Richard Winstead:  

we are being activated. I had to go to work on Monday morning and tell my new boss I will be gone for a year. While he was not happy, he realized how much stress I was under and supported my obligations. Once I returned, I was able to settle down and learn this new job. The job deals with managing customers routers. While we not only support the end customers routers (Cisco), we also support our edge routers (Cisco, Redback and Juniper). Imagine one day working as a paper boy and then jumping to a job running the press with no training. That would be a good analogy of my new job. After my activation, I returned to BellSouth. BellSouth is a great company to work for and now I am faced with an uncertain future since BellSouth and AT&T will merge. All I can do is sit back and watch how it pans out. Military Spent just over 14 years in active duty. Seperated the USAF with a line number for TSgt. I wanted to stay on Active Duty but only if I was able to move down to Dobbins or Robins AFB, GA. My girlfriend lived in Atlanta and she was obligated to stay in Georgia. I thought long and hard about staying in or getting out. I started interviewing for IT jobs in October-November 1998. At first, I didn't see too many opportunities present itself. I went to a job fair in Atlanta in late November and received a call from BellSouth. I interviewed for the job and didn't hear anything back. Another company called me and was interested in interviewing me. I made my descision then. I put in my seperation paperwork around 10 December 1998. I didn't have a job lined up. My boss briefed the commander during the staff meeting and I was told my commander was dumbfounded. Many thought I was crazy for getting out with so many years in and with a line number for TSgt. I wanted to be closer to my girlfriend, I was burned out plus I wanted a career that paid more on the outside. The next day I received a call from BellSouth. They did a phone interview with me and offered me a job paying almost twice as much as I was currently making - how could I refuse! At that point I had about 4 days before terminal leave was supposed to start so I had to hurry!!! Outprocess, seperate and move because BellSouth wanted me to start on 30 December 1998. I didn't throw it all away though. I joined the AF Reserves in 1999 (after terminal leave) so I have no break in service. I hit my 20 years satisfactory service in January 2005! (20 years technically was October 2004 but I had to pull 6 years with the reserves). I was stationed at Pope AFB with the 53rd APS for the first few years in the reserves but moved down to Dobbins ARB in Atlanta, GA before my son was born. I am now with 80th APS. There were a lot of people at Pope that I have known for a long time. I just reenlisted for another 6 years and just made Senior Master Sergeant in August 2007. There is a method to my madness. I am about 900 points short of full retirement. If I can pull enough active duty time and meet all my weekends, I can draw full retirement (7300 points). One day is worth 1 point. If you accumulate 7300 points, that equates to 20 years total. My wife is encouraging me to proceed with this and I am always looking for opportunities to get more points.