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Twenty-sixth Job of Bob - YMCA Lifeguard Part I
This entry was posted on 7/22/2010 2:14 AM and is filed under Jobs of Bob.
The health care part of my quest for a new career faded into just focusing on ambulance work. But in my efforts to learn as much as possible about things medical and public safety oriented I had managed to get my lifeguard certification.
I saw a help wanted blurb in the spring of 1996 in the Madison paper for lifeguards. I headed down one day and I was surprised that I was basically hired that same day. But, it was the 1990s. You could start a new job in the morning, quit at lunch, and have a new job by afternoon break.
The caveat that people always seem to conveniently forget about the 1990s is that many of those "abundant jobs" paid shit. But, none-the-less, I wrote it off to needing to get my foot in the door of a new work world for me.
The YMCA was trying to compete with the health club culture. They opened very early in the morning. I took the morning shift as to be able to do college classes later in the morning and afternoon. Sometimes I would take an evening shift as I was headed back home. You could plug in three and four hour shifts all over the place.
At the time the building and pool where showing their age. The water was always loaded with extra chemical because of all the potentially peeing little kids that used the place. The first six months my skin actually had a slight reaction to the chemical. But, I hung in there. The morning lap swimmers were easy enough to just sit and monitor. It wasn't much of a job, but it kept me busy and in the work world, and most important, I got to meet new people that might have connections with other work possibilities.
Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Sergeant Travis A. Van Zoest, 21, of Larimore (CNN.com lists him as from Bismark), North Dakota, died Tuesday, June 6, 2006 when his Humvee struck two anti-tank mines during combat operations in Khogyani, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 188th Air Defense Artillery, North Dakota Army National Guard, out of Grand Forks, North Dakota. His father Bernardus resides in Dane, Wisconsin. Sergeant Van Zoest was one of two soldiers killed in the incident. Travis is another soldier that is honored by two states. The Bismark Tribune said Travis was born on January 31, 1985, in Madison, Wisconsin. He moved to Bismarck, North Dakota in 1997. He attended Hughes Elementary and graduated from Century High School in Bismark in 2003. Travis joined the North Dakota National Guard in February 2002 and attended basic training in Fort Knox, Kentucky in the summer 2002, and Advanced Individual Training (AIT) in the summer of 2003 at Fort Bliss, Texas. He attended Bismarck State College and Minot State University in business management and info systems, and chemical engineering until his unit was deployed in 2005. The Tribune went on to say Travis worked at Menards through his high school years, after graduating he worked at Coventry Health Care. Travis received an internship from MDU resources in 2005, and worked in the computer services group until his deployment in 2005. The Tribune went on to note Travis enjoyed hunting pheasants with his family. He also loved Sunday sports. Travis was planning to be married in September 2008 to girl friend Keisia. On the war casualty data base pigstye.net, it was noted that Sergeant Van Zoest had been in Afghanistan since March of 2006 and the two soldiers killed in the incident were the first North Dakota guardsmen to be killed in Afghanistan. Van Zoest's unit consisted of 152 soldiers in the Security Forces Unit. The 188th was mobilized in December of 2005. Among several other military honors, he was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. The television station nbc15.com out of Madison, Wisconsin stated Travis was a native of the Sun Prairie, Wisconsin area and split time between southern Wisconsin and his mom's house in North Dakota. According to Wisconsin Assembly Joint Resolution 107, posted on July 12, 2006, Travis attended Westside and Royal Oaks elementary schools in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. They noted the many other medals he received as being the Good Conduct Medal, the Reserve Components Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal, the North Dakota Legion of Merit, the Army Combat Action Badge, and the Expert Marksman Badge. At the time of his death Travis was survived by his mother, Sheila Richter and stepfather, Terry of Bismark, North Dakota; his father, Ben Van Zoest and stepmother, Deborah of Dane, Wisconsin; his brothers, Derrick, 17, Tyler, 9, and Josh, 20 of Bismark, North Dakota; his fiancee, Keisa Austin of Bismark, North Dakota; grandparents, Cliff and Sue Haney, of Evansville, Wisconsin, Ben and Maria Van Zoest, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and step grandparents, Clint and Yvonne Richter, Bismarck, North Dakota. Sergeant Travis Van Zoest was the sixth Wisconsin Military service person killed in Afghanistan since October of 2001.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
97,077 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,557 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,412 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1184 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
752 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
31,883 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
6,876 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
102 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
19 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
142 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.
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