Kind of a Military Veteran
Background Check: My past was spent playing ‘A Dark Knight’ in real life, a hero to community, risking my life to protect those whom needed protecting. Batman/Jedi Type thing. A crippling knee injury in my early teen’s made running impossible, unable to join the military or Police Dept., Security officer was my only option to serve.
To tell the full background on me, from an early age I wanted to spend a career in the military. Around age 14, a tragic accident crippled my left knee. The required 2 operations at The Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children, ‘Just so I can walk!”. Doctors orders at age 17 was “Never RUN again!”. An Athlete with superior shape turned into a one-legged man. Running was physically impossible, knee cap was unstable, run few steps and fall. Ask any Army or Marine will admit running is a basic requirement. I still applied to Air Force and the Navy and was told thank you, but no! Also looked into joining the Dallas Police Dept, Dallas PD has a running requirement, which running 10 steps and falling is not good. When I run, my left knee buckles very quickly, and extremely painful, thats before falling and hitting the ground hard.
The Smart decision would have been to accept my disability, and return to the path towards being a psychologist or CPA Accountant. High School Accounting had shown that I have a talent for it.
The path I walked led to a Karate class, ‘Shotokan’, a weaponless art. Shotokan means ‘Empty Hand’. Two Years of training extremely hard, being one of my Sensei’s best students, until I ripped my already damaged knee, requiring two more operations and a scolding from 2 knee Drs. The 3rd knee operation was July of 1991 which came with a morphine overdose, making drugs and alcohol useless in my damaged (Burnt) system.
I found my place in life, working as a life-long career Security Officer. Early 20’s, the decision to study martial arts ‘Shotokan Karate’, think of training to be a Jedi, which led to becoming a security officer. Age 24 – 38 was spent being an Unarmed/Armed Security Officer. One of the best in Dallas, for minimum money, by choice. I was offered several Promotions to be a supervisor, which I refused. My place was working the shifts, doing actual field work, keeping my community safer.
This path I chose was into the field of security, spending 1994 = 2007 working an average of 70 -80 hours a week. I found a way to serve for 15 years, a career that still calls me to this day. When the sun went down, evil and bad come out! I came out at night to counter what goes bump in the night.
The Crime rate went down when I was on-duty, in a high-crime area of Southern Dallas. Oak Cliff, The Grove. I was given an education, path towards being a CPA and Psychologist. With a crippled knee that would qualify me for disability as a teenager, I chose to serve in the only path open to me. I chose to serve my community, serving as a public servant, doing community services. Keeping my community safer. I should have been earning 100K+ for years, instead I thought I needed to Risk my own life for people I didn’t know, for low pay, AGAIN BY CHOICE.
My Ancient Work History – (1994 – 2007) My career stayed the same, company to company. I worked for the head person, operations managers and field supervisors. Meaning I stayed an On-Call Floater, taking orders daily from the top brass only. I averaged 77 hours a week, usually one night off PER MONTH,
Typical Phone calls received from my bosses were “Jason, Officer BLANK just did this wrong, the client is upset and threatening to cancel the contract. Do me a favor, goto this Jobsite, and smooth things over. Do whatever you do and save the contract!” I was the man they counted on to keep their jobs running smoother.
I was one of the best in the field, until September 11th 2008, a 2nd major accident retired me and forced my getting on disability, instead of being an Officer. I spent those years keeping people and businesses safe, their very lives were in my hands. I always gave off an energy that made people trust me and felt safer when I was on duty. People trusted me with their very lives, and felt safe doing so.