Guess what I forgot! No, really, guess. You'll never guess, lol. Okay, I'll tell you.

I forgot that I've already retired from the U. S. Army! Yeah, yeah, it was the Army Reserve, but still, I retired from the Army Reserves in July of 2002! Do you know what this means??? Well I'll tell ya.

When you retire from the Army Reserves before you turn 60 years old you become what they call a "Grey Area" retiree. This means that although you are not collecting any retirement pay, which starts when you turn 60, you do have all the other benefits of being a military retiree. Now, it's not like I forgot altogether that I'm a military retiree, I just forgot certain aspects of it and today, while I was working my second job, it suddenly occurred to me that I will soon have the time to take advantage of certain aspects of being that retiree!

As a military retiree I get to take flights on military aircraft if they have extra seats available! For free! Anytime there is a seat available! Until I turn 60 I can only fly within the 50 states and the U. S. Territories, but that means I can fly to Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, you name it! For free!

Now the planning for my upcoming retirement from the Sheriff's Office takes on a whole new light. The plans must now include heading over to Travis Air Force Base near San Francisco to hop a flight to Hawaii and see Pearl Harbor, and the U.S.S. Missouri! Head to the Jacksonville Naval Air Station and hop a flight to Puerto Rico! Once I turn 60 I can head to Dover Air Force Base for a nice leisurely flight over to Europe! Oh man, how can I have even for a moment forgotten about this???

Oh man, if you thought I was looking forward to this before, you should see me now!!

I'm thinking the Hawaii trip first, just to get things going, eh?

Mac