Have you recommended joining the service to your children? I have 2 daughters, and neither of them wanted to go in. Bummer, it is a great experience, travel and has benefits when you get out.

I like projects that start with: “We know what we want to build, but we’re not sure how to build it properly.” I’m a senior software engineer and most of my work sits somewhere between full-stack development, AI, automation, mobile, and backend architecture. A few examples of things I can build: → An AI agent that reads documents, makes decisions, calls APIs, and takes actions instead of just answering questions → A SaaS product from rough idea to a working MVP with authentication, subscriptions, admin tools, and deployment → WhatsApp/Discord/web assistants connected to CRMs, internal data, calendars, and business workflows → Existing systems that need to be untangled, stabilized, sped up, or prepared for real production traffic → Mobile + web products sharing the same backend → IoT/robotics systems connecting real hardware, sensors, cloud services, and AI My usual stack includes TypeScript, React/Next.js, Node.js, Python/FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Redis, React Native/Flutter, AWS, Docker, and LLM/RAG tooling. I’m not only looking for neatly written project specs. If you have an unfinished prototype, a half-working product, or even an idea where the technical direction is still unclear, send it over. I’m happy to look at the problem first and tell you how I’d approach it. No sales call required.

I have to say “Top Gun”. There was happiness, romance, commarotory , sadness and the uniforms. How about you?

-What did you do? -What options or windows of opportunity should I take advantage of? -Should I work? -Do I qualify for Social Security disability income? Just some things that go through my head and I feel like I’m alone to figure this out.

When stationed overseas, what did you miss the most about the USA? And after you got back, what did you miss from overseas? When overseas living in Europe twice, I missed the shopping hours in the U.S. and after I got back, I missed the slow pace of life in Europe. How about you?