Ocala, and the surrounding area, is a major retirement Mecca, so to speak. It's highly likely that in your day to day activities you will see many veterans. You'll recognize them by their ball caps, often emblazoned with their command, branch of service, operation/war, or sometimes just "Veteran" with a few ribbons. They are sometimes curmudgeonly but more often they are jovial men who just want to talk. My mind has been on one veteran in particular as I have run into him on two occasions in the past month or so.
We'll call him Master Chief because I haven't yet learned his name, plus I think he'd be tickled pink if I called him Master Chief the next time I see him (mental note, do that). The first time he approached me was the week after the tragic attack on the armed forces recruiting center and the NOSC in Chattanooga, TN. I happened to be wearing my tshirt that reads "KEEP CALM AND LOVE A SAILOR" it was a custom made shirt for a fundraiser. He came up to my group of babywearing, mall walking mommas and told me he loved my shirt and I instantly identified him as a veteran of the U.S. Navy (thanks to his ball cap). I told him thank you and let him know that my husband was a recruiter here in town. His eyes lit up. He talked to Lincoln a bit and we went our separate ways.
Fast forward to today, about a month later, my big group of mall walking, babywearing mommas walked past the food court. He and his wife were watching the mall goers. He called out, "which one of you is the sailor's wife?" I said it was me and he and his wife told me a little about themselves. Turns out he advanced to Master Chief before "retiring before your parents were even born!" (He retired in 1968, I think my parents were born in 63/64, he was close!) Master Chief asked what my husband's rate was , turns out that he held the same job my husband holds in the fleet (recruiting is a temporary gig), how crazy is that? We had a chuckle when I told him I was sure things were very different nowadays than when he was in.
His wife also chimed in a bit, she let us know that their granddaughter was pregnant with her second baby, her first "well she had her first baby at home, in a blow up tub filled with water! She's three now!" His wife was just the sweetest, she had tears in her eyes talking to me about being a Navy wife for decades and about all of our babies.
His wife finally told him to let us be on our way and we continued our walk, I told him I would see him next time. Such a sweet man and his wife. The Navy is a big family, we may be spread far and wide but we find our own.
