Ross Ruchti:  

Graduated from West Point in 1989. I wanted to go Aviation but I missed it by probably three or four slots. That's what a low GPA does for you. I ended up in Armor which was a great second choice. Beats road marching in your boots! Stationed in Mainz, Germany in 4/34 Armor, 8th ID. Lived in Wiesbaden in a great bachelor pad with Harry Curley and Erik Weyls. Amazing time being single in Germany. Went to the gulf for Desert Storm. Our unit was only at 2/3 strength as we were in the middle of deactivating. We borrowed a company from another unit. We even had to get some humvees back that we had given away. Desert Storm was the highlight of my short military career. At that time no one thought there would ever be another major land battle in our lifetime so I got out and got a job as a civilian working back in Germany. That job was a facilities manager position working for a company called MacDermid. It lasted for about 2.5 years until a workers council forced its way in. The company reps all demanded raises based on market salaries. The 'union' reps called meetings and told us how they were pushing for a four day work week across Germany. About a month later MacDermid closed the German office. Power to the workers. I moved back to the U.S. and got a job working for a company called Leer. Leer sold pickup truck accessories. They were hiring a lot of Junior Military Offi...Expand for more