In the beginning...

I have been wanting to start a blog for a very long time so I suppose there is no time like the present.  I am not certain how to start so I will just begin with an introduction and a short history.

 I was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson disease “officially” in 2000 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in Washington, DC. I was 33 years old and had just entered my 16^th year of military service in the US Air Force.  I would not see my 17^th year, much less a 20 year retirement.

My entire career was spent working in the Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) 
1N2X1: COMMUNICATION SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE PRODUCTION.

Specialty Summary. Acquires processes, identifies, analyzes, and reports on electromagnetic emissions. Operates complex equipment and systems to exploit signals intelligence production efforts.

After my diagnosis I boarded a blue bus to the military air terminal to catch the next flight. This was the second time in 4 days that I would fly 4830 miles, 9 hours each way between DC and my latest and last duty station on Oahu, Hawaii.

Slowly the bus pulled up to the plane and the door  opened, We automatically removed our “cover, hats, and walked the short distance to the aircraft sitting on the tarmac. As we boarded a young sergeant in his flight suit  handed   us a very thin blanket and a shoebox sized box with a bologna sandwich, juice box, apple, and chips. It’s almost comical as I look back.

The plane was at full capacity as always are and the seats as usual were facing towards the rear of the aircraft. The big cargo doors no more than 15 feet in front of me. The aircraft was frigid cold, crazy bouncy, and terribly noisy.

I didn’t say a word to anyone during the long flight home and I couldn’t have if I had wanted to because of the ear plugs shoved tightly into my and everyone else’s ears. The roar of the jet engines made a deafening whine that could be heard despite the use of the ear-plugs.  We were its secondary mission. These aging RC-135 aircraft were built to haul material, and had no insulation to keep us warm or the noise out.

In 1998 I had the good fortune to be selected to attend fortunate to attend and graduate the US Naval Advanced Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) Analyst training course for 6 months at Corry Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida with a follow-on assignment to the National Air Intelligence Center (NAIC) located at Wright Patterson, AFB in Dayton, Ohio.

  

Then a routine visit to his general practitioner started him on s year long journey of misdiagnosis. This included lots of head scratching followed by,  the now all too familiar and almost comical, “It looks like Parkinson’s but you’re far too young so it  can’t  be. Its probably depression.”

Then a flight from Honolulu to Walter reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC finally gave him the answer to the diagnosis which he already knew from his own research.

 “You have young onset Parkinson’s disease”.

These six words would  end his  military  career and changed his future forever. For the better quite possibly.

SIDE-NOTE: On the 12th of July 2010 Tom had Deep Brain stimulation therapy. He is doing very well.