Freedom...officially

Today I received my discharge paperwork from the Air Force. I have not been a member of the Active Duty for the last four years, but I was still connected to the Inactive Reserve to complete my military service commitment. That is just a complicated way (the military can invent nonsensical terminology for just about anything) of saying that I didn't have to go to work every day, but if they needed me they could call me. Even though it wasn't part of my daily life, I still "belonged" to them, so to speak.

There is an ever-present lack of control over one's own life that military service members learn to live with. They don't get to choose their jobs, decide where to live, plan work around a family live, or even become pleasantly plump! This isn't a complaint, by the way. I signed up for eight years of service, and I happily completed it. It was an honor to simply be a part of the same organization my Daddy and so many other individuals I respect...Gen Smith, Gen Twitchell, Gen Clem, Capt Jack, David Eastis, Alan Estis, Uncle Don, Mr. Noneck, TC Coon, your Daddy, both my grandfathers, both my grandfathers-in-law, and so many others...made so great.

So it feels both freeing and odd to no longer be a part of it all. For the first time in my life, I won't carry a military ID card. Forever more, my hand will be over my heart instead of in a salute during our national anthem. I won't put on my uniform again. No one will call me "Captain". I probably won't be called ma'am very often, for that matter! But I will always remember fondly my time as a servicewoman...as an airman...and be proud.