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Memories are going to come back next week

JackieL

Member
USMC Veteran
Iraq War Veteran
Memories are going to come back next week Thursday for me, back to high school where I graduated from high school 28 years ago. Marines recruiter is going to be there and asked me to come with him to talk to the students about my experience in the Marines. It will bring back so many memories walking down the halls as a student. One was going to my shop classes where I did good taking welding, metal shop and auto shop. The shop teacher I had, seen I proved some of the male students wrong. Said I would not last and they were wrong. A year after I graduated, came to visit while on leave surprising most of the teachers I had and they seen I changed. The math teacher I had said I sound like a Marine. Shop teacher was the biggest surprise, did surprise him coming in. Walked in and he did see my life was going towards the right direction in life. He is retired now and I see him around. Was there when I was home recovering from my amputation below the knee of my left leg waiting on my prosthetic legs. Said to me that I had to keep a positive spirit, will walk again. He was right. It will be good hearing from me telling the students my experience
 
My wife and I are raising my almost 17 year old grandson and he is in manufacturing tract (machine shop with coding for CNC / welding / and 3D printing) as a Junior in highschool. I try and explain to him how to do a job on the milling machine he keeps telling me its a "drill press" the next day I ask him to ask the teacher if he can text me a picture of the machine he does and its a Bridgeport model J head not a "drill press".
So I try and correct him when he gets home and am promptly told I don't know what im talking about. (I hope I wasn't this stubborn when I was 17 after along distance call to dad his reply that night in my sleep said I wasn't that bad:)).
Then the nest day I politely tell my grandson that after he has almost 45 years under his belt then he can correct me in this matter.
I email his Shop teacher and try and find out if their terminology is different than 50 years ago.
He calls me then after an hour of phone conversation I was invited to his classes to show what you can learn if you listen while your were in school my experience as a electrician and plc programer / maintenance mechanic / welder / gas burner tech with almost 50 years of schooling and industrial experience.
I took some small plc's trainers in and showed them how to program them and had some pictures of the equipment from printing presses and papermachies to thermal regenerative oxidizers (burns the bad fumes off the printing machines) and their relate equipment I've worked on over the years and what we did to keep them running some student were impresses some were yawning (oh well cant win them all) but all in all I think it was worth my time to show them where they can go in life if they listen and learn.
I offered the teacher to come back when he or the other trades need some industry insight for what the students can do in industry after school.
 
Finding out one classmate I graduated with is the principal and he found out too I am coming. We keep in touch to this day and he says I am the mouthiest Marine veteran he has ever known. Said he has one student in the same situation I was in thinking at 18 years old and I am going to talk to him on that day
 
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