David Watts:
CLASS OF 1983
South Albany High SchoolClass of 1983
Albany, OR
Portland Community CollegeClass of 1995
Portland, OR
West Albany High SchoolClass of 1983
Albany, OR
David's Story
Life
Well, no matter what you tell the school newspaper when you begin your journey after high school - things change! Dana and I were together for 20yrs, and recently seperated...now going through the divorce process. At any rate, we have two beautiful children; Colin (9) and Chloe (5), whom I adore and treasure. I live in Tualatin - they live in our house in SW Portland, however, I work in Salem for Figaro's Italian Pizza, Inc. as the Corporate Trainer. Keeps me busy and working quite a bit.
I also purchased a 2004 Honda VTX1300 this summer - took it on a three day ride with some buddies over Labor Day weekend; had a ball! Love riding my motorcycle, and looking forward to Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends 2005 - going to hit the road again! Will update my photo with a picture of my bike and kids soon.
Feel free to contact me - I'll write back and we can catch up.
Later, DWatts
Military
My military career has been a good one up to this point - I'm reaching my goals, and still have much more to do!
I went to Air Force BMT in Oct 1983; once graduated (mid to late Nov), I went home on leave to be with my new bride for Thanksgiving and her Birthday. The sad part was, I had to leave for my first direct duty assignment (I did not attend technical school) the day after her birthday - Dyess AFB, TX (Abilene). When I got there, my supervisor asked me if I had put in for Dyess - I told him, "Hell, I didn't know Abilene really existed - I just thought it was the name of a town in a song!" So started my career there as a Supply troop (Material Storage & Distribution)!
I kept my nose clean, I earned Airman of the Month/Quarter a couple times, so when I met the Below-The-Zone Board for the rank of Senior Airman I was awarded the rank. Before getting off active duty in Oct 1987, I was a Sergeant and had tested for Staff Sergeant twice - missed...Expand for more
it by less than 5 points both times. So, I joined the Air Force Reserves and we moved to Portland, OR - I joined the 939th Civil Engineer Squadron as their Supply Sergeant.
I was with CES for 12.5 years! I was awarded my Staff Sergeant rank within 4 months of joining the unit, and made Technical Sergeant (TSgt) a couple years after that. As the Supply guy, my job during deployments to places like Colorado Springs, England, Panama, The Phillipines, etc., was to "go for this" or "go for that!" Although I got to see everyone every day on all the job sights - I didn't feel like I was making a difference - I wanted to be on a job sight. And, I had attained the highest rank I could attain in Supply (for that unit), so I changed career fields and went into Utilities (Plumbing). It took a couple years to get a Technical School scheduled (Feb '96 - this was tough as my son was only 7mo old...hated leaving for ten weeks), but did well at school and supervised a couple projects on deployments.
I made the rank of Master Sergeant while in the Utilities shop, and was soon approached by our squadron Chief to apply for the First Sergeant's position. I had considered it a time or two, but didn't really think I would get the opportunity...but, here was the chance. In Dec 1997 I applied and was accepted by our unit Commander, who had also been my Resources Officer when I was in Supply - we were a great fit. As the First Sergeant, I was basically the eyes and ears of the Commander, took care of personnel issues (recognition as well as discipline), and took care of the troops whenever we went on deployment (food, shelter and morale).
I loved being a First Sergeant...it was the most rewarding position I have ever held. This was no more apparent to me than when I served 30+ days in Saudi Arabia for a Medical Group in August 2000.
To Be Continued....
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