RETIRED QMMC IN MY NIEGBORHOOD

Not having ridden my Bandit 1200 motorcycle for a week took it out to run an errand and cruise the neighborhood. A community next to ours ( about 1 mile) advertised a garage sale which I usually like to check out. The lady at this garage sale noticed my USCG ball cap which I like to ware as I have bad hair after removing my helmet. She said her husband who was on his way home is retired 36 years QMMC (name protected). Anyway the Master Chief and I kicked back a few beers and talked about our service time, people met, and many port visits (a lifetime X 2). Turns out the Master Chief was in the Navy 6 years to my 8 and was out for 1 year before he decided to reenlist at the Navy recruiters office but the guy was out for a liquid lunch across the street. The Coast Guard recruiter next door was having his brown bag lunch in the office and waived him in and the rest was history and the best destiny move he said he ever made. Turns out he served with the late BMCM Horsley (God rest his soul) also and his wife is the quintessential true blue Coastie wife if ever I met one. Anyway he has been retired now for like 12 years down here like me except they also have a small double wide trailer home in the mountains where they escape in the summer. It felt great to meet someone who you feel you have known and served, and although we never met before, we exchanged phone numbers and address as if we had known each other for years. This is something you just don’t get in any other service (Coast Guard Family) and people outside the Coast Guard will never understand.