Guest Post: Sixteen On

From My Wife:

RD was hired 16 years ago today.
There has to be some sort of symbolism 
to hiring police officers on a day that exists
only one year out of four.  I'm just not sure
what it is.  It's a Brigadoon sort of marker.

 

Sixteen years.  Sweet Sixteen?  Perhaps not.
I remember turning 16.  I was in Australia as an
exchange student.  My host mother made me a 
fruit cake which had been coated with marzipan
and fondant.  I was not particularly appreciative.
Turning sixteen meant something to me then.
There was a sense of being more grown up, 
of moving toward independence. 

 

Being on the job for 16 years and still on the street,
just makes you old man on the shift.  You do things 
differently, you move at a different pace. You've seen
brass come and go, you remember Old Days, 
and you know just how old the equipment is.
The in-car computers might have been upgraded
through the years, and the vest styles have changed, 
(they are bulkier and more uncomfortable) 
but you know the radios are the same model
as they've always been, the nets are just being used
differently.  You look at your daily uniform, and 
know what is original, and what has been upgraded.
That webgear lasts a long time. Things that were
issued, and now aren't. Hobbles for one. 

 

Being a police family for sixteen years feels more like
just another year forward, another day in a pattern.
The arrests, the stories, the people, they blend for me
as the years go on.  I remember the illnesses, the 
close calls, and the injuries that mark the years.  
It's like a personalized Zodiak. 
There was the year of Bacterial Pneumonia, 
the Year of Viral Pneumonia, the Year of the 
Gunshot Wound, the Year of the Car on the Wire,
the Year of the Dog Bite  (okay, there have been 
several years like that).

 

In fact, if it weren't leap year, I think it would 
just be another anniversary, just another year between 
10 and 20.  There isn't a pay raise.  There isn't a stripe
to add to the sleeve.   It's just another year.
Leap year is what makes it stand out.

 

Of course, his anniversary isn't leap day anymore.
They changed it years back because the computer
system couldn't be schooled to understanding a 
day that only came around quarterly.  
In the beginning, RD would have to remind the
timekeepers that his anniversary had come and gone.
(Of course, that was when we had Timekeepers
and there were pay raises.  Now time keeping has 
been centralized and the pay raises are long gone.  
This is another one of those "Used to Be" things you 
notice when you've been on for sixteen years.)

 

Comments

[RD]

I celebrated by having Wonton Soup with my wife before I head off to the F29 protest.

[gothelittle]

Happy Sixteenth! May there be many more in good health followed by a lovely retirement!

[Lt]

Congrats, RD, and thanks for your service. And thanks to the Mrs. for her support.

[Matt in St Paul]

Thanks to Raindog Wife for being there.

[Tactical Tom]

Congrats RD.
Hope I'm in as good a shape after 16 years!
I'd like to hear the story about each Year some time.

[Davey]

Wow!
Thanks for your service. The fact that your perspective is still balanced(I thought your vacation posts were awesome)and married shows how much effort you put out for little reward.

Thanks again,
Davey

[LauraB]

SO true about the "old hands" - they don't have to "run down the hill" anymore - and don't need the mirrored sunglasses. :)

Congrats to YOU for putting up with all the hooey 16 years can bring to a marriage to a LEO. It is never easy but the right woman manages. So many don't marry the right one, no?

You've a terrific guy there...now, retire and get thee to TX. We need y'all.

[Wrexie]

congrats, RD. and hoorah for supportive families. :) ..thanks for your service.