(To see Part II, click here)

(To see Part III, click here)

At this point, I made many friends in the 15A program. On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, we had just completed one of the escape rooms at Escape This on Beauvoir Road… and like a bowling ball, hunger suddenly struck me and the small group of officers standing at the front of the building. Fortunately, there were a few restaurants nearby, so some of us drove around aimlessly before stopping at SEE-WEE-ROLL (roughly five minutes later), at Edgewater Mall along Beach Boulevard. From what I remember, the food was excellent, but what particularly stood out to me was the red bean ice cream. Afterwards, we departed, and I stopped at the Books-A-Million nearby to purchase “The Art of Clear Thinking” by the F-35 fighter pilot and instructor, Hasard Lee.

Maybe it was perfect timing, when I received this book, since at that time, I had many tough decisions to make. Mid-deployment, I received orders to travel to Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA). Contained in the orders, is a “Report-No-Later-Than-Date” (RNLTD), which is the day you must show up (boots on soil) at your next duty location. My RNLTD happened to be just a few weeks after my 15A training in Mississippi. This meant that after graduation, I would need to drive from Biloxi, MS, to Odenton, Maryland nearly nonstop, and spend the next few weeks packing before making a near 24-hour drive from Maryland to JBSA.

Surprised, I called my mom and my best friend, Rose, when I left the classroom after receiving the news, and they helped me sort my thoughts. Later that night, I called my supervisor, Miller, back in Maryland.

“Man, this is going to get crazy,” said Miller.

“Yeah, I know,” I replied, “but I think I’d like the challenge. At least it’d be cool to talk about it if everything transpires as I expect.”

“Do you know anybody in Texas right now?”

“I don’t think so?” I said, searching through my phone. “I think a few of my classmates might be from Texas.”

“Well, man if you don’t want Texas, we can do whatever we can to change it. There are no guarantees.”

“No, I think Texas might be a good change of pace. It’s odd that I’d be sent now; honestly, I don’t know much about Texas, but it is surprising and cinematic that I’d receive orders at this time.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Miller, “But I have your back if you need anything man… or in case you change your mind about Texas, we can fight for something else.”

After hanging up the phone, I sat on my bed, startled by what had transpired that day. Pretty soon after graduation, I would be leaving everything behind that I had known — over 10 years of experiences. I knew Maryland so well, I could probably close my eyes and drive to many familiar places if I had my window down and could hear the cars rolling by. I figured it would make sense to find people I already know who live in Texas. I stared at my phone and thought for a second…

I didn’t change out of my uniform until much later that night. After finishing my required reading from my course, I lay there on the bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering what are some things that I should be doing now to ease my future trip.

I hopped out of bed and sat in my rolling armchair, while Bloomberg Business News played in the background. Scribbling down the area codes, I then searched for their respective locations. Halfway through the list, I stared at it and scratched my head…

I sat there for a moment longer and jumped back on my bed with my phone in hand. Whoever this mystery person was from many years ago, it seemed like we had the warmest exchange. I guess it was a testament to how much life had gone by that we didn’t keep in touch, but it seemed like we really liked each other a lot.

I turned on my PS4 and switched my TV input to find a boring movie that would lull me to sleep. It had been such a long day, but I was sure life would get more interesting.

(To see Part V, click here)