Greetings from a "newbie"
I was born and raised on a farm in an extremely rural area of Upstate, New York. The kind of place where, you're going to see a hell of a lot more cows, pigs, and chickens, than you are people. My wife and I bought 165 acres of the family farm back in 1971, just after I was discharged from the United States Army, with a 60% disability, thanks to Viet Nam, and some gook who could shoot faster than I could duck. (And at the time, I could duck darn quick!)
Anyway, with a bit of healing, a lot of exercise, and a couple of shiny medals, I landed a job with the local Sheriff's Department. With the exception of some logger, another farmer, Railroad worker, or Native American kicking my ass every now and then, I managed to stick it out long enough to retire as a Detective Sgt. in 2003, after 30 years of Road Patrol, DWI Patrol, Road Supervision, Undercover Narcotics Investigations, and finally Criminal Investigation Supervisor.
I don't remember how old I was when I fired my first gun, but I can say that I don't ever remember a time when I didn't have a gun in hand, or nearby...school and church being the exception. (Sometimes I didn't go to Church while on duty, so I wore my gun in to the service. One of the ushers always sat in the back of the church next to a phone extension that had a red light on it instead of a ringer. If dispatch needed me, they'd call the church, and the Usher would signal the Minister, who would interrupt his sermon, and tell me to "quit stealing time from the taxpayers, and get to work.)
The whole time I worked for the Department, I worked second shift, so I could catch a few hours sleep, then get up, work the farm, get cleaned up and go to the Sheriff's Department. Which was convenient, since our Department only has 34 Road Patrol/Investigators, so all the vehicles were kept at home when not in use. (Two Road Patrol Officers would share a car so they were always picking one another up, or getting transported to the closest Deputies house with a car. Might sound complicated, but it worked great. As an investigator, I had my own car assigned to me, so it was either in my driveway, or I was working; we weren't allowed to use them for personal business,)
So, since 2003, I work my farm, put in a little "part-time" work for the Department transferring prisoners from the County jail to a State Prison every now and then, or I work the County Fair, or some such menial task...which I greatly enjoy, since it entails very little paperwork, and I "give" any arrests to new Deputies. They love the credit for the arrest, and I don't have to do a report, or testify in court. But, I mainly tend to my farm, travel around the country, in between seasons, and hang out at the Vol. Fire Department where we mostly shine our equipment, and do a whole lot of shooting out back. Oh yeah, I forgot about the "honey do" lists, that never, ever seem to end; but this post just did.
