The latest "5-Year Plan"

No, not for the People's Republic of China (the 18th Party Congress will happen in 2012) - for me.  Apologies since this post is coming, oh, about a month and a half later than I would have liked, since my Third 5-Year Plan came to a close in December.  What on earth am I talking about?  Well, my life, at least for the past 15 years or so, has been unfolding in a series of successive 5 year increments.  Let's begin at the beginning, shall we?  In December 1994, I joined the U.S. Marine Corps.  I served 5 years in the Marines, then left active duty to attend college.  Five years later (hey, I wasn't able to begin studies full-time until August 2000, OK?), in December 2004, I graduated from college and was commissioned back into the U.S. Marine Corps.

Commissioning day, December 2004

Five years after that, this past December, I...kept on doing the same thing I have been doing.  No momentous career / life change this time around, I'm afraid - I'm "in it to win it" this time.  Excepting some terrible circumstance, I will most likely remain in the military for at least two more 5-year periods.  Sadly, my duties and responsibilities during that decade will not likely line up with my previous "every five years, do something different" lifestyle.  So much for that construct.

So what will the next 5 years hold in store for me?  I'm not a meteorologist, but I can offer a forecast on my Fourth 5-Year Plan...I will be in Taiwan for about another year and a half, and after that I will be due for a military school that I am going to try to go to right after I leave Taiwan and before reporting to my next command.  Then I will serve 3 years with a unit whose focus will most likely be deploying to Afghanistan.  If I am really lucky, I will be able to use, from time to time, the things I am learning here in Taiwan, i.e. Chinese language and cultural knowledge.  If my luck is only average, then there will be no official capacity in which I will be able to use these hard-won skills.

It's too soon to even guess at what the Fifth 5-Year Plan might hold...but if I play my cards just right, it might take me to a place close to home.  More likely: DC.  Time will tell.

If you're still with me, I'm going to include an op-ed I had published in my hometown newspaper a few days after my commissioning in 2004 (see below).  This self-published screed will have to serve as the latest update in the "series."

GJS

   Commissioning 2004