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Oh, hey, cell phone right, right, I got the power of
nasa in my in my cell phone now.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
But you're right, they told us that and so the way
I grew up also was you know, doit through school is oh well,
you have.
If you can learn how to domental math, you don't have to
do show your work.
So I took that almost to achallenge, and when I got to

(06:25):
high school, my teachers hatedme.
They were always bitching aboutshow your work, show your work.
Well, I mean, I'm in the farback of the class, nobody's
around me, so I couldn't cheat.
And they were like, well, incase we you cheat, or in case
there was a cheat or something.
It's like how I always provedthem wrong.

(06:45):
And then it turns out thatbecause I had to show work that
they wanted the way, it actuallyscrewed me up on math tests
because of, again, thiscalculator.
I would see, oh, this number,this number, have it right where
I wrote it, but then fill inthe wrong scantron bullshit yeah
so.
So no small feat, with all ofthese things going on, for you

(07:07):
to make it through school yeah,and growing up that they didn't
have that was kind of um help,unless you were very obvious
right, and then you were ahyperactive disorder or whatever
it was well, yes, but I'm theinattentive type, uh-huh.
So the problem was they nevernoticed, right?

(07:28):
I'm very low energy.
And what?
the term ash burgers, I think,only came out 15, 20 years ago,
right, I was already out ofschool, yeah no, helping you
there right, right so it turnsout I had adhd and all that, but
no one ever knew because I wasso low tone, never hyper the

(07:53):
only thing I could really noticeis I never really sat.
Still, I would always fidget,but never extraordinarily
outside of what normal peoplewould do.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
So you never acted out.
Right.
Okay, yeah, very easy to bekind of bypass or fall through
the cracks If you, if you're notacting out, if you're not
demanding that attention.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Right, yeah, in fact.
Uh, I was the other way.
It was like don't give meattention, I don't want to be
bothered.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Leave me alone.
Yeah, yeah, so you make itthrough high school.
Yep, get your diploma.
And what happens next?

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Well, actually, because I was born 10 days after
the cutoff down in Florida so Iwas always the old kid in class
.
Oh, because, you would havebeen a young five then, if you
Well.
So the cutoff, at least when Igrew up in Florida, was

(08:49):
September 17th.
Okay, I was born on the 27th,oh yeah, so you weren't.
Yeah.
And again, they cut off inSeptember, which I found out
later on when I moved todifferent states and that the
cutoff was like December of thatyear.
Okay.
So I missed um startingkindergarten when I would have

(09:12):
turned five.
So I basically started when Iturned six Right, and from there
um I went through school.
Um so senior year 18, I hadalready signed up for the Coast
Guard and was doing what theycalled the debt program so what

(09:37):
made you decide to join theCoast Guard?
honestly, it was one of those.
I was already working 40 hoursa week while in high school.
Yeah, um, I actually startedwhen I was 16, going into 17, so
junior year I had already gonethrough going to school and

(09:59):
working.
I think it was six days a week.
Uh, I think my days off werelike Wednesday so, which
obviously I had school right inthe day, so it wasn't even
really a full day off.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
She's just working seven days a week, Basically
basically.
Wow, that's, that's tough.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yeah, I definitely have made the joke.
Uh, yeah, I've already done thewhole two job thing and I
wasn't even 18 yet.
Right now they got paid for oneof them, right?
Yeah, that's why.
Uh, you know, when people say,oh yeah, I would love to go back
to high school, I'm like, fuck,no, I, I don't want to relive
those years no, no, you well,you know.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
And so many parents tell their kids today oh, you
know, high school is gonna bethe best time of your life and I
call bullshit.
Yeah, maybe it is for somepeople.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
It's not for everybody, though well, it's for
those jocks that live theirlife till they're like 80 and
still recall every day of highschool like, oh yeah, that was
the greatest.
It was like, oh, that's great,you were rich and popular.
And that where everybody elsewasn't right, maybe you peaked
at 18 right kind of sad yeahyeah, definitely so, yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
So you decided to join the coast guard.
You're in the delayed entryprogram.
When did you uh go to basictraining?

Speaker 2 (11:15):
uh, so I graduated in june of 2006.
I went to Basic October 3rd.
Okay.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
And what was it like?
So it's kind of like limboright.
Did you continue working thenuntil you actually went to Basic
?

Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yeah, pretty much Actually.
After high school I wound upgetting another job.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
Okay, and what were you doing?

Speaker 2 (11:45):
So, as I put it, my main job that I had already had
for two years, I was adishwasher slash prep cook, and
sometimes they expanded me towhere I would also bus tables,
but I hated that part.
Yeah, um, and they tried to getme to learn to line cook, but I
just wasn't good at it.
I couldn't focus on that manythings all at once, right.

(12:09):
But, I did learn up some tricksfor cooking in general.
Okay.
So after that I actually workedat Jimmy John's as well.
So I would most of the timework at Jimmy John's in the
morning and then in theafternoon work at the
dishwashing job okay, so you'restill doing two jobs, right

(12:33):
basically, um come, I think itwas the week before my birthday,
or yeah, the week before mybirthday I quit everything.
It was like you know what I'mgonna have two weeks of myself
before I join the coast guard,because the day I joined was

(12:53):
actually one week after my 19thbirthday okay, okay, yeah,
probably a smart move, becauseyou're not going to have the
ability to do that much once youget in.
No, yeah, did not so where wasbasic training at?
Cape May, New Jersey.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
Okay, so definitely not Florida.
No, and Cape May, new Jersey,at that time of year is probably
a whole lot different thanFlorida.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah, actually, I had moved to Michigan in my 10th
grade year.
Okay, uh, junior, no, yeah,sophomore, that's it.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
Okay, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior Yup,
you're right.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
So, freshman, I finished high school, or I did
high school in Florida.
Okay, and then that summer, uh,my mom's at the time boyfriend
boyfriend kind of, I'd say, conartist-ed us into moving to
Michigan.
So I did the last three yearsof high school in Michigan.

(13:56):
All right so where'd you livein Michigan, dearborn Heights?

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Okay, Now, when you got to Michigan for those three
years.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
did you pretty much stay in that one spot or did you
still move around quite a bit?
I still move around a bit, butit was generally like that
Dearborn Heights, dearborn andthen more Dearborn Heights.
Okay, but the day I actuallyafter I finished moving was when
the giant blackout was.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Okay, I remember that I was working for the power
company at the time.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
That was the day I had the first morning I had
actually been in Michigan.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
Wow.
So you were like oh great, herewe go.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, basically.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah, yep.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
So did you, did you, did you enjoy being in michigan?
Uh, I don't know yeah I canunderstand that it was one of
those like not really, becausemost of the time we were living
with my mom's boyfriend and hewas a prick okay just plain out
simple he was a prick no dad ofthe year plaque for that guy

(15:12):
yeah, no, okay he, he hated myguts
okay because at that point I hadalready been, you know, since I
was five, the one my mom lookedto right you were, for all
intents and purposes, really theman of the house oh yeah,
definitely she'll.
She'll even say I was um sinceI was five.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yeah, uh, or six years old so I could see where
you guys might butt heads,because now he wants to be the
man of the house yeah, I mean hegot along with my brother yes I
guess my brother was alwayslooking for a type of father.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Figure me not so much , did you, pretty much given up
on that what having a fatherfigure?
Yeah, at that point, or thispoint, at that point in your
life, I never even reallythought about it.
Like I knew, knew my father andoccasionally I might see him,
but I, I don't know, I neverreally thought of it now did he

(16:12):
live in florida he did okay, allright, so you moved up here now
you're even less connected tohim then well, at that point it
was only very, very occasionallythat I would see him, okay,
like a couple times a year.
All right.
If that and that was after theum like five or six years of no

(16:32):
contact at all.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
So so when you moved up here, did your mom, did your
mom live with this guy for thewhole three years that you were
in high school did your mom livewith this guy for the whole
three years and you were in highschool?

Speaker 2 (16:47):
no, not the whole um majority, because in senior year
, that's when I got essentiallymy first apartment sort of it
was still under her name, but Iwas the one paying all the bills
, right thus the job andeverything else right, yeah,
okay it's, you know, even goesto show that, like I, was making

(17:07):
slightly above minimum wage ofsix, like 50 uh-huh, and able to
afford an apartment that's alot of hours yeah, I mean still
I was working.
I mean, yeah, about 40 to 50hours a week on top of school,
yeah, but the point is I wasable to pay for an apartment

(17:33):
myself.
Basically, right Now was yourmom working then at all.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Not really Okay.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
Like maybe two or three days a week.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
So you're in school.
You're still a kid, no matterhow old you are, you're still in
school and you're taking careof the family.
Yeah, okay, is your brotherliving with you too?
Yep, okay, I got you.
So it's time to go to Cape May,new Jersey, right, and it
sounds like maybe Michiganprepared you for that move then

(18:03):
somewhat.
But so you get to basictraining.
Walk me through what that waslike for you to step off that
bus and and and walk in.
What was your first impression?

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Um, okay, like it was just like, okay, I didn't know
really what to expect.
Um, so I guess I was like well,at first, when I was first on
the bus, it was like okay, Iguess this is what those like
overnight field trip kind ofdeals are.

(18:34):
Of course they come on the busyelling at you, yes, but to me
that didn't really do anythinglike.
I don't know if that wouldspark fear in others or
intimidation, but at that pointI've been yelled at so much it
didn't even register to me sothis really didn't get the
effect that maybe they werelooking for no, actually.

(18:58):
Um, so within the first week,you would go to your.
Like the first two or threedays, they do what they call
like the in process, and afterthat you go to your company
commanders and all that and um,it was like after that they

(19:19):
started assigning jobs.
I don't know if, like they said, they were able to look into
your facebook.
Well, no, sorry, facebookwasn't myspace or social media.
Yeah, I didn't have any of that.
Like, I had an email at thatpoint.
Uh-huh, that was it.
So they had nothing to look at.
Pretty much.
So I don't know you weren'tgiving them anything either,

(19:40):
because you weren't reallyresponding to their I mean, I
did the appropriate reactions tolike do this, do that, but I
didn't really show any signs ofanything right.
So they also gave like jobs inthat first week.
Um, they actually chose to notgive me any kind of whatever you

(20:05):
want to call it extra job, likeno laundry crew, no, this, no
that, nothing.
They were like sit down, wedon't want you to do it.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
So I'm like okay, don't touch anything, just do do
what we tell you to do, right?

Speaker 2 (20:20):
something like that.
I mean, I don't know if it wasbecause they had seen that I'd
already worked so much or goneto school and work.
I don't know if they had thatkind of record, cause I mean,
obviously they had my highschool record and probably my
work history, cause you have tosign that up, right.
But, um, I don't know if theywere either feel cause they I

(20:41):
know what they said was theydidn't trust me to do anything,
but I don't know if they weregiving me a break from right or
messing with you or what yeah,what's going on here?

Speaker 1 (20:52):
so yeah, and how long was basic training?

Speaker 2 (20:55):
uh, so the coast guard actually has like the
shortest yeah of uh, eight weeks.
Okay, but the time I went inwhich which, like I said, it was
October 3rd 2006.
Graduation they normally did onFriday.
Well, it worked out that weekwas actually Thanksgiving week,

(21:20):
so technically we only did sevenweeks, or seven in a couple of
days.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Seven and some change yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Yeah, cause we got out on I think graduation was
Tuesday and so this way we gotto be home.
But that also meant, you know,normally they give you, I think,
it's 10 days of leave time.
You had to start it that two orthat Wednesday because of um.

(21:49):
Normally you would get to startit on that Monday following
Right, but didn't get that.
So okay.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
So you did you come home then for Thanksgiving?
Uh, I did.
What was that like?
And the reason I asked this isbecause you know I, my family
dynamic was different, right?
So coming home for the holidayswas was different for me, I
think.
So I'm just curious, like foranyone listening to this what
was it like for you to come homefor the, for the holiday?

Speaker 2 (22:18):
Um, well, my mom was still living with um, her
boyfriend, at the time, so Ican't say super great in some
ways, but my mom was definitelyoverjoyed to see me because that
was one of the longest timesshe had ever spent apart, right,

(22:40):
especially with no contact,like um.
So growing up, uh, I hadusually gone to, like summer
with my grandparents, which now,like I said, I lived in
Hollywood, florida.
They lived up in Okeechobee.
Okay, it's not a short distance, it's like six hours by driving

(23:03):
, but she could still call mygrandma or my grandpa and get
updates on a regular.
And then there was a two-yearperiod where I lived with my
paternal grandparents, but eventhen she could contact us let's
pick up the phone and right andtalk, yeah where, um, with camp.

(23:25):
The first time she got to reallytalk to me was week six Weekend
, like one day.
That was the first time you getto use the phone.
They did on Liberty or on baseLiberty the weekend, uh, of six

(23:47):
week or week six, and then weekseven you got to go off base
Liberty.
So the first time she had heardfrom me at all, really other
than like letters or postcards,was week six.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
Okay, and they?
You didn't have family show upat your graduation then no okay,
so you graduated and then you,uh, came home.
Yeah, hopped on a plane or abus or something and came home,
right, a plane okay and um, doyou think that your absence
helped?

Speaker 2 (24:23):
helped your mom get independent, or no, nothing,
nothing really changed then noCause, I mean, I'll be honest,
she's still dependent on me.
Okay.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
Um all right, we'll.
I'm sure we'll talk about thatas we go through this.
So you, yeah, yeah, so you comehome the holiday's over it's
time to go back.
So you come home.
The holiday's over, it's timeto go back.
Where do you go to after that?

Speaker 2 (24:43):
So after that, uh, I had done uh, what they call
guaranteed a school, Um.
So I know other places call itlike a MOS, yeah, um, but for me
it was just called your rate.
So for uh, coast Guard and Navy, excuse me, uh, they call it

(25:08):
your rate, so I went toguaranteed a school okay to be a
electronics technician.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
All right, I was a fire controlman in the navy, so
we worked a lot with the ets.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, okay, yep, yeah now that's actually a combined
rate, at least for the coastguard oh, really, yeah, that I
didn't know well, yeah, firecontrolman, because I think
those were the ones who didelectronics but mostly worked on
like the big cannons.
Yep, yeah, they combined thatrate.
I want to say just a few yearsactually, before I joined.

(25:34):
Oh, okay.
Because when I got the book itstill said fire control men as
an option, but the Coast Guardhad combined those rates.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
Which I think kind of makes sense, I think.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
Because I know a few guys who were in my class who
actually went to like a Mark 92school.

Speaker 1 (25:53):
Okay, and so you get to your A school, and how long
is A school for you?

Speaker 2 (26:02):
Well, so first I started with what they call the
um.
Uh, I forget now, but it waslike the early program, where
you're there before schoolstarts because I didn't have a
permanent unit at that time,Right, and did what they like

(26:22):
cleaning and all this otherstuff.
But on the very least I didn'thave to do duty, because that
was only for the guys who werealready in class.
So I got to kind of hang outfor about a month for just
cleaning during the day andother than that I got my time

(26:43):
after.
All right Now.
Like I said, I was getting tothe ET school, though is the
longest school in the CoastGuard, or at least it was when I
got there or when I was there.
I think it was like 28 weeks,yeah, if I remember.

(27:04):
Yeah, the next school wasactually the ITs which was like
27 weeks.
Yeah, if I remember.
Yeah, uh, the next school wasactually the it's, which was
like 27 weeks, but yeah, so theet's actually had the longest
school.
Uh, we jokingly startedcounting time by uh, the fs
school.
It was like, oh, food's good,food's, good food's good, uh,
not shit, and then build upagain yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:27):
So you can kind of like oh, we're a quarter way
through, we're halfway through,that kind of thing yeah now, how
was so?
You're still undiagnosed,though, right?
Oh yeah so how, how was itgoing through et school?
I mean, it's not, it's not aneasy school, um you know, um,
what was that like for you?

Speaker 2 (27:46):
um well, I don't do well with testing, right, I'll
be honest.
But um, it was mostly mathbased, so I did well that way
okay, oh yeah, because I yeah,as I recall, everything was
formulas.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah, because, for people who haven't been in the
military, who might be listeningto this, when you go to a
military school, you just learnyour trade, you don't.
You know, you're not going toenglish classes and in art
history or any of that garbage,you're just learning what you
hit it.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
So 28 weeks of solid electronics right, uh, first I
started with like ac I don't dcAC theory Um.
Then it was analog and thendigital and then it got a little
more technical with specificradios and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
Okay, and um did you do like you did a lot of
practical application then,while you were there too?

Speaker 2 (28:41):
So I don't know about a lot, a lot, but some.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Now, how does practical?
Does that work pretty well foryou, like actually just applying
what you've learned?

Speaker 2 (28:49):
that's why, like after um, I did the helmets to
hard hats program and became anelectrician okay so for me,
hands-on is the best way,because I've had people explain
things to a book, like from abook to me, and it's almost like
charlie brown, exactly like Ineed to be able to see and touch

(29:12):
to grasp things.
Well, right.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
So how did you do in school, in, in, in your et
school?

Speaker 2 (29:21):
I would.
So I think we had like 20-ishkids overall.
Some got moved back, some movedto our class, but I think it
was overall about 20.
I was somewhere maybe in thetop 10-ish, like lower of the 10

(29:45):
, but yeah, because we had someguys who were like all
practically geniuses when itcame to that right.
Um and again, my test takingskills not exactly the best, but
I was well maybe slightlyhigher than average but pretty
close to maybe the higher tierof normal average kind of deal

(30:08):
okay and I think, but for youruh challenges taking tests you
probably would have even donebetter yeah now people recognize
that there's different ways totest um, maybe even the military
, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
So so you're there for like 28 weeks.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
Yeah, um now, where.
Where was this?
That was in Petaluma California.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Okay, all right, so you get to see a little bit more
of the country.
How'd you like California?

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Well, I was in the Northern half.
Uh huh, um, I was in the middleof fuck nowhere, and it's not
like cow shit every day oh, okay, well okay.
That's such a great experiencethere then I mean it wasn't bad,
at least, um you know, prettymild winter, yeah yeah, well, it
was california.
So what I um a little bit coolerthan what I was familiar with,

(30:57):
but still more familiar withwhat I was, how I grew up, yeah,
yeah, okay, so you, uh, you getthrough, you get through your
training, uh, and then is ittime to go to the fleet.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
Did you come home again?
What, what?

Speaker 2 (31:11):
um, so I got to go home, but that's when I picked
up my mom and, well, brother anduh actually went to my next uh
duty station so they came withyou yeah, they uh.
Well, my mom eventually becamemy dependent okay so all right,

(31:33):
but um, from there I hadactually gone to uh shoal cove,
alaska oh, wow, okay, big change.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
I want to ask this question.
I have an answer.
You don't want to.
So your mom became yourdependent?
Was that for, like, medical ormental health reasons?
Or I'm just trying to get agrasp on on on why?

Speaker 2 (31:52):
if you don't want to share that, that's fine, it's
fine.
Uh, so my mom had a rough life.
Yeah, um.
So by the time I was in highschool and started working, she
basically retired just due tophysical ailments.
I mean, she had her back brokenseveral times, um, once was

(32:16):
because of her ex-boyfriend andthe other was because of my
father, which is why theyofficially split apart.
Okay, um, yeah, it was you.
You know, I grew up rough yeah,that's, that's awful yeah, uh, I
definitely don't wish it onanyone, but, um, yeah, so my mom

(32:38):
had pretty much was solelydependent on me.
Um, monetary wise, right, uh,health wise.
She never got that benefit ofbeing a dependent, but
monetarily wise she was okay.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
So she always lived with me at that point, um, as a
dependent okay, and so when you,when you moved to california,
or when you moved to alaska withyour mom and brother in tow,
your brother was out of highschool at this point, or close
to being out of high school atthis point um, he would have

(33:14):
been going into his senior yearokay um, but he he, well, he was
an asshole okay he chose not togo to school and blamed it on
me for moving him from highschool oh okay, they don't have

(33:34):
high schools in alaska, oh no,they do.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
He just refused to go because he didn't have his
friends okay, I got you.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
So now you're.
You moved to alaska.
You got your mom and brotherwith you.
Um, were you able to get likeoff base housing or on base?
How did that work for you when?

Speaker 2 (33:50):
you got there, I had gotten off base housing.
Okay.
Um at the time.
So while I was at a school, Iwas working on getting my mom as
a dependent Um.
I think I was able to get herdependent as a dependent, like
just before I left okay.
So then I was getting um bhwith dependents and dependents.

(34:14):
If you had dependents youdidn't have to be on base.
Got you okay at because shoalcove it is the most southern
city of Alaska, so it's not likewhere you picture Alaska being
frozen tundra.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
Right, not the Denali mountain there right.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
Yeah, no, it's actually considered a rainforest
.
Okay, it rained so much it's, Idon't know.
It took a three-day ferry driveor ride from Bellingham, but my
understanding is other than itbeing colder, not much different
than seattle okay kind ofweather and raining like 300

(34:56):
days of the year constantly yeah, yeah but um.
So the other option for thosewho didn't have the pendants
would have been you had to be abear in the barracks, yeah, so I
just found um, cause that wasthe only base housing they had,

(35:16):
so I had um off base housing.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
Okay, all right.
So you uh get everybody movedin Now.
Were you assigned to a ship atthis time?

Speaker 2 (35:24):
Uh, no, actually I was stationed at a Lororan
station, which is a long range.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
Aids to navigation okay, loran radar basically, or
um navigation says yeah yeah orum, because most people don't
actually know what loran is.
It's uh old school gps yeahyeah, exactly, and I think
people still, it's still outthere, nope, it's gone now?

Speaker 2 (35:45):
Yeah, actually in 2010, they got rid of it.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
Shows you what I know .

Speaker 2 (35:51):
Well, I think it might be for other countries,
but the US got rid of it.
Okay, 2010.

Speaker 1 (35:57):
All right, yeah, so that was like cutting edge stuff
back in the day though.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah, like 40s, yeah, yeah, as cutting edge as it
could be, um, and then they dideventually add on, like in the
90s, they added uh, it forairplanes to help with their
timing and everything um, and itwas actually way more reliable
than gps, because, uh, gps canbe up to like a quarter of a
mile.
Uh, off loran was like within100 feet, yeah, so wow.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
Well, maybe that's why it took them so long to get
rid of it.
Who knows?

Speaker 2 (36:36):
well, that and it was like in.
Like I said, in the 90s theyhad actually integrated in with
uh flight paths to help uh airtraffic controllers, yep.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
All right.
So um how long were you inAlaska then?

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Uh, for about two years.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
Okay, all right, and uh, you did your time there and
then, so where'd you go fromthere?

Speaker 2 (36:58):
Uh, from there I went to actually another radio
station, but not a Loran station, a communication station in.
It was called Comstay Boston,but it was actually in Cape Cod.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
Okay, all right, and your mom and brother come with
you there.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
Off base housing again?
Yes, that kind of thing.
And what exactly?
Did you do when you were there?
Come with you there, yeah, uh,off-base housing again, yes,
that kind of thing.
And what?
What exactly did you do whenyou were there?

Speaker 2 (37:28):
um, I worked on radios from the 80s.
Uh, more tubes.
So I'm I can honestly say I wasprobably one of the last people
to actually learn uh loran, uh,what's it?
44 bravo f orPNN, 44 Bravoradio Loran state transmitter,

(37:50):
which still use tubes.
And then I went to acommunication station which also
wound up using some tubes.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
Wow, if it makes you feel better.
When I was, when I was workingon guided missile systems, our
computer systems were from the40s and the 50s.
Yeah, so yeah, I think we'realways.
They worked though.
I mean, they did a great job,so I understand why we didn't
get rid of them.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
But my goodness, they were old, yeah, super old At
the Loran station they still hada computer that actually
predated function keys Wow yeah,keys, wow yeah.
It was like one of the firstcomputers kind of still had a uh
, if you didn't have the fiveand a or five inch floppy.
The computer wouldn't work soyou had to up make a new one

(38:35):
every I don't know, uh, sixmonths to a year, but problem
was that 2006 or no, 2007, 2008,2009 you didn't exactly go to
the um radio shack get those no,uh-uh, no.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
And people are people right now listening to this are
going.
They're scratching their headslike what the hell's a floppy
disk?

Speaker 2 (38:57):
it's the save file.
It's the little picture of thesave.
Yeah, yeah, I don't think peopleknow what, they know why that's
there, but they know that's thesame actually the funny thing
is that was the three and a halffloppy disk, but yeah, the
little hard one yeah which youknow, granted, uh, I went to
school, or I started elementary,in the um 90s, early 90s, but I

(39:21):
actually one of the firstthings I'm uh in kindergarten I
remember, when we first went toa computer class, was like, okay
, this is what we call a floppydisk.
This is also a floppy disk andshowing the three and a half by
compared to the five inch.
And they were like, this iswhat we call the uh floppy
floppy disk, this is the hardfloppy disk which, you know, at

(39:47):
least at a well, five and sixyear old comprehension made
sense right, right, I don't knowwhy we just call it a hard disk
.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
Oh, because the hard disk was actually on the
computer, right?
Yeah, well, that makes senseyeah rigid.
They could have called it therigid disk, I guess.
But it's got, it's all gone now, so who cares?

Speaker 2 (40:04):
well, that's why we called the one the floppy disk
and the other the floppy floppyright, right, the one that
actually flops on, the one thatdoesn't that's basically how I
uh distinguished the two allright, and so how was, how was
your duty station for you?

Speaker 1 (40:17):
I mean, what was like , what was a typical?

Speaker 2 (40:19):
day like so at the loran station.
Um, when I first got there, itwas six days there, one day home
, because you couldn't just takea car even though it was a
land-based unit, that one youhad to take a like hour boat
ride to and then anotherhalf-hour drive up this logging

(40:42):
path in the middle of the woodswhich is where they um had it.
Yeah and um, so when I firststarted until I was qualified,
it was six days there, one dayoff.
But then when, once I wasqualified, it was four days on,
three days off.
So, um, me being an electriciannow, um, you know a lot of and

(41:16):
being in the union, a lot ofpeople hate four tens, right,
but I'm like I want those fourtens because, well, first off, I
mean I guess that's part of howI started off, but, um, it lets
me have a day to do stuff, awork day to do stuff.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
Right, right.
And if you're on a rotatingshift too, I mean that that day
off could be in the in themiddle of the week, which can be
an advantage.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
Yeah, actually.
So when I first started it was,um, my work day was typically
um Friday, saturday, sunday,monday, and then we got to go
home Tuesday, so my days offwere Tuesday, wednesday,
thursday.
So I started, like they didswap you weekends to weekdays,

(42:00):
but I actually preferred workingon the weekends, right One, it
was a lot less, whatever youwant to call it, authority,
right like we didn't really havetoo much authority during the
weekends, which was kind of nice, especially me being, um, well,

(42:22):
at that point, a junior pettyofficer, right like I.
So it was a lot less, uh, rigidit's always nice when the boss
isn't there.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
You can get.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
You can get actual work done right actually we only
ever had a warrant at thatstation.
Oh, okay, so, and he wasactually at that station in like
the 90s as a second or thirdpetty officer, you know, et, et
two or ET three.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
So he understood them oh yeah, so it was.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
so you know it wasn't like where you have to deal
with officers of some lieutenantthat just went through the
Academy and never actually didwork.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Right Right, we called those guys ring knockers.
Did you call them that too?
Um, they would.
They would take their Academyring and they would always tap
it on the table so you knewwhere they came from.

Speaker 2 (43:15):
So the funny thing is , um, both at my loran station I
think I only dealt with oneofficer when they came to visit
like once a year.
Oh, other than that, I mean wehad our warrant uh-huh but, um,
but he was one of the guys.
He knew the system inside andout, just like we did.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
Right yeah, warrant officers are a special breed.
Officers are scared of them,and enlisted people are scared
of them.
It works out perfect.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
Well see, or the other hand is, warrants are best
friends with the enlisted,which actually makes the
officers even more scared.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
That's true.
That's true.
And a lot of people don't knowwhat to do with the warrant
officers.
You know it was perfect forthem.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
Right.
So I mean we, yeah, we salutedhim and all that.
The few times we were evenoutside, the way our unit was,
it was all inside, so we neverleft the building.
And then, you know, a few timeswhen we saw him, it was mostly
in civilian clothes because wedidn't travel in uniform right,
right, no.

Speaker 1 (44:15):
So no, saluting in civilian clothes.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
So you're, you're all set, so most of the time it was
just um, yeah, he was oursupervisor, but that was about
it yeah, very civilian likeright, pretty much, yeah, I mean
, and that's kind of the way heran it, to be honest, uh-huh, um
, I was lucky enough where atleast him was the whole uh way

(44:38):
through my first duty stationokay, and, and so how long were
you, oh, there then?
Uh, at the loran station that'sa two-year, that was a two-year
billet, consideredsemi-isolated okay, and then the
communications that was a uh,four years um duty, uh-huh, and
that one was actually ran by asenior chief, okay.

(45:02):
So I mean, was it?

Speaker 1 (45:04):
a crusty old senior chief, or was it just a senior
chief?
You know I'm talking aboutright uh, actually.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
So the first one I had was, uh sorry, lightheaded
for a second.
Uh, that's fine.
Brain does that sometimes.
So the first one I had was onhis twilight tour.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
Okay, yeah, so he really didn't care just don't
hurt yourselves, don't killanybody, we'll yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
Yeah, the next one.
He was still pretty cool, likehe would make jokes and
everything with us is againmostly a site of ETS, right, so
he had been there.

Speaker 1 (45:43):
Okay, and so you did your four year tour there then.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
Yeah, maybe minus a few months, okay, cause
technically I was already on anextension, okay.
So when I first signed up I hadsigned for six years, so this
way I could start as an E3.
And then with that you don'tgraduate from boot camp, which
normally a lot of people do, sothen through A school.

(46:06):
I well had my time covered forthe six months that you need to
be as an E3 before you become apetty officer, or an e3 to
become before you become a pettyofficer okay, all right, so
you're.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
So you're still on your initial enlistment, then?

Speaker 2 (46:21):
uh, yeah, with an extension, yeah, of one year,
got you when I left the lorrainestation okay, all right.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
And then now, how long did you stay in then?

Speaker 2 (46:30):
um well, like I said, a few months shy of a total of
six years okay, so it was likepart no seven, give me a second.
Okay, so six and a half yearsactive duty okay, all right.

Speaker 1 (46:46):
And then you went into the reserves after this.
Okay, so you uh, get ready.
You're all done with yourenlistment here.
You're getting ready to specialneeds.
Uh, she, I was like, eventhough.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
I was a low priority.
I was even at the uh comm say.
I was actually the lowest ofthe low priority.
So when, um, my time came and Iwas are looking at rotation,
they were like, okay, well, wecan give you ESD Cape Cod, which
would have been a no-cost move,or ESD New Orleans, I chose

(47:49):
Cape Cod, I chose Cape Cod andthen, like two weeks maybe later
, I was like, oh, actually,you're going to a boat in
Washington and I didn't want tobe on that side of the country.
I was trying to stay eitherEast Coast or Central, because,

(48:12):
well, that's where everybody Iknew was.
And at the time I was marriedwith my um well, now first wife,
um, and she was also fromMichigan.
Now, I didn't marry her, Imarried her in Massachusetts.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
So did you meet her there in Massachusetts, where'd?

Speaker 2 (48:31):
you meet her.
I met her online, okay,although she was in my high
school, so it's kind of a I mether in high school, but we
connected online after nocommunication for like four
years, okay so you met online.

Speaker 1 (48:46):
You, uh, you got married.
Did you have kids?
No, okay, how long were you?

Speaker 2 (48:49):
married About seven years.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Okay, and so did your mom and your brother live with
you during that time, or justyour mom, or how'd that?

Speaker 2 (49:00):
work, so my mom lived with me maybe for the first six
months of my marriage.
Okay.
At that point.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
I had already kicked my brother out when my then or
my ex moved in with me.
Okay, massachusetts.
Okay, so you were able to havelike a.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
It's just you and her well, and my mom right or, I
guess, part of the relationship,but then before we got married
she was on her own okay.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
Was she living in the area then near you?
Yeah, okay, so your mom stayedlocal.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
Okay, all right, and so you got so.
So you're married.
You've got your mom that you'retaking care of as well.
Yeah, how was your wife withthat?

Speaker 2 (49:46):
She was fine at the time.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
Okay, all right.
So all this happens, you're notgetting to go where you would
like to go.
So then, at that point, youdecided to get out.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
Well, I was like.
So they had a thing where hewas like I would have had to
re-sign up for the job inWashington, Right, and I chose
to not re-enlist.
So then they gave me my 30 daysand out okay so me kind of um

(50:25):
scrambling at that point.
Um, I wound up making some calls, found out about the hard hats
to our helmets, to hard hatsprogram, but um, I had called
around anyways and I was like,well, all the stuff I had worked
on as an electronics technicianwas 30 or 20 to 30 years old,

(50:49):
right and outdated.
So I figured, you know what,I'm not too far from an
electrician, I could go do that,because electricians are always
pretty much in demand so thisis something people don't
understand, right?

Speaker 1 (51:02):
so I may have worked on electronics yeah right, like
you did.
But all of the basics, thebasic electronics and
electricity are the same acrossthe board.
Right, you're doing, like someof the calculations you have to
do, ohms wats law.
All of that stuff, it's thesame whether you're applying it
to wiring a home or whetheryou're applying it to

(51:22):
electronics right, um, actuallybasics.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
The funny thing is, um, so, when I started working
in the union after because soworking in the union after,
because so, um, getting to yourpoint will be a second.
But so, after my 30 days andout, I called ibw, tried to
figure out how that worked, andthey were like, oh yeah, we have
a backlog, you wouldn't be ableto get in until next year.

(51:47):
Well then, I specificallycalled the helminstahardats
program and they gave me thesame number, right, and I'm like
well, and he's like, oh, whydidn't you tell me you were
military?
We can get you in this fall.
It was march at the time, okay,or end of march okay or middle
of march.
I hadn't been out yet, but itwas.
I got out at the end of march,so it was like september, it's

(52:10):
not too this is like 2013, 2014then, 2013.
Okay, I'm just want to keep thetimeline so, um with that,
because originally they said Iwouldn't be able to get until
2014, got you, but because ofthe fact that I was military,
they could get me in that fallof 2013, in september.

(52:31):
Okay.
So after that I got out and, uh, joined the reserves the
following day because, yeah, wegot out of active duty.
It was.
I didn't have to go through anyprogram other than signing a
paper, right, just like I wouldhave for re-enlistment, except
for reserves.
Now, right, so that made iteasy on that behalf, because I

(52:54):
did it within the 48 hours.
And then I actually got a jobat home depot in my interim okay
, now did you move back tomichigan.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
Are you still in?

Speaker 2 (53:03):
I'm still in massachusetts okay, okay.
So you're in massachusetts, soyou're in the reserves, you're
working for home depot andyou're waiting to get into the
ibew gotcha, um, and then, likeyou were saying, uh, I was
actually able, so I had stillhad my notes from when I started
my a school yeah so at leastduring my first year, I was

(53:24):
actually able to pull up thatsheet of all the formulas that
made all the sense to me.
Yes, pull up my notes for DCtheory.
Um, and I was able to actuallyuse a lot of that notes to help
refresh, because at that pointit had been six years since I
had thought of it.
And right, with a school, asyou know, you would know it's a

(53:45):
very fast it's all a blur.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
That's the way I look at it, right.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
It was a very fast program of okay, well, you got
AC, dc, this, that.
Okay, well, you learn thebasics.
Here you go, right, right, yeah, yeah.
So when I was in, uh, when Istarted the union, it's a much
slower process still pretty fast, but slower, um, cause at the

(54:10):
time it was a five-year programfor an apprentice.
Now the granted there was alsolike pipe bending and this and
that circuitry.
Yeah, a lot of stuff I was ableto use piggyback from my
electronics experience.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
Right, made it easier for you then.
Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
Cause, like when, um, I started my second year and we
did AC theory, um, teacher, Ihad which, granted, the way they
do it is you're supposed tolearn on your own technically
and then go over it in classafter right.
I looked at ac and I was like Idon't, I don't remember any of

(54:48):
this.
Like I knew I had learned it,but I had no idea what the fuck
I was looking right.
So I actually had to look backin my notes from a school when
they would actually teach it toyou.
I was like, oh, that's right,that's how you do, like your
inductance, your capacitance,all that stuff yeah, all the

(55:08):
important things that get tuckedback in there, right pretty
much it was, like you know,brushing off an old grave right,
so you're in.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
You're in the apprenticeship program.
For how long then?

Speaker 2 (55:19):
well, now they they just changed it to four years
within the last uh year.
Okay, but so, but it's afive-year apprenticeship, so you
were in the five-year programdid you do all five years in in
in massachusetts, then okay soso what point do you end up back
here in michigan?
so it was after my second year.

(55:40):
So they, they were much morefollowing the school year,
uh-huh.
So during summer break of umfirst year I had talked to my
wife because, well, I'm not frommassachusetts, right either.
Is she exactly?
Everybody I had known was inflorida, right?

(56:01):
She was from um, michigan,right and um.
So I did kind of promise herthat I would try to get her back
to michigan to be close to herfamily, um, so I kind of looked
at different options.
Uh, following the first year,because before I even joined I

(56:22):
made sure I could transfer right, which you could a little
harder than, let's say, whenyou're in the military, but it's
still possible, there's somesteps, yeah yep.
Um, so I found out I could.
And then, um, at first year, Ifound out that or I had made a

(56:44):
decision to move to michigan andthe only part I had an issue
with was which location?
Uh, I came just before my thestart of my second year of ibw
apprenticeship.
I came to michigan and kind oftoured a couple of locals.

(57:06):
Okay, my first choice wasactually ann arbor, but the
apprentice director there hadtold me oh yeah, even though
you're already in and helmets tohard hats and all that, it
might be hard for you to get in.
So I actually chose Lansing asmy local because they said no
problem to get you in.
Okay.

(57:27):
So I finished my second year inMassachusetts and then came to
Michigan after that.
Okay.
And this whole time I'm stillin the reserves as well.
Right, so you're still doingthat, right?
So when I was switched overfrom the reserves, I was
actually at an electronicsupport attachment, or ESD, in

(57:50):
Boston.
Okay.
Well, I switched from that toESD Detroit and still as an
apprentice going to, because youknow, the joke is you, you go
in once a week or once a monthand play military Right.

Speaker 1 (58:09):
Right, one weekend a month, two weeks in the year,
however they, however, they dothat, so okay.
So did you move to the Lansingarea then?
No, actually right.
One weekend a month, two weeksin the year, however they,
however they, they do that, sookay.
So did you move to the lansingarea then?

Speaker 2 (58:17):
or no, actually.
Um.
So I first started in dearbornheights and lived with, uh well,
my at the time mother-in-lawokay um, lived there for maybe
about six months and then movedout to the brighton area

(58:38):
afterwards, which wassignificantly easier on me
because all my even though I wasin lansing, I was also living
in dearborn heights right, sothat was like a two-hour drive
and it's not a nice drive either.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
That's a that can be a tough one it actually wasn't
too bad okay, because it was all96 for the most part, right,
but it was still a two-hourdrive in and out right well, and
I guess you were going oppositeof all the major traffic, right
like because in the morningpeople are coming in on 96 and
in the afternoon they're leavingon 96, so you were doing the

(59:16):
opposite um you're going tolansing in the morning.

Speaker 2 (59:19):
I mean, my job was also at seven start time.
Okay, because people also gointo lansing too.
But you know, generally I uhwould show up at.30 and kind of
take a little nap in the car,but so at my time it was too

(59:40):
fucking early for anyone to evenbe on the road anyway.

Speaker 1 (59:43):
Oh, that's true, Either direction at that point.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
Well, actually in the afternoon is when it got
difficult, because I got out at3.30.
So by the time I got close toDetroit it was already almost 5.
Right.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
Gotcha, so you moved to Brighton.
Which is about a halfway pointRight and is your mom still kind
of with you, then Where's sheat?

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
We had set her up in actually Lansing.

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
Because of me working out of Lansing, I figured I'd
be in the area a lot and beingable to visit her quite often,
all right, so in yourapprenticeship, you're back in
Michigan.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
Things are chugging along.
Now, at what point did you andyour wife split up?

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
you and your wife split up.
Um, well, that was, um, I'mtrying to think just so it was
kind of a long process.
Uh, it was in 2018.

Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
We kind of first were dealing with it okay and this
is the last year of yourapprenticeship too, right 2018?

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
yeah, okay, um, so 2018 and again last year, my
apprenticeship.
Um, we were dealing with it, itand basically we just wanted
different things from life,right?
I was very clear from the verybeginning that I had wanted a

(01:01:21):
family, mm-hmm.
She was all on board with thatup until I got married to pretty
much and then she didn't wantkids pretty.
Pretty much.

Speaker 1 (01:01:30):
Okay, all right, I mean fair enough, right?
I mean, so was it an amicablesplit.

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
Pretty much Okay.
Um, for the most part, I justwalked away from everything like
stuff and, uh, the only thingshe didn't touch was my, uh,
retirement, or my retirements atthat point, right, cause at
that point, I had actually, um,been medically retired from the
coast guard.
Okay, which was also in 2018.

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
So that's a busy year , yeah, yeah, yeah, cause also,
technically I was supposed tograduate in 2018, but due to
time delay, bullshit I didn'tactually top out officially
until the beginning of 2019.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
Okay, Alright, Now by that time are you and your wife
done?

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
pretty much.
I mean, we were already livingseparate, completely separate
lives.
Where I'd work during the day,she made it where she worked at
night okay and so we neverpractically saw each other.
Um, and, to be honest, I don'tthink she ever wanted to work it
out.
She wanted a situation whereshe was living with me but not

(01:02:50):
with me.
Yeah, I can understand so.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
So did you stay in the brighton area then did you
stay in the house?
Did she stay in the house?

Speaker 2 (01:02:58):
she stayed in the house, I walked away, but I
still chose actually a,basically a house a few blocks
away.
Okay, um, just because it wasan easy area for me, because for
me personally, uh,professionally, I work out of
lansing but then I do what'strap?
Considered traveling in thelocal and I have ann arbor Flint

(01:03:25):
, detroit, if I really want topush it, saginaw and Toledo.

Speaker 1 (01:03:31):
Oh, so Brighton's not a bad spot.

Speaker 2 (01:03:33):
No, it's like the mesh point of everything.

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
Right.
If you were to triangulate allthose cities, it'd probably be
right there.
Brighton is the middle right.

Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
Pretty much.
Actually, it's where several ofthose cities combine Right when
the jurisdictions meet.
Okay.
So for me it's where several ofthose cities combine, where the
jurisdictions meet.
So for me it made sense to staythat area because I don't want
to drive more than really halfan hour to work, but I'll go as
far as like an hour and 15.

(01:04:02):
So anywhere from a half hour tohour 15 is my kind of okay spot
for working.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
Okay, all right, and so you're remarried right, yes.
Okay, well, what happened there?

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
Well, so 2019, we had already been, as far as I'm
concerned, split yeah, that waslike March Although the divorce
hadn't gone through.
Finally, I actually met my nowwife in 2019 as well, Just

(01:04:39):
before I had officially gottendivorced.
Right, let's be clear she isnot the cause of this divorce.
It's just the timing I didn'tmeet her until August.

Speaker 1 (01:04:44):
Yeah About.
Let's be clear she is not thecause of this divorce.
It was the timing.

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
I didn't meet her until August, yeah, about two
weeks before my divorce wasactually signed in Um.
Actually that year or the yearbefore we there is a new divorce
in Michigan that was, like youknow it doesn't involve
necessarily as many lawyers avery clean and easy break, as

(01:05:08):
long as everybody agrees toeverything Right and instead of
like the long drawn out processthat people are familiar with
divorce.
That was the first like yearthat they made this new one,
whereas if you are pretty muchamlypical and everything, it's a
pretty much just easy sign.

Speaker 1 (01:05:28):
Yeah, you fill in the blanks as to who gets what.
Everybody signs it and you'redone pretty much yeah, okay, so
you got done with that.
So how did you meet yourcurrent wife?
uh online okay yeah, you know,it's funny because you say that
in in people listening to itdon't see your face, but a lot
of people.
So I know people who have beenmarried for 20, almost 30 years

(01:05:49):
that met somehow online.
It's not, uh, it's not thestigma that it used to be, you
know.
I mean, like a lot of peoplewill be like, oh my god, they
met online.
That's gonna crash and burn.
But um, that's not so anymore.
I don't believe anyway.
So was she a local girl?

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
Kind of Okay, she was actually from Toledo.
Oh, all right, I mean, to methat's still kind of local,
that's Midwest.

Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
That's not.
Toledo is almost Michigan.
Anyway, let's be honest.

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
It was an hour drive for me, so I didn't even care if
it was Ohio or Michigan.
It was an hour drive, right,you're all about.

Speaker 1 (01:06:25):
Uh, how long is it going to take me to get to
pretty?

Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
much like outside of three hour.
Well, three to five hours.
I would consider that at thatpoint a long distance.
I know some people who considerlong distance 20 minutes away,
right it's just, it's allperspective way I look at it is,
if I can drive there and backwithin a reasonable amount of
time, spend time there like I'mnot traveling the entire day.

(01:06:47):
That's pretty much local, yeah,yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
So you meet her online and you're like, oh well,
this seems like a connection.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:55):
So you start dating, then I'm assuming you make that
hour drive once in a while.

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
Uh, yeah, actually she moved in pretty quick as
well, okay, but, um, you know,but but yeah, we were doing the
dating thing for a bit, um, andthen uh, covid.

Speaker 1 (01:07:11):
Yeah, okay, folks, if you're listening to this 100
years from now, if you listen toany story that happened between
2018 and 2021, at some pointsomeone's gonna say and then
covid happened although, youknow, the same thing could have
been said 100 years before thatwith the spanish flu.
Exactly actually if you lookback, every about thing could
have been said a hundred yearsbefore that with the Spanish flu
.

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
Exactly, Actually, if you look back, every about
every hundred years there's apandemic anyways.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
Yes, exactly, so, yeah, so do your.
If anyone's listening to thisand you're like what's COVID, do
your research.

Speaker 2 (01:07:39):
You know, the funny thing is I found out during
COVID like everybody was soagainst masks.
Yeah.
Like so heavily against it.
Everybody was so against maskslike so heavily against it Back
in the whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
the teens 19, 1921, I think is when that happened.

Speaker 2 (01:07:53):
It actually started before 1918,.

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
I think it was.

Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
World War One.
Yeah, and actually the onlyreason it was called the Spanish
flu was because Spain was thefirst to acknowledge it.
People were already dying inthe trenches for like two years.
It was really like 1916 when itstarted, but nobody else in the
world was willing toacknowledge it until Spain
acknowledged it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
It was a pandemic.

Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
So masks during that pandemic?
What happened there?

Speaker 2 (01:08:22):
You can see pictures.
They even had them on pets.
Yeah, and the whole idea is, ifyou didn't wear a mask, they
were going to shoot you.

Speaker 1 (01:08:30):
Yeah, we didn't shoot anybody this time around, but
yeah, there wasn't it was quitethe threats.
Quite the debate Wasn't there.

Speaker 2 (01:08:37):
If you, yeah, if you went by people.
But yeah, you can actually seesigns of like 19, 18 or
something whole families inmasks.
There's one picture where theguy's holding a cat, also
wearing a mask, near a sign.
If you don't wear a mask, wewill shoot.
Wow wow, and we thought we hadit tough well, it just goes to

(01:09:00):
show you hit the different mind,uh mentality, right, people
were so aware of what uh virusescould do 100 years ago.
And then you get people nowit's like well, it's fake, it's
all done by the government.
It's like masks are fake.

Speaker 1 (01:09:19):
It's like not really well, we have the internet to
tell us how to live our lives,so we're good, right.

Speaker 2 (01:09:25):
That's a whole different discussion yeah, you
know, because I it makes methink of the uh commercial that
they had a few years ago of um,the guy who, the woman who would
meet the guy on the street andbe like, oh yeah, I'm dating
this fashion model of fromfrance and he was just like some

(01:09:48):
fat bearded dude lived in hismom's basement most, more than
likely, but he just uh wouldcome and he would just go
bonjour, oh yes, yeah, like ifyou I think it was a phone
commercial or something and itwas like don't believe
everything you see on theinternet, or something no, I, I,
yeah, I told you.

Speaker 1 (01:10:05):
Yeah, I told you, because people would say, oh, it
must be true, it was on theinternet, but yeah, so I mean,
that's the same as in the newsnetwork.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
to be honest, Right, right.

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
You got to be careful , you again, you got to do your
research.
So so she moves in.
Then COVID hits yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
Oh you really, we COVID hit for sure.
So how did that all work outfor you?
Um, it went all right for awhile.
Um, at that time I was alsotrying to uh figure out more of
the VA stuff.
Yeah, because at that time Ihad also been um medically
retired with um 40% disability.

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
So, if you don't mind me asking, were you medically
retired?
What?

Speaker 2 (01:10:49):
happened.
Well, so I want to say in 2017,when because reserves, you
still have to do the yearlyphysical and everything right
one of the things that theyfinally looked back on my
medical records, or one doctorfinally looked back on my
medical records and realized, oh, you should have never been

(01:11:10):
able to join the reserves withhow damaged you already are.
Oh neat, yeah, so at that pointI'd already been in the
reserves for four years.
Yeah, they're kind of stuck withyou well, they were like, oh,
you shouldn't have been able tojoin.
So at that point, you know itwas all a process of basically

(01:11:33):
dismissal, right, but they hadto figure out.
So I was a what they considereda very rare case of.
I was retired from reserves but, as an active duty, are
considered from active duty,right, because, like, they had
this whole list of my medical, Imean, I think before I even

(01:11:53):
joined the reserves, it wasprobably about two to three
inches thick my medical record,and that was after they had
tossed things, because I thinkin 2012 or 10, somewhere between
10 and 12, they took out likehalf of my medical record.
Oh, the way they werecondensing it now.
Yeah, not putting the like, notworried about they were

(01:12:16):
omitting things that didn't needto be in there, right, my
record was still like two tothree inches thick.

Speaker 1 (01:12:22):
Okay, so they determined that, and then they
they medically retire you at 40.
But that's 40 isn't necessarilywhat your pay is.
Right like that's it.
There's some kind of weirdthing when you military math yes
, it's military math.
So so during covid you youstart working through the va
system, then, because you're in,you're're entitled to certain

(01:12:45):
benefits as a result of yourservice.

Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
And not to mention um , also during that time, I was
actually being really heavilytaxed because I was getting it
specifically from the CoastGuard right, even though I'm
well before retirement age.
I was getting really reallyheavily taxed on that Whatever
percent check.
I was getting really reallyheavily taxed on that whatever

(01:13:10):
percent check I was gettingRight right, so it's time to
start figuring that out.

Speaker 1 (01:13:13):
So are you done figuring it out Like have they
got you set up yet?

Speaker 2 (01:13:19):
No, I'm still working on it.
Okay, Just curious For thosewho are wondering like military
math does not work the way mathworks Right, Like I'm at 90%
disability now, Um, but if youactually add up the percentages
I'm somewhere like 150%.

Speaker 1 (01:13:39):
You and me both brother, I'm at 80%, but I've
got 50 with this and 40 withthis and 10 with that and 10
with that.
It adds up to more than ahundred.
But right.

Speaker 2 (01:13:47):
But the way military math works is they'll take okay,
like the way best way, I wasdescribed as a pie and let's
just say your biggestpercentages.
We'll just say easy numbers 50%.
So now you have your half able.
So 50% able.
Well, now you have another 20.
But they're going to take that20 from that 50 able and then it

(01:14:11):
just keeps going.
From that they don't do.
Okay, well, you're 20 plus 50should make 70.
No, they do 20 from the 50 thatyou're able, then 10 from
what's left and so on and so on,and so on right, it's.
Yeah, I, my brain hurts everytime I try and figure it out
it's basically to the pointwhere uh, if you remember the

(01:14:35):
old uh disney cartoon of uh,when they had one slice of bread
to split between the three ofthem, yeah they're like slicing
it and it's like literally like,uh, actually transparent right
all right, I know exactly whatyou're talking about.

Speaker 1 (01:14:52):
So you, so you're going through that, you're um,
she's moved in with you.
When did you actually getmarried then?
Uh, actually earlier this yearokay, all right, so you've been
together for a while beforedeciding to get married yeah, I
mean there was a little bit ofum where she left as well.

Speaker 2 (01:15:08):
She had a break in service, yeah, yeah, but um, she
kept essentially coming backbecause she knew um, you know
I'm somebody who she can rely on, somebody who she trusts, who
she feels comfortable with Right.

Speaker 1 (01:15:24):
Maybe she loves you, that kind of thing yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:15:26):
Yeah, definitely feelings towards it.
Yeah, um, so yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:15:32):
Any kids yet?
No Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:15:33):
No, unless you count a cat and dog.

Speaker 1 (01:15:36):
Oh well, you know, for some people that does count.

Speaker 2 (01:15:38):
Yeah, I mean, I definitely so the way, like I
know some people distinct don'tdistinguish the difference.
I do, but also they are, as I'dlike to joke, the children's
this is the way I joke saying it.
But uh, yeah, so, yes, but nopart of your family.

(01:16:00):
There are kids, but not ourhuman kids.
They're pet kids, right, whichyou know.
Some people don't distinguishfur babies, as they call it,
compared to normal babies.
Yeah, I do, but they're just asimportant, but they're just
different right, right, becausethey're not humans.
Right, yeah, they're never goingto be self-sufficient, right,

(01:16:23):
they're not going to talk well,okay, that is debatable.
My daughter has a dog, I thinktalks well, I have a corgi, okay
, and if you're not familiarwith a corgi, they tell you well
, how, what they're thinking,yes, in one way or another, what
they are saying, I don't know,but they will tell you non-stop

(01:16:44):
yeah, my brother andsister-in-law both had it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:45):
They had a corky, so, yeah, familiar with that.

Speaker 2 (01:16:48):
And then my cat also does it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:51):
Oh, okay, do they communicate too with each other?

Speaker 2 (01:16:54):
Somehow, I don't know how necessarily.
Yeah, um, sometimes the catjust slaps the dog right.

Speaker 1 (01:17:01):
Sometimes that just works.

Speaker 2 (01:17:03):
Yeah, he's like get out of my spot.
I want to be there, even thoughthe the cat.
You will usually want thatspecific spot on the couch Right
, even though the couch is bigenough.
I mean they're a cat and aCorgi.
I mean it's not like they'rehuge, right, the Corgi is only
about one and a half timesbigger than the cat.

(01:17:24):
They can share.
They can share a couch cushionright, let alone separate, but
no, he wants that spot inparticular, so he'll slap the
dog while he's sleeping uh-huhto knock him out, make him get
up and leave as with children.

Speaker 1 (01:17:39):
right, so you're.
So you're, uh, you're out ofthe service, you're working on
your um stuff, the VA, you'remarried now.
Yep, things are kind ofchugging along.
You've topped out, you're ajourneyman electrician then.
Okay, so you're doing that.
And is your mom still living inLansing?

Speaker 2 (01:17:56):
No, she actually just moved to Florida.
Okay.
About two months ago, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:18:02):
Still keeping tabs on her, though, making sure things
are going well.

Speaker 2 (01:18:05):
I Two months ago.
Okay, still keeping tabs on her, though, making sure things are
going well.

Speaker 1 (01:18:07):
I'm still supporting yeah From across the country.
Wow, okay.
Well, good on you, though.
I mean, I don't know, somefamily members might just walk
away from that, but you didn't.
Yeah, no, um, I've always kindof felt um a little bit of an

(01:18:28):
obligation to take care of her.
Yeah, well, she's your mom,yeah, but she did have a hard
life and it sounds like maybeyou're kind of breaking that, uh
, that mold too.
You mean, you're, you're uhsuccessful, um, you, you take
care of yourself, you can takecare of your family and uh, now
are you still thinking ofchildren?

Speaker 2 (01:18:43):
yeah, I mean.
I mean, I know I'm on little onthe older side at this point.
Um well, I'll be 38 next month.

Speaker 1 (01:18:51):
Well, you know, I went to OCS when I was 38.
So, uh, you're never too old.
Well, at some point you are tooold, don't get me wrong.
But my, uh, my cousin actually,uh, wife just had a baby, and
he is, I want to say, 62, so Idon't think I want kids when I'm
that old.

Speaker 2 (01:19:11):
But uh, to each his own.
Um, actually, one of the guys Iknew when I was active duty, uh
, his father, when he was born,was 70.

Speaker 1 (01:19:18):
Wow, yeah, I can't even imagine.

Speaker 2 (01:19:22):
I mean and his mom.
I mean just the dynamic alone.
It's like so your mom wasprobably like in her 20s or 30s
and your dad's 70 yeah, that's a, wow, that's a whole.

Speaker 1 (01:19:33):
Yeah, that's a different.
That's a, that's a that's awhole podcast all on its own
right there, brother.
Yeah, so I mean it sounds likethings are going well for you.
Um, as we kind of wrap up theconversation, uh, really two
questions okay.
First question is is thereanything we haven't covered that
you wanted to talk about?

Speaker 2 (01:19:51):
um, I mean not too much that I can think of, okay
all right.

Speaker 1 (01:20:00):
The second question is a little tougher um, but I
ask everyone this okay, um, youknow, people will be listening
to this years and years andyears from now, after you and I
are both gone.
Yeah.
What message would you like toleave with people?
What would you like them totake away from this?

Speaker 2 (01:20:13):
Well, you know, I would say definitely always
think through things logically,know your sources, um, find out
as much information as you canon things.
Don't always take things forface value.
Like you know, I grew up a veryhard life.

(01:20:38):
I was very much exposed toeverything and I think that
helped me learn to live lifewithout just being blindly
accepting everything.
You know my wife, who'sactually she's 10 years younger
than me, so she didn't grow upas exposed to everything, so she

(01:21:04):
I'm showing her things, andthen there's the whole.
Like you know how, we'll justsay COVID, you found out.
A lot of people, um, you know,had a lot more exposure to
things these days than they did,say, 20, 30 years ago, right
ago, because everybody has avoice on the internet.

(01:21:24):
But you know things I'm stilllearning with my own family
because I'm dealing with my momand my mom's dealing with her
sister, who will say, oh, yeah,this and this and this and this.
It's like, yeah, no, actually,if you look into things, life
isn't any necessarily crime,isn't worse than what it was 30

(01:21:44):
years ago per se.
It's just now more well-known,things are more well-known.
So learn to, um, find out yourfacts, do your own research.
Don't take everything soblindly, because yeah, I could
tell you, you know, I'm somesort of millionaire rolling in
the bank, you know, and I knowthe next 20 year profit or

(01:22:09):
whatever.
I mean, I like history so Ican't tell you how many times
I've heard of profits, right,knowing everything what's going
to happen.
Well, I mean, look at haley'scomment.

Speaker 1 (01:22:18):
You don't see those guys, the the haley bopp guys
that killed themselves, thoseguys, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:22:24):
And you know what.
You look into it more.
That happens every 20, 30 yearsof some guy who knows what's
going to happen.
Right, nobody knows what'sgoing to happen.
But you can take things fromwhat you learn and do your own
research, because, I mean, Idon't know how people these days

(01:22:47):
still think the earth is flat.
10 000 years ago we knew it wasround and that's actually how a
lot of obelisks were designed.
Is for the time I meanotherwise than that.
Look at the first clocks, thesundial.
We wouldn't have been able touse a sundial if the earth was
flat.
But now you have people who areconvinced the earth is flat.

(01:23:08):
You have anti-vaxxers who youknow.
I understand some people whowant to say deviate from your
normal um vaccinations schedule.
Like me, I was.
I actually got sick a lot as akid and my kids, I imagine,
would probably do the same.
So I'm not gonna not vaccinatethem, but maybe less

(01:23:32):
vaccinations.
Especially like, as I put itand I'm sure you did the same
when you went to boot camp gothrough the gauntlet where you
line up in a row and two peopleon each side are just shoot you.
You take a step forward.
Shoot in the arm.
Take another step forward.
Shoot in the arm.
Yeah, I was sick from that.

Speaker 1 (01:23:51):
Yeah, I was sick for days after that.

Speaker 2 (01:23:53):
Now they do something called the concrete mixer, from
what I've heard, where theyjust put it in one big shot.
Oh and I couldn't do that.
But at the same time, I'm notgoing to not vaccinate.

(01:24:18):
But at the same time I'm notgoing to not vaccinate, I'm just
going to let things go throughmy system.

Speaker 1 (01:24:22):
So you know, these things have been around a long
thing.

Speaker 2 (01:24:24):
Yeah, Basically like learn.
Don't just take everything forvalue.
Learn from a lot of things andyou know, one thing I will say
is I'm not a very smart guy, butI'm very wise because I learned
from everybody else's mistakesto not make the same mistake or
try to avoid them, yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (01:24:44):
All right, well, thanks for that and, um, you
know, bobby, thanks for comingout this morning and spending
some time with me, and I reallyappreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:24:51):
Yeah, no problem.