Over the years, Hardfought has always been about our gaming community and the servers and LAN parties we’ve hosted, but sometimes it also serves as my own personal blog. Today’s post is one of those times. At midnight tonight HST (about 2½ hours from this posting), I will officially be through with my active duty military career. Six and a half years in the United States Army as an Infantry Soldier… hard to imagine doing anything else right now. To be honest though, 28 months between two deployments to Iraq is enough. My first trip there back in 2004-2005 was rough, and we saw a fair amount of action, but the level of stupid shit was tolerable, and the men I served with were like family. Same is true for the men I served with on my last go-around that I just recently returned from, but the difference was a lot less action (which is good of course, but can also be bad if your entire function revolves around just that) and a LOT more bullshit from higher. I swear to God I could write volumes about all of the completely insane and outrageous ideas and orders put forth from higher. It’s truly amazing anything was ever accomplished… seriously folks, NCO’s and Soldiers make it happen. Always have, always will.

Looking back though, there were plenty of good times to go along with the bad. And it’s the men you serve with that make it the most enjoyable – it’s why so many of us keep signing back up. Yeah, there’s a lot of shit you have to suffer through sometimes, but knowing that your buddies are right there with ya going through the same shit makes it bearable. It’s true what they say – the friends you make while serving are like no other, and they’ll always be a part of your life, like family. I personally wouldn’t change a single thing about my time and experiences in the Army. I wouldn’t be the man I am today without having served… my take on things is different than it was 6-7 years ago, and I know I have learned a lot more than I had ever bargained for. And I wouldn’t have met Jennifer either, and for that I am truly thankful.

Sooo… time to be a civilian again. For those of ya not in the know, I’ll be flying from Hawai’i to Los Angeles this Friday. Gonna link up with some family I have in the area, pick up my wife’s car (it just made it to Long Beach today) and start my cross-country drive from Cali to Vermont, making a few stops along the way to see family. Should hit Vermont sometime in the end of June (Jenn will already be in VT a couple weeks before me). I’ll chill for a bit, then I start school in August – first time back to college in almost twenty years. Heh. That should be interesting to say the least, but I am really excited about it. Jenn already has a great job lined up working in one of the top physical therapy clinics in the state. We have our two acres of land, but we’re holding off on the new home build until we start bringing in a bit more cash… collectively we’re taking a pretty big pay cut with me going to school full-time, but it’s more than worth it.

I can’t resist, I gotta throw in something HF-related – yes, if it’s at all possible, I will see about bringing back up a game server in that area. Think TF2 and CoD: MW2.

That’s all for now gang. I’ll be offline for a bit starting tomorrow, but I’ll pop in when I can. Here’s to closing one chapter of my life, but also to starting a new and exciting one. See ya folks.