When One Chapter Ends...

I have been afraid. Afraid of what comes after my military career. Afraid of leaving behind all my friends. Afraid I won’t be able to find a well paying job to support my family. Afraid I didn’t use my time in the military wisely, like there was something better I should have been doing. I’ve even been afraid to put this website up because my server keeps losing power. Well guess what. The website is up. All the other things I was afraid of? Let me walk you through my fears and self-doubt, so I can show you what I learned from it all.

My Timeline

September 11th 2026, I finished CodePlatoon Skillbridge so September 13th, I went back to base in Georgia. I was supposed to be there for 2 weeks before my terminal leave began and I was free to leave. Supposed to be…

After reporting to the meeting to finalize my terminal leave, I am told I have less than half my previously calculated leave. I figured this must be a mistake because I checked my balance and did the math. I was supposed to start terminal leave September 25th (My birthday) and go home. Nope.

The man showed me the calculated leave on the website and confirmed the lack of days. After arguing with him about it for a while, he came to the conclusion that the days must have been subtracted from my account late, meaning I took the leave months ago but the system only recently calculated it. The more I realized arguing was hopeless, the more my heart sank deep into my chest. My wife was not thrilled to hear it would be over a month before I came home.

If you read my previous post, you’ll know that I moved home for my CodePlatoon Skillbridge class. I do NOT regret that choice, but this meant that I was going to be stuck in Georgia without a place to stay. Luckily I had some good friends who let me stay with them for my duration. We spent lots of time together watching movies and playing games. They even threw me a surprise birthday party. I needed that.

October 14th 2026, I drove home. I couldn’t believe it was all over. No more going back to base. No more being away during anniversaries. No more military career. I felt like I was released from a cage and never have I enjoyed driving as much as I did that day. However, a question rang through my head. “Now what?”

On the 17th of October, I enjoyed a vacation with my wife for our anniversary. We went out of town for only 2 nights, but it was enough to put plenty of wind in my sails. This was the moment I had been looking forward to for years. Still the thought haunted me. “Now what?”

Today

I have been applying for jobs nonstop since I graduated CodePlatoon, and I have even landed many interviews! I was so excited for these interviews and a chance to land a decent job, so you can imagine my disappointment when they fell through one-by-one. While disappointing, I was given good feedback. The consensus was college. I had no college degree and my competition did. My fears surfaced and I began to hate myself for wasting so much time in the military. How could I be so lazy, not finishing college while I had the chance?

Today I feel much like the man whom I argued with on base. There is nothing I can do to change the past, no matter how lazy I was, but I can be better now. If I had not been stuck in Georgia longer than expected, I wouldn’t have made such good memories with my friends. Is there a good reason I didn’t finish college while I had the time? Maybe, but the more I stare backwards, the less I can plan for the future, so that’s what I’m doing today.

Now What?

College, but also many new things. I began applying for part-time jobs instead of full-time, all of which are for skill levels in which I can easily fit into. This is by no means ideal. I would much rather start a new career with distant horizons, but I am going to finish college first. My classes should start sometime mid November at Cape Fear Community College. Until then, I have started working on my own game in Unity and I have many other projects which need to be finished. I finally have almost a month of free time so I will be using it wisely, starting today.

With the end of my military career, a very large chapter of my life has come to an end. While I may not fully appreciate the result, I wouldn’t change a thing. All of my failures have made me who I am now. No matter how sloppy my last chapter turned out to be, I now have the chance to begin again. This time I can make things right. Goodbye for now.

Thanks.