Category: Military

Happy Armed Forces Week

It’s Wednesday May 13TH 2026, and National Military Appreciation Month continues here in the U.S.A. with Armed Forces Week (all this week), and that culminates this Saturday with Armed Forces Day. Unlike Memorial Day (this year on May 25TH) and Veterans Day (November 11TH) – this is an opportunity for us to honor everyone who currently serves within our military.

A couple of years ago I retired from a nearly 39-year career with the United States Air Force. I actually committed to 4 years of active-duty service about a month into my Senior year in high school in 1984. 6 days after graduating from high school in June 1985 – I was on my way to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio Texas for 6½ weeks of Basic Military Training.

My 39 years in the USAF included 31 years as a civil-servant. Prior to that – I served 8 years on active-duty and 6 years as a reservist (overlapping with the first 6 years of my civil-service).

Up until about the age of 16 – I intended to go to college after high school and emerge with a degree in either Meteorology or Communications (radio and television broadcasting). That didn’t happen, but the USAF trained me well. It was determined that I was great at math, so I was made to be an analyst / statistician / number-cruncher for most of my career. I served as a Financial Manager for my final 16½ years.

In the USAF I had some great years, some good years, some bad years, and some horrible years. There’s an entire 13-year era that was the worst of my career (and life). Thankfully – I followed that up with the best 16½-year era of my career (and life). My career ended near a high in 2024.

To all military service members – whether you are currently on active-duty, a reservist, a civil-servant, or a contractor working alongside all of the above – I thank you for all that you do with each new duty day. Represent well.

Tags Air Force, Armed Forces, Military, USAF

1980s Blogging Career Driving Geography Military Music Radio Travel

The Other Side Of The Ocean

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 13, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It was exactly 40 years ago this past weekend – on the 10TH of November of 1985 – that I arrived in a foreign country solo for the first time in my life – as a young 18-year-old. I was 5 months into my USAF career – having spent 6½ weeks at Basic Training at Lackland AFB near San Antonio Texas and 3 months at Tech School at Chanute AFB near Rantoul Illinois.

It was a cold Sunday morning at London’s Heathrow Airport, and I had flown all night from Washington Dulles Airport. Of course I lost 5 hours overnight with the time difference.

I made my way to the British Rail station at the airport. I took that to Reading – where I got off the train. Oops. I wasn’t supposed to get off there. I got confused. I ended-up waiting at that station until the next train arrived. That didn’t take very long. I got on it, and I continued on to Swindon. At the Swindon station I hired a cab to take me to my new home and workplace – RAF Fairford – about 13 miles / 20 kilometers away.

The cab driver was nice and friendly. He welcomed me to the U.K., and he turned up the radio for us to listen to. I think we were listening to GWR. An eerie song came on that I had never heard before. It was Talking Heads with “Road To Nowhere”. How appropriate for that song to play on the radio as I was being driven on the left along narrow and winding country roads from Swindon in Wiltshire to RAF Fairford in the Cotswolds of Gloucestershire.

That was the start of my 2-year and 1-week adventure in the south of England as an 18, 19, and 20-year-old. I got to see a lot of England, Scotland, Wales, France, Belgium, and Netherlands. I wish I had seen more of the European continent, but I’m grateful for the areas that I did get to experience while I was over there.

I’ve attended over 150 concerts and live events in my life (115 since 2000), and the first 17 all occurred during those 2 years in England.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about my driving – or lack of it – over the past year. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags England, Fairford, London, Reading, Swindon

Blogging Career Holidays Military

Honoring My Fellow Veterans

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 11, 2025

It’s the 11TH day of the 11TH month – Veterans Day here in the U.S.A.

I was employed by the United States Air Force for almost 40 years – going back to when I first signed on the dotted line of the delayed enlistment program near the start of my senior year in high school in 1984. I was hesitant in joining the military way back then, but it all turned out just right, and it became my career – both military and civilian. I’m enjoying retirement now, as I receive my monthly pension at the start of each new month.

To my fellow Veterans – this is our day. From one Veteran to all of you – I thank you for serving your nation, so that we may be free indeed.

Veterans – Get the help that you need at VA.GOV.

Tags Military, Veterans

Blogging Driving Geography Military Travel

Arlington National Cemetery

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 28, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s Part 3 of my 6-part (possibly 7-part) blog series on my recent trip to and from Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. It was my first trip back to the area in exactly a decade (to the date).

It’s Day 2 of our family trip – Friday July 25TH 2025. We all piled in to the big SUV (Ford Explorer), and we headed to Arlington National Cemetery. Google Maps took us on a weird route there from West Falls Church Virginia. Since we were driving with the flow of the morning rush hour – we trusted Google to get us there in the fastest way possible. Google actually guided us across the historic 102-year-old Francis Scott Key Bridge (U.S. 29) into Northwest Washington D.C. We traversed along several blocks of M Street starting at 35TH Street. I remember when our Dad used to work on M Street back in the 1970s at 2020 (address). He would occasionally take me to work with him in the summertime or whenever school was out. His office building is still there today.

We soon crossed over the Potomac River back into Virginia via the historic 93-year-old Arlington Memorial Bridge straight into the Cemetery entrance. Our main reason to be there (and the main reason for this entire trip) was to place our Mom’s urn next to our Dad’s urn inside the columbarium. Our Dad – a Vietnam Veteran – served in the USAF from 1963 to 1969. He met his future wife in the Philippines at Clark Air Base. They got married in 1966, and I was born 13½ months later here stateside. Our Dad passed away in 2010. Our Mom passed away a few months ago.

We arrived about 3 hours before the urn placement time, so we parked in the parking garage, and we visited the Welcome Center which serves as a very nice museum with a small gift shop and restrooms, and you can also book guided tours around the exterior grounds. You can easily spend an hour or more there at the Welcome Center checking out all of the exhibits.

We walked outside, and we toured the grounds on our own – heading 0.7 miles uphill much of the way – to the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier. We watched the 1030 “Changing Of The Guard”. It was quite the solemn experience to see it up close. I had never seen it before – LIVE or online.

We walked downhill back to the Welcome Center to hang out for a little while longer. Of course – being a Museum Director – I was taking mental notes everywhere I looked and visualizing new ideas for my small historical museum back home in Sebring Florida.

We headed to the Administration Building inside the restricted area of the cemetery, and we were met by our assigned Counselor who explained the process to us. She eventually led us by vehicle to the columbarium and the niche containing our Dad’s urn. The niche was open when we arrived. My brother placed our Mom’s urn in the niche, and they were together again after 15 years.

This was my very first time at Arlington National Cemetery – at age 58. I never went there as a kid growing up in the Washington D.C. area from age 2 to 18. My brother and sister-in-law went there previously for the formal military funeral honors that culminated in our Dad’s urn being placed in the niche at the columbarium. My brother and I discussed visiting our parents again – maybe next year on a future visit to the area. We have a lifetime vehicle pass to visit.

After the urn placement we headed back onto the George Washington Memorial Parkway – up to Fairfax County – and into McLean – where our parents moved us in November 1980.

I played an incredible game of cornhole, and then I followed that up with one of the best games of 18 rounds of miniature golf in my lifetime. Read all about it – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.