Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
Oh yeah, everyone thought I'd be dead or in jail by 25.
I had a TS/SCI clearance for about 15 years. Worked for Homeland Security when it was first getting off the ground. CENTCOM, SOCOM, some other places I can't disclose for 75 years and the federal government.
They definitely were all up in my history and business. FBI goes out to your neighbors, my wife's work and ask questions like does he use drugs, fool around on his wife, hang with mafia etc. without telling them its a background check. Freaked out everyone. They know my media accounts. They knew I posted on here as BRC.
They know people have checkered pasts. They go all the way back to birth but focus on the last 10 years or so. You have to come clean with warts and all. They care but they don't really. What they care about is are you embarrassed about something. Keeping a secret? Cause then you can be compromised. Lot of people have affairs, they need to know if caught, will you come clean? I've taken probably a dozen lie detector tests.
I think that's why I shared more stuff than most people on here because the government already knew everything about me.
That's pretty amazing. I did some IT work for the supreme court post 9/11 and the only thing on my record was an underage drinking citation from when I was 17 (10 years later) and I had to explain that about 5 times if front of as many people. I was waiting for an orifice check under a HD camera.
Well done, sir. Maybe you being in Florida you and Hog can hook up for some salt water feeshin' and a couple cold ones. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
I have short term memory loss. The doctors can’t seem to find the root cause. This isn’t some forgetfulness, it’s serious. They tell me I have about 10 years before I will lose all short-term memory. I will retain all long-term memories. So that post you make about me in 2006 is still going to be up there in my noggin.
I have previously shared this diagnosis with the mods. I asked them to keep this information confined to the mod lounge. Which they did and I appreciated their consideration. They encouraged me to share this information with the rest of the Planet. It’s time to come clean.
I also have CLL (Chronic Lymphatic Leukemia). Its only put me in the hospital once and it usually does not kill people these days.
Would not be a BRC post without bragging so…. Last 10 years of my career, I architected, designed, and implemented the first cloud at Bank of America, the largest private cloud in the world for the military and for IBM, the world’s largest serverless IT infrastructure services provider with thousands of enterprise customers, thousands of applications in more than 60 countries.
You cannot do that kind of work without a functioning short-term memory, so I have no choice but to retire.
I’m 65. I’m being forced to retire a little early but only losing a couple of years anyway. I’ll have a comfortable retirement alongside my wife of 34 years.
AMA
Congratulations on your retirement...and sorry for your health issues.
You know next time you are in the area, we are going to have to have lunch....maybe even get Will to join.
Take care of yourself...we need you around for several more Mahom's Super Bowl victories. [Reply]
Really sorry to hear this, BRC, but thank you for sharing. Praying that you have an enjoyable post-retirement life. Keep posting and we'll promise to never "q" you. [Reply]
Congrats on your work accomplishments. Some pretty great things!. It's great you have your wife with you to help with the day to day memory issues, although my wife would have some fun with that as well. Take care. [Reply]
Sounds like you accomplished more in your last 10 years than most people do in a lifetime. The human brain is a weird thing, clearly you have a very powerful one, but it's starting to short circuit. So strange, wish we could understand it all better.
I'm sure you'll still find plenty of ways to enjoy retirement. Congrats, it was clearly well earned! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Wisconsin_Chief:
Sounds like you accomplished more in your last 10 years than most people do in a lifetime. The human brain is a weird thing, clearly you have a very powerful one, but it's starting to short circuit. So strange, wish we could understand it all better.
I'm sure you'll still find plenty of ways to enjoy retirement. Congrats, it was clearly well earned!
I grew up dirt poor in Springfield Missouri. I quit school the day I turned 16. Only have a GED. That's it. I do have 96 college credits but never bothered with getting a degree. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
I grew up dirt poor in Springfield Missouri. I quit school the day I turned 16. Only have a GED. That's it. I do have 96 college credits but never bothered with getting a degree.
Sounds like we had very similar upbringings, I was on my own at 17 and had to drop out as well. Did get my GED and graduated college eventually, just stuck in the rat race now, though. How you perform in school has very little to do with how intelligent you are, and I learn that more every single day working with nothing but educated fools. You are obviously a prime example of that as well. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
I grew up dirt poor in Springfield Missouri. I quit school the day I turned 16. Only have a GED. That's it. I do have 96 college credits but never bothered with getting a degree.
Sorry to hear about your health BRC. I'm going to probably retire in August due to health reasons as well (Stage 4 Prostate).
I grew up in Springfield too, maybe the same year or a year behind you. Went to KHS, played baseball there, before JUCO, arm difficulties and then back to SMS. [Reply]