Best & worst of the decade ...

[DanMa1156]

Best: Getting into and doing moderately well at the Academy, made awesome friends at Boat School, getting picked up for SNA, seeing my brother succeed doing his thing, some awesome summer training, and learned some tough lessons.

Worst: My grandfather and aunt died in the same week, seeing another aunt have and beat a brain tumor, seen the worst in some people and learned some tough lessons.

 

[Tex_Hill]

Best for me. the births of my 2 children.

The worst, the death of my dad last year to lung cancer & my wife filing for divorce this past October.

 

[haubby]

Best: Enlisting in the Navy and then getting accepted into STA-21. All the lifelong friends I've made along the way...

Worst: Losing both my grandfathers to cancer.

 

[MIDNJAC]

Best: My mom getting a second chance at life after a benign grapefruit sized tumor was discovered on her heart that was thought to have been inoperable. That day I learned why surgeons get paid the big bucks, and I also learned what open heart surgery actually means.

Getting picked up for SNA was a close second, and of course flying jets with "NAVY" on the side has been about the coolest (and hardest) thing I have ever done

Worst: Grandmother dying, although at her stage of life and health, it was kind of a blessing as well. And I'd also have to agree with A4's and others....seeing good Americans die, not to mention that the decade opened in '01 with some pretty disgusting events

 

[C420sailor]

The worst: Losing my onwing IP in a mishap.

The best: Having the privilege to fly with him.

 

[Homer J]

Best: Too many to list here.

Worst: Lost my sister and nephew to a drunk driver.

 

[hlg6016]

Worst thing had to be leaving my daughter at the hospital to be treated for depression (yes I cried) a few years back.
Best thing same daughter brought home her first high school report card a couple of months ago straight A's and perfect attendance, she was actually pissed that school was canceled for snow just before the holiday.

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

Best things in no particular order. Bi-lateral hip replacement, it's good to be able to walk and run again. Job working alongside the Navy, discovering all the great folks of this site.

Worst; dad having a stroke and me having to put him in nursing home, mom getting dementia and having her forced into nursing home, me having to clear out parents house to sell so proceeds can be given to the state. Getting rear ended by a lady going 70MPH while I was stopped for a traffic accident.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Best:
- having kids and getting to see them grow up because I'm not deployed - hard to beat getting to hear a couple of crumb crunchers run up to you when you walk through the door at night, yelling "Daddy's home"
- starting Airwarriors and seeing how much it's grown and knowing how it's been a treasured resource for many (that was the point all along) -- giving a bunch of aviators a hard time is just bonus
- getting into a civilian career where someone pays me to screw around on the computer all day and make the ones and zeros go to the right place and NOT having to put up with TPS reports or cubicle hell -- my own office with my own desk and even a window view

Worst: 9/11
- a bad day for everyone indeed, but arguably worse for those of us who served during this last decade;

 

[Rocketman]

Worst: 0656 data geek son going IA to Iraq as a Ma Duce gunner.

Best: Gunner son coming home without a scratch just in time to render the first salute at his big brother's commissioning ceremony.

 

[Flying Toaster]

Best: Thinking long and hard, realizing I can't think of a worst.

 

[MasterBates]

Best: Getting commissioned, winged, landing on pretty much every class of aviation capable ship in helos, jets and turboprops.

Worst: Bluetail 601 Mishap, and also losing two HSL crews within a month in 2005, of which I knew all the pilots. Oh, and a little incident with an aquatic mammal taking all my money.

 

[gaijin6423]

Best: Getting commissioned; Busting my ass in flight training (even though it didn't work out); Busting my ass in my new MOS; Getting married; Being able to be there when my daughter was born; Clearing a Pred hot and getting those shitheads that got Coop; Deployment x2; Planning and controlling the 2 largest helicopter assaults since Vietnam; Walking down off the bus at Cherry Point and seeing the recognition in my daughter's eyes; Getting out

Worst: 9/11; Dropped from flight training; Deployment x2; Saying farewell to friends and brothers in arms who fell along the way; Convoy ops; Being the Legal O; Holding my daughter the night she was born, then leaving for a year a month later; Getting out

 

[bluemarlin04]

Best: Enlisting in the Navy. Getting accepted to OCS with a SNA contract. Graduating college after 6.5 years. Trips around the world as a Loadmaster. The friends I made. My last year in college on the post 9/11 GI bill while living in paradise and securing my dream before finishing. Surfing epic waves with only my best friends and not a care in the world after graduation.

Worst: Best friend from boot camp dying in Iraq. Watching close friends from child hood throw their lives away because of a drug addiction. Uncle diagnosed with cancer. Giving my twin brother a hug when he went to Iraq not knowing if I would see him again.

 

[phrogpilot73]

Worst: PSW sitting off the coast of Haiti, losing a Naval Academy classmate in a CAS mishap (he was sitting next to his shutdown helicopter), Both Squadron COs on Active Duty, my job supporting NAVAIR (liked the people, hated the job & commute), old XO is now CO, realizing you missed this thread the first time around, getting out (although it is a fleeting thought)

Best: Wings, getting Phrogs, Med deployment x 2 (now with port calls!), Iraq deployment, Friends I made in the USMC, Meeting & marrying PSW, wedding in Charleston, FAC tour, Battalion CO, moving to VA Beach, getting a GS position teaching FACery, realizing you missed this thread and getting to ban the SPAMer that bumped it, getting out, joining Reserves, still get to fly Phrogs.