Ask HN: Are there current/former military service members on HN?

What is/was your experience like?

I grew up as a military brat. Joining the military was more of the same, in a different dialect - AF Blue instead of Navy Blue. After commissioning I served in an R&D environment that was mostly civilian & contractor. I had the least military job in the least military command of the least military service. The technologies I shepherded that were cutting edge at the time are now flying in the F-22 and F-35.

I did a little under 6 years in the Navy after a year of college.

I wasn't happy with the direction I was headed, Antiquities major that would have graduated in 2009. I got my first student loan bill and realized I needed a way to pay for college and just a change in general, so I joined the Navy.

My time in the Navy was awesome but at the end of the day I missed not being home for holiday's and not being around for my friend's and family's life events. I was an Electronics Technician. My initial training was 9 months to Electronics and then 6 months of satellite communications training. After training I was stationed in Spain for 3 years. After Spain I went to the HSV-2 Swift for a litter over a year, then got out and went to school for electrical engineering at ASU.

In my time in the Navy I was able to travel to 35 countries throughout Europe and Africa. I have circumnavigated Africa, traversed the Bosporus straights in Turkey, and spent my early 20s living on a beach in Spain.