Reintroduction

[schmidtosu]

Back in 2008, I was marooned in Afghanistan and desperately thirsty. Beer was a direct violation of General Order 1 and the only thing even close to it was some NA Becks served in the dfac. I stumbled across this forum back then and my sanity was saved. Seeing so many people, and very intelligent people at that, discussing beer and brewing was like a bright shining beacon of sanity to help me through the rough times. In 2009, i separated from the Air Force, and returned home to Ohio. I moved in to a tiny apartment with my fiance and started the rest of my life...brewing on hold due to space constraints. A few years later, we bought a house and had our first kid on the way. Brewing on hold due to cash flow issues. A few months ago, I invited my dad to go on a craft brew tasting and got him hooked. At the time, he was living about 3 hours away. Shortly after that, he got a new job just 20 minutes away from where I live, he bought a house, and citing the "Beer train" we went on, and a group of his older friends he introduced me to, he caught the bug. We are currently collecting our equipment, and hope to be brewing our first batch soon. This website was a great resource back in 2008 to save my sanity, and will soon become the resource for our first batch of homebrew. 5 years of waiting and reading and preparing for this hobby to become a reality is nearly at hand. I am bouncing off the walls excited (even though we are probably at least 6-8 weeks off from our first potential brew day) and cannot wait to get started. So thats it, I guess...I got a lifetime membership back in 2009 when I had more money, and it is certainly paying dividends now. So thanks to everyone here for such a great resource and for keeping the community alive and well. Its just as vibrant and alive as it was 5 years ago.

Rob

 

[passedpawn]

Welcome back! That's some great story there. Looking forward to future stories of brew successes.

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

I'm just another member on this forum (but perhaps not one of the intelligent ones) and I have to say that it's people like you who should be thanked. Thank you for your service and personal sacrifices. The fact that you managed to delay your gratification for so many years is worthy of respect!

I hope you enjoy and get as much out of this forum as I do. It's the best.

 

[schmidtosu]

Honestly, the six years I spent in the Air Force were basically a fantastic adventure. I got to live in Seoul Korea for a year, and had some amazing experiences there. I lived all over the country as well and met some amazing people. I always feel a little awkward when people thank me for my service, because I feel like I got more out of my service time than what I gave back. The waiting and anticipation has been tough, but I just think it has added to my excitement and will help me to not take shortcuts and to make the best beer we possibly can. Thanks for the kind words and its great to be back!