The path to lemonade, part VIII

I'm playing catch up around here. With work. With the house. With the blog. I want to post more pictures from when family was in town, but that takes more time to download the pictures, etc. So instead I'll write the next installment of the lemonade series. If you missed anything, go to the lemonade path and read from the bottom up. I promise this will end eventually.

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After the mind-blowing relationship talk Craig came out of the blue with, we ended up keeping things the same. I wish I could say that the relationship was defined at this point, but it clearly was not. He still visited me (I do not think I flew to Atlanta to visit him though) and we talked all the time. That was the extent of our relationship.

Towards the end of 2005, I had to start thinking about my next air force assignment. If you remember, there were way more lieutenants in the public affairs career field than necessary. Hundreds more. I talked to higher ranking officers and my functional public affairs manager and asked them to mentor me in this crossroads. It became apparent to me that I was going to have to take a step down from my current PA position (I was the deputy chief - second in command - of my unit's PA office) with my next assignment. Because I filled an actual slot within the public affairs field, I was supposed to move up to a chief position, but there were none available, captains waiting to fill those slots, and hundred of lieutenants who had not filled a deputy position yet that were in line ahead of me to get experience. There wasn't even a lateral move available for me. It was recommended that I look into "career broadening" for my next assignment. During that time, I would pin on captain and fill a recommended air force career progression (to take another job in a position outside of your career field, hence the term "career broadening.") Hopefully there would be a PA slot for me to move into by the time I was ready to move from that assignment. There is a natural attrition in the military at the four to six year mark when people decide to leave since their required service time was up, which would coincide with the time I would be leaving my second assignment. I began to look at career broadening opportunities.

A couple of days later, I got an email from Lt. Col. David Riel, the Baylor Detachment 810 commander, saying that Lt. Col. Jeff Bowles had dropped my name to him saying that I he should replace the next officer at the detachment with me, should a need arise. Teaching at a detachment was definitely a career broadening experience and one that I was highly interested in.

It was almost as if God had planned my next assignment for me. The only problem was that I was not qualified for the position. There were two main criteria for an officer to teach at a detachment: (1) have a master's degree, and (2) be a captain. Most accredited universities frown upon a professor teaching their students if the professor only has a bachelor's degree and the air force didn't want lieutenants flocking to their alma maters at 23-24 to relive their college days teach the next generation of officers. I had literally just turned in my comprehensive exams to OU and would be graduating in two months. All the requirements were in, it was just a paperwork waiting game. But I was still a year away from pinning on captain. Lt. Col. Riel said he would contact the Air Education and Training Command and let them know that he wanted me to come to Baylor to teach and that I should start the waiver process. If there was something I learned while in the air force, it was that there is a waiver for everything. I also contacted my functional manager again and he recommended I go for the ROTC job. He said it was the best thing for my career and for the air force. There was an actual need that was currently not filled within ROTC and there was nothing open in the PA field. I dove in.

I began contacting OU to get proof that I completed my master's degree and I began the waiver process. A few months later, it was approved for me to go to Baylor to teach. The next few months were a blur as I got ready to move back to Texas - setting up packing/moving and attending the ROTC instructor class at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. It was a whirlwind and I remember having literally days in-between my class and the movers...and I reported in to the detachment less than two weeks prior to Baylor's fall semester starting. I literally started teaching classes before my pallet of boxes/furnishings were delivered. But I was more concerned about teaching my students than unpacking and getting settled in Waco. I didn't have a syllabus or anything else. The air force does provide material for instructors to use, but when I began looking at it, I discovered that the material was the exact same material I was taught eight years prior. It was not only boring but outdated as well. I vowed to change every lesson and least make my classes fun.

I should note that Craig and I had another chance meeting while I was in Alabama. He came down to visit me a couple of times. Just another God thing. Because, ya know, seeing the person you're interested in is a good thing for a "relationship."

Oh, and just wait until you read the next installment in this series...you won't believe it.