Regardless of who you are, where you live, or what you do for a living, everyone has defining moments in their lives. Moments in which a decision is made that will have a significant (if not downright life-changing) effect on them from that point forward. We've all had them, some of us more than others, but the fact remains that we've all had them.
We've also had that one defining moment in our lives that changed the entire course of our lives from that moment forward, one that affected every single thing we would do from that moment forward. Mine came in January of 1975.
I spent my entire life from birth up until March 2021 listening to my father tell sea stories about the 5 years he was in the US Navy. He enlisted in the Reserves in 1947 and went on active duty the next year, serving until 1952. He was stationed on the USS MISSISSIPPI, an old battleship that served in both World Wars and had been designated as an Experimental Auxiliary Gunship after WWII ended. That changed her hull number from BB-41 to EAG-128, and her mission from being a ship of the line to a ship that tested all manners of new weapons that were in development. The "Missy," as she was called, was the ship from which the first Terrier missile was fired in 1952, an event that took place after my father had left the Navy.
In any event, to say that my father loved the Navy would be the understatement of the millenium. The only reason he left the Navy was that by 1952 he was married and had a new baby, and he knew the life of a sailor was no way to raise a family. So he left the Navy but talked about it for literally the rest of his life.
So it was only natural that, given the circumstances under which I grew up, I should want to join the Navy when I graduated from high school. I was actually looking forward to it, carrying on in my father's footsteps and wearing the uniform of the Navy as he had so many years before. I had been to the recruiter's office and done all of the paperwork; the only thing left for me to do was raise my hand and say "I will," and I would be a sailor.
Then in January of 1975 I made a very significant discovery, one that would be the driving force that would cause me to make a decision that would be THE defining moment of my life. My father and a friend of his went deep sea fishing in the Chesapeake Bay, and I went along. I had never been deep sea fishing before, and besides, my father told me that it would be "a good way to see what I was in for when I joined the Navy."
More prophetic words were never spoken.
The day we went was cloudy, cold, and windy as hell, and there were 6-8 foot waves on the bay. Once we got out of the harbor and out into the bay, it took about ten minutes for me to make my life-changing discovery.
I get seasick. REALLY, REALLY seasick. As in 'hang-your-head-over-the-rail-and-puke-your-guts-out' seasick. When I finally finished heaving my father suggest I go below into the bow and lay down, but that only made it worse. I spent the entire trip in the bathroom in the bow of the boat, puking into the toilet.
Somewhere along the way I decided that maybe the Navy wasn't for me. I was already in the Civil Air Patrol and had been for almost 4 years, and if I decided to enlist in the Air Force instead that would give me a leg up because I would enlist as an E-2 instead of an E-1. So that's what I did.
And that one decision turned out to be THE defining moment of my life.
If I had enlisted in the Navy as I planned, EVERYTHING about my life would have changed. That would have meant I never would have met and married my first wife Mary, that we never would have had any kids, that I never would have gone to the places I did and met the people that I did (including my current wife Gina) - none of that would have happened.
Now I've always believed that everything that happens to us in our lives happens for a reason, and this is no different. Things happened the way they did so I could end up right where I am at this moment in time, which I believe is right where The Big Biker wanted me to be. So who am I to argue with Him?
But I have to admit that I sit back sometimes and think about how drastically different my life would have been if I had joined the Navy, what I would have experienced, who I would have met, and whether or not I would have gotten married (which I seriously doubt I would have). And I always thought I looked absolutely fantastic in Navy blues. When I was 18 I was the same size as my father was at that age, and his old blue "cracker jack" uniform fit me, so I put it on one day just to see how I'd look. And man, I looked GOOD!
So do I regret my decision to join the Air Force instead of the Navy? Hell, no, not for a minute. I wouldn't change a thing, because that would mean I wouldn't be where I am now, and right now I'm as happy as I've ever been in my entire life.
Besides - seasick, you know. REALLY, REALLY seasick!
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