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Published: June 25th 2011
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Moving back to the States this time we experienced the worst culture shock ever; nothing like going from the States to Thailand. For one, when I came home from work the first evening and asked Linda “Hi, honey, what’s for supper?” she answered “Nothing, YOU fired the cook.”
Secondly, although I was soon promoted to GS-12 my paycheck was effectively reduced by 40% or more as I no longer received a housing allowance that paid for rent and utilities, a 25% cost of living allowance that reflected the extra cost of living at U.S. standards in Thailand, and hardship pay for working in a remote dangerous place.
Meanwhile, the cost of living in the Washington, DC metropolitan area was much higher than Thailand. So we even had to budget for the laundromat. We rented a one bedroom apartment in northern Virginia, which was more than adequate. Because of financial constraints, we didn’t take as much advantage of the cultural opportunities the area offered as we should have.
We did visit the Smithsonian Museums multiple times, but didn’t go to any concerts or plays. However, as youth sponsors at church we took many trips on weekends to the beach
and the mountains. We also liked to take drives into the country.
As mentioned earlier, the reason we chose to move to the DC area was to be near both our families. Most of our trips for the next two years were either to Nyack, New York or New Castle, Pennsylvania. There isn’t much to write about; but it was great to be close to family. Unfortunately, Linda’s father’s health deteriorated rapidly. We got a call one night at 1 am that he had passed away. Linda was having her first reoccurrence of malaria, and had a fever of 103 degrees and we had to pack up and drive 6 hours, arriving at the hospital in the early morning. So living relatively nearby allowed us to be with him the year before his death, and to be with the family for this period of grief. My family returned to Thailand after our first year.
At NAVFAC headquarters I served as Program Manager for all Federal agencies for whom NAVFAC acted as design/construction agent, to include the NATO Infrastructure program. I made a trip to San Juan. Puerto Rico for an Air National Guard project. It was in the
role of NATO Infrastructure Program Manager that I did most of my travel in the next two years. In addition to travel to Iceland and Bermuda, I also took annual trips to the NATO conferences in Brussels and Mons, Belgium.
The one big event that happened in DC was the Bicentennial celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We went down to the Mall to see the fireworks which were just amazing. Going home afterwards with over a million people was almost as amazing. We also were there for the Presidential Inaugeration of Jimmy Carter.
On one of our many drives into the country we learned of a new planned community to be built in Burke, but everything was on hold as the county had a moratorium on new sewer construction which effectively blocked development. When the courts overturned the moratorium we were one of the first to buy a home in this new planned community. We moved into our new house on April 1, 1977. In the meantime I put my name on the overseas jobs listing hoping to move to Europe. While I was in Brussels attending a NATO meeting, I learned that I
had been selected for a project management position with the Headquarters, US Air Forces in Europe. So by August we rented our new home, never to live in it again.
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