David "Napa" Knapp:  

2023... Still HERE !... An absolute miracle in sooo many ways. Got my now tired and rather old arss kicked all to hell by life it is quite the miracle of All Mighty that I am STILL here. I tell folks I didn't graduate from Cole. I was Honorably Discharged for just showing UP regularly and finished with a 1.25 GPA and D- average and... I hold the record for three-day suspensions by Mr. White. I had sustained multiple grade III traumatic brain injuries before I met you good folks and, tho the subsequent fallout of such injuries is well documented now, little was known of their after effects back in our day. My first, of what would become, lifelong very deep very dark very detrimental depressions and suicidal thought processes smacked the crap out'a me in 1966 at age 14. It subsided months later and I was able to carry on fairly well, throughout my years at Cole, loving and laughing and partying my arss off at every opportunity and enjoying EVERY dammed minute of it but what I could NOT do was remember and recall damn near anything I was supposed to learn for, as it turned out, the brain damage had caused the development of "Acquired Learning Disability" i.e. the inability to develop an acquired memory under certain circumstances. THAT was just not going to happen. In addition, I often passed out in classes and woke up not knowing what day it was, what class I was in or where to go NEXT. All of which can now be attributed to the previous brain damage. Mega BUMMER ! As such, I always felt "different" and like a complete failure but still, my days at Cole were five of the BEST years of my life. I was retained for a 2nd Junior year due to lack of credits and the ONLY required coarse I had to take my Senior year was senior English, sooo, the REST of my day was FILLED with Electives and FUN. Graduation was a MAJOR tell spin for me. Turned out that all that fun, love and laughter and camaraderie with the incredibly GREAT young friends was the source that helped stave off my depressive processes and they came back on me like a hammer when I realized I was all but alone in the world after graduation. Again, MAJOR Bummer !!! For some years following, I often roamed the streets of Ft. Sam at night combing the old haunts and looking for you there, but you had gone on with your lives. Yet again, BUMMER ! Just plain selfish of'ya ! When Mr. Morton informed me I had out aged my weekends at TAG it was devastating. Stark aloneness. Bottomless loneliness. (This story does git better. Just hang on.) The military was my only hope for a seemingly secure future BUT... the relentless depressions KILT that plan and I was relieved of duty after one year, 4 months, 12 days and two hours but who's counting. Carpentry as a framer became my world and it was very enjoyable and rewarding but lonely so, being brilliant, I determined to marry the next girl I dated. Poor girl. I'm so sorry. Shouldn't have done that to her. Good woman and my depressions obliterated that plan TOO ! SomB-ITCH ! My second doomed marriage yielded three BEAUTIFUL girls but my blue-collar wages couldn't support them SO... Again, being absolutely brilliant, with the help of a tutor and LOT'S of remedial classes in readin, writin and rythmatic and HELP... I went to S.A.C. and became a Nurse and gradjeated ninth in my class with a 3.72 GPA but... without the ability to remember and recall drug classifications, actions and interactions. W.T.H. ? So I went to work at the county hospital in areas where I would give the LEAST number of medications. Now, git THIS, I became, no doubt with the help of MANY good people and again, God ALL Mighty, a senior Complicated Obstetrics Labor & Delivery Specialist for ten years and then an Orthopedic Trauma and Orthopedic Oncology Surgery Nurse Coordinator for another eighteen years and, yes, the depressions and suicidal thoughts plagued me ALL the way thru DADGUMMIT. Anti-depressant medications did not work for me at all so I buried ...Expand for more