Steven Thomas:  

Then Linda and I would return to Germany to complete my tour of duty. After I had been in Germany 3 or 4 months, I started getting pressure from the 1st Sergeant & the Company Commander to re enlist. I had advanced in rank rapidly while I was in Vietnam. I went from Pvt. First Class to Sergeant E5 in less than 9 months. The Commanding General of the 25th Infantry promoted me to Sergeant and a one star Brigadier General scotch taped the stripes on my arm in a little ceremony. In Germany I was told that I had no chance of promotion unless I re enlisted. I was getting a a lot of pressure so I told them that I would re enlist if I could be a pilot & an officer. They agreed to send me to helicopter school & I would become a Warrant Officer. I told them I wanted to fly planes & jets, so after some discussion they arranged for me to take a flight aptitude test. When I passed the test they were ready for me to re enlist & even offered me a $10,000 re enlistment bonus. But, I had 2nd thoughts & told them it would not be fair for me to re enlist before Linda had a chance to see what Army life would be like. They didn't like that, but it was reasonable, so they left me alone. About 3 months before I was to return to California & marry Linda, I got into a terrible car accident on duty & should have died. I spent 2 months in the hospital and was medevaced back to the USA in a hospital plane. I arrived in California about 3 weeks before our scheduled wedding & I got married on crutches. I was eventually retired from the Army after 3 yrs & 2 days. It took 4 or 5 yrs to get me to walk again normally. I attended Pierce Jr. College for 1 1/2 yrs while working part time at the Woodland Hills Post Office. I had to quit school & my job to have more surgery. After I recovered, I never went back to school. I worked most of my career (40+ yrs) as a Landscape Contractor. I loved the work & diversity of it; loved being self employed and being in the outdoors working with God's Creation. I did not always like some of the government regulations, or some of my clients. But overall, it was a great career & I made some good friends. I retired in April of 2013 due to the economy, but still do some part time consulting. My wife, Linda, worked 15 yrs for LA Unified School District with Special Ed kids. She retired at the end of may 2013. We are both adjusting to being retired. Linda has been doing a lot of baby sitting of our 5 yr old twin granddaughters and sorting through our accumulations. She says so far, being retired is more work & less pay. I have 40 yrs of business stuff to get rid of. We will have been married 45 yrs on Jan 11, 2014. We have 3 wonderful daughters (2 of which are identical twins) & 7 granddaughters (2 of which are identical twins). Linda's grandmother was an identical twin. I have been truly blessed with a beautiful & loyal wife, kids, grand kids and peace with God through Jesus Christ. I am just a sinner saved by God's Grace.