Tasha Orendorf:  

My father Wyatt Earl Orendorf and my mother Tammy Lynn Stoe met in the summer of 11th grade (1981), both joined the Army in 1982 under the Delayed Entry Program (DEP) and after graduating high school in 1983, they both left together for Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. They were assigned to the same battalion and mom was assigned to the only female brigade in a all-male 5 section Battalion. After they both graduated basic, they went downtown Columbia, South Carolina to the court house, paid $5 and waited 24 hours and then got married. They both went on to the next assignments AIT (Ft Gordon, Georgia (both 72Golf's Telecommunication Operator's) and then onto their first duty station Pine Bluff Arsenal, Pine Bluff, Arkansas. They were there for about a year and half when having my brother Dustin and when dad and mom went on leave in December 1986 before being transferred to Japan, mom got sick and discovered she was pregnant with me. They reported to Japan and told their new unit about the pregnancy. They were both assigned 12 hour shift work different shifts when mom was sent to work for the 1st Sargent until the birth. Then in July 1987 mom - still in her military uniform to go to work, flew attached to a stretcher in the back of a helicopter flying over Tokyo, got to the Air Force base just in time for me to pop out. And I was born July 14, 1987. We came back to the states in October 1990 before moving on to Laurel, Maryland (Ft. Meade, MD) in May 1991 - December 1992. Mom had requested an early out in Japan in 1987 due to the fact that she was to do the 12 hour shift work, dad and mom on opposite shifts and the warrant officer not caring what to do with my brother and me at midnight when they had to change shifts. After my birth dad was sent back to the states for training to get Sargent promotion and mom discharged in Japan and went to work for 149th, 500th Military Intelligence Brigade. My brother and I went to CDS (Child Development Services - a fancy Army name for daycare.) We returned to the states in 1990 and then to Maryland in 1991-1992 where my family then transferred to Augsburg, Germany in Bavaria - Southern Germany close to the German Alps (absolutely gorgeous country.) Dad was working on passing a basic college math class for the 3rd time and mom graduated with her Bachelor's Degree in Political Science with a minor in Criminology and Psychology before going on for advanced, accelerated Master's Degree in Human Relations. The federal government had a 5 year hiring freeze on so there were no jobs and the military in Augsburg was assigned to the Bosnia Mission. Dad demanded mom go to work while after she started her graduate degree and only 2 jobs came open and mom got a starter job working for the Transportation Office processing all the incoming personnel household baggage. Things did not work out and dad and mom separated in October 1995 and in May 1996 my brother and I and my mom returned to her hometown Crookston, Minnesota where dad and mom later finalized a divorce in 1998. I was just starting 4th grade and my brother 6th grade. We went to Century Elementary School in Grand Forks, North Dakota before the Flood of 1997 happened and caused us to move back to Crookston. Dad was still in Germany and met a German girl. Mom met a boy she knew from high school, they had a baby, and mom went to work for her school as a Home-To-School Facilitator tracking truant students on a daily basis. Mom's job ended because the school was having financial hardships and were letting teachers go and since mom's job was a one year grant funded position and the s...Expand for more