Kevin Scott:  

m Book Company had screwed up and was sending out thousands upon thousands of last minute boxes. We normally would work 15-20 hours a week. I worked something like 45+ hours in one week then. Half the time we sat in the break room and watched the invasion of Panama. A nice way to make a ton of extra money for the holidays! I left UPS in late December 1992 in order to report to the Army in January 1993. See the military section for my work information from 1993-1999. Left the Army in September 1999 to work as a sales rep with a pharmaceutical company and moved to Paducah, KY. I loved the company and the job but Paducah, well, lets just say I wanted to move out of there ASAP! Luckily, my company allowed me to transfer to the Nashville area where I have been ever since. I could have moved up several times but would have had to move which I have not been willing to do as of yet. Which is fine because I like what I am doing a lot. Great products that help keep people alive and/or make the quality of their lives much, much better. I could not sell just anything like cars or copiers. Its nice to be able to make a difference in someone's life. (updated as of 2/15/05) Military I first entered the US Army Reserves in December 1987 as a E-1, that is, a Private nothing, not even a stripe! I "drilled" with my reserve unit until I left for basic training in June of 1988 for sunny Ft. Bliss, TX. West Texas in the summertime is a real treat. Can you tell that is dripping with sarcasm. My first memory is of doing pushups on the hot asphalt where it seemed as if my hands were getting third degree burns. Basic taught me a lot about myself and how to manage time. I think that experience helped make me a better college student later that year. Of course, the one thing that really sucked at the time was I was head over heals in love with a high school girlfriend and being away from her really sucked. She wrote me every day and her letters were one thing that kept me going. I came back for college after basic and had to leave the next summer for AIT at Ft. Jackson, SC. I was suckered into being a 75D - Personnel Records Specialist. The recruiter convinced me that this would set me up for the business world later in life. What a crock of sh**! I had wanted to be a parachute rigger or a military policeman. Oh well, my reserve career was short lived. Once Desert Storm kicked off in 1990, my unit was activated. However, I had received an Army ROTC scholarship and now belonged to Cadet Command and did not have to deploy for the war. I had mixed feelings about it. Part of me wanted to go but the ROTC people said if I did, they would revoke my scholarship. So, I stayed in school joined ROTC. I spent six lovely weeks at Ft. Lewis, WA, for ROTC Advanced Camp which was almost all spent out living in the field where it rained just about every day, ALL DAY long. And, despite it being Jun-July 1991, it was damn cold in Washington state. But, I survived and left there for a much warmer Ft. Benning, GA, to attend Airborne School. Did I mention Ft. Benning was warmer? After being acclimated to the cool pacific northwest, I thought I had died and gone to Hell when I arrived at Benning where I immediately had to do a PT test. Of course, the black hats (Airborne instructors) have no sympathy. But, I survive and make my five jumps and earn my wings which are pinned on with an instructor's fist with no backing on the pins (i.e. blood wings). A nice rite of passage. I was eventually commmissioned in 1992 as a 2LT in the Military Intelligence branch and my first duty station was GERMANY! Thankfully, I got my first choice. Otherwise I was going to be sent to Ft. Monmouth, NJ. Germany was awesome. I served as a platoon leader (2/B/501st MI/1AD) where I had some ground surveillance radar crewmen and some interrogators assigned to me. You could not ask for a better group of soldiers. My Platoon Sergeant, Kris Putman, spoiled me by having everything in order at all times. A great man who is now a Command Sergeant Major. My next duty assignment was as the Headquarters Company Executive Officer (XO). The difference between being a PLT LDR and and XO in HHC was like night and day. I had two great company commanders and one I still communicate with all the time, Dave Puppolo. I then went on to be the Battalion S-2 for 5/3 Air Defense Battalion, 1st Armored Division, just as we were ramping up for the deployment to Bosnia. I spent about 5 months in Bosnia and was lucky enough to be able to come back to see my son, Dylan be born at a German hospital in Wiesbaden. In June 1996, we left Germany to go to Ft. Huachuca, AZ, for the MI Officers Advanced Course. I elected to stay at Huachuca where I worked in the Futures Directorate Concepts Division. I could tell you what my job was but then I'd have to kill you! I have tons of Army stories but am about out of space! (updated 2/15/05)