a lifer

 In the Navy they have a saying; lifer. He or she is a lifer. It simply means that person intends to stay in long enough to retire. I can't speak for the other branches but expect they say the same. If it hasn't changed that would be twenty years at a minimum. When you are 18 or so, twenty years does seem like a lifetime, it's as long as you have been alive! I didn't see it that way during my own time. It was only later, after having been retired from the Navy longer than I was on active duty that it became evident. And today, that service seems like a lifetime ago. Being in the military, on active duty, is indeed a young mans job. I served a four year enlistment, was discharged, and returned to active duty about two years later. For that reason I was forty years old when I became eligible to retire. On a brass tag in my shadow box it is engraved " Father Time " as that was the nickname I was given at that time. Well, forty is pretty darn old! The truth is, in the service, anyone in their thirties is an old timer.
 There are certain traditions that go along with all of that. One tradition is the carrying of a short timers chain. As I said, these are Navy things but I expect all branches have something similar. Now a short timers chain is just what it sounds like, a length of chain. This chain is necessarily small, like sash chain. Depending upon the length of time you wish to count, each link can be a month, a week, or a day. One link being removed to mark the passage of time. Sort of like a prisoner marking the days on a calendar, only it is for others to see. Being a short timer is a good thing. On your very last day, there will be nothing but your boots and your hat at the morning muster. You are so short, you can't be seen. Seniority has its' benefits, no matter your rank. It's a sort of unspoken rule that you can get away with stuff like that. Even lifers will wear a short timers chain, although if you think about that it is kinda an ambiguous thing. Think about it, your a lifer and it is about to end! Strange that never occurred to me at that time.
 Following the Navy I held several positions. At that time we veterans weren't thought of as heroes, just that we used to be in the service. And that wasn't always a good thing either. Well I wasn't expecting anything, so it didn't bother me at all. The things that had become habit to me served me well in the civilian workforce. I was always on time, dependable is what they said. I was good at following directions, just tell me what you want done and when. I'm on it. And I assumed responsibility without demands. That is to say, I wasn't constantly asking for a raise or anything special for each new qualification I earned. I also didn't get upset if I needed to work overtime or on a weekend. No I just went about the business at hand. I did insist upon coffee though and would stop to get a cup whenever the mood struck. Another habit I picked up in the Navy. And now I've been retired for two years or so and all of that seems like a lifetime ago. Especially so when I know co-workers that have passed, and the businesses I worked for moved away, relocated. All of that just stories now. As is my Navy career, just sea stories today,
 I'd say I've had three lifetimes so far. The first one lasted until I was 18, then I began the second. I retired from the third and have begun again. Now I'm not seeing this one as a lifetime, far from it. I am adopting the moniker " lifer " however. I am a lifer, living my life. Really it is all any of us can do. What we do here is just a distraction from what? Won't know that until later on. I do think life goes on. I'm not carrying a short timers chain either. I'm excited for tomorrow though, always have been. It is as Charlotte said in Gone with the Wind, after all, tomorrow is another day.  We are ultimately what we leave behind, for that reason we need to learn to let it go, yesterday was a lifetime ago, and tomorrow, tomorrow awaits our arrival.