This story was written without an editor. All mistakes are mine. I was stationed in Japan and Myrtle Beach. I had a contract In Saudi Arabia, A guy I knew was going thru a divorce. I believe his wife could not touch his salary. Hope you enjoy this story. Tejmjm55
*****
April 2000, after 25 years in the Air Force, Allen Stinson was ready to retire. He would be retiring as a Senior Master Sargent and managed to retire near his hometown.
He was not sure what he was going to do and had a little while to think about it. His initial plan was to relax for a few months, Maybe take his wife on a cruise. She should be able to take a couple of weeks off.
Allen was raised In South Carolina with one brother and 3 sisters who live within 100 miles from each other. He graduated in June of 75 and was active duty in July. After Tech school, he got stationed in Japan as a firefighter. It was there he met Robin Young. Her father was a Chief Master Sargent. Her mother was Japanese. He married her after a year. They had 3 daughters: Tatyka, Jessica and Jennifer. The wedding was May 78 and the third daughter was born in Feb 83. Another advantage of living in Japan, Robin had a lot of relatives who lived near the base, built in babysitters. Robin finished her degree and got a job at a bank on base. Allen only worked 6 days out of 14, On the days he worked a member of her family could watch the girls.
After 10 years in Japan, he got stationed in Myrtle Beach. There he was part of a deployable engineering squadron. During Desert Storm he was deployed for a few months to Saudi Arabia. While he was there, he met some contract firefighters who were getting paid quite well. He stayed in contact with a couple of the contractors. Soon after he got back stateside Myrtle Beach closed. He finished out his career near his hometown, about 10 miles from his place of birth.
Upon arriving at Myrtle Beach Robin got a job at a bank with branches nationwide. With her degree and experience she was able to progress in her career. By the time Allen retired she was a VP of Asian markets. Her fluency in Japanese came in handy.
Tiki and Jessi were students at a local branch of a state university. Jenn was in her senior year of high school and had already been accepted at the state university. They each had their own car. His wife has a new suv. She needs it to commute to her job 40 miles each way.
Allen was laying on the couch catching a cat nap. Earlier he had been studying some travel brochures for train travel across Europe. He even had a letter from the travel agent for the final details awaiting his payment. It had the entire itinerary including plane and train tickets. The loan had already been approved and was awaiting the final paperwork, He was to finalize everything the next day. The travel brochures were still on his desk and his desk was off limits.