Hit a perfect golf shot and spun the ball back into the hole on number 4 for a hole in one at Southern Dunes.

The jump towers at Benning?
Firing an M2 with a Starlight? scope out in the desert?

Uhhh..probably watching both my children be born..and raising both to adulthood...that’s all I got!

My birthplace.  I miss it.

That’s awesome!

artist or (retired)

Did a traditional Texas cattle driving watercolor when i was 17, entered it into an art contest..won locally.  It went onto regional (won that), it went to state level (won that)

Congressman in my district flew my painting to the white house where it hung for two years , then they shipped it back, i still have it.  I was too poor to go to DC to see it but have plenty of pictures of my work in the white house

Picking up Alois Ruf and his family/friends at the airport in an urban assault vehicle. Spending the weekend with them at the track.

Short test spin in the navigators seat with John Buffum driving.

Standing over George Brett's shoulder while he was playing cards in the Royals' locker room during a rain delay.

I am nothing special. Just a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who's ever lived. I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.

Besides all the normal cool stuff like kids:

Won an 8 man single elimination multinational jujitsu tournament in Ireland.

Got to train for a week with Helio Gracie along with Rorian and several others. Ed O'Neil was there on the mat, too.

Won our division (old guy) in a few adventure races with a good friend.

I have to say that would be a moving experience.

In '98 two friends and I got hired by the folks that made the Woodstock movie to fly to Fiji for a month to figure out how to do a millennium festival for 30,000 people in Fiji.  That's basically impossible (think Fyre Festival with 90% less infrastructure), but they paid us to hang out and negotiate with village chiefs and govt folks and drink kava for a month.  It was awesome

We spent a week on the island of Kadavu doing that - and doing a lot of scuba diving on the astrolabe reef, which was rad.  One day we walked through the mangroves to the village of Kadavu and met the chief.  After gifting him with a carton of smokes and $5 (which is what you do when you meet a village chief), he had a kid lead us up to the chief's waterfall. We get up there and it's like a 15 foot waterfall coming out of a cave.  Ok, cool, but not THAT cool.  Then the kid points to a log in the waterfall with footholds cut out.  We climbed the log up through the waterfall into the cave, where it opened up into a deep pool stretching back 150 or so feet into the cave. We drop into the pool and swim to the end where there was a 70 foot waterfall.  The roof of the cave was split in parts, so light was shining down on the waterfall.  It was honestly the coolest thing I've done.

Runner up was going back to Fiji 2 years later to backpack for 5 weeks.  I stayed at a little resort where I was the only guest.  They were trying to get a dive shop going, so I spent about 10 days going out with the dive instructor/resort owner's son mapping out cool dive spots for their business.  On the full moon in November we dove at midnight and saw the coral spawn - which happens once a year around midnight during the November full moon.  The whole coral reef basically jizzed at once.  Very weird and very cool.  I imagine not that many people have seen that.

Oh - just remembered this one:  Went to Kauai with the family 3 years ago.  We were at the beach swimming and my wife says "that lady is drowning!" I looked out and about 100 feet away is a lady with her 7 year old daughter hanging around her neck in deep water - in obvious distress.  She couldn't keep her head above the water.  Without thinking, I swam that 100 feet faster than I've ever swam, grabbed the girl with one arm, grabbed the lady by the armpit and somehow managed to swim them both to a rock 20 feet away.  Keeping two people's heads above the water meant that I was under water for those 20 feet and if I didn't make it, one or more of us would have died.  I got them to the rock.  Her husband waded out along a shallow area about a minute later.  I then turned around and swam back without saying a word. I think I was in shock - and it didn't really hit me until later that I saved a few lives.

A lot of my most amazing experiences involve swimming and the ocean. A two week ocean kayaking trip in Maine is up there.  Crewing for a sailboat race in high school. Swimming with giant turtles and sharks in Indonesia. Swimming in grottos in Capri and Turkey. Growing up surfing in Northern Ca - thinking that being bounced around on the bottom in freezing water is just normal fun. Sailing the bay solo when I was 12.  I'm sure there's more.

I don't think it has happened yet. Nothing will be better than being alive and see the second coming of Jesus. ymmv

I sat on a shitter at test depth. What's that worth?

I got to see the opening stages of a revolution and possible civil war of a test of constitutional powers in a nice country. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Getting my pilots license, instrument rating, and learning aerobatics.

Playing music and performing in front of large crowds. I realize now that I should have enjoyed it more, but I had an issue with stage fright so it was not as much fun as it should have been.

Some other misc things not worth mentioning

A few hours with Neil Armstrong at a neighbors cottage
Piloting a Cessna 177 across Canada (>3,000 KM)
Chipping in from 40 yards on the 18th in front of a crowd
4000 hours in a multi-million dollar military helicopter flight simulator
Ocean passages on a sailboat watching phosphorescence in the wake at night
Travelling by train in Italy and realizing we were going 350 KM/h
Raising an awesome little girl after my wife died
First run of the day in virgin powder in the Rockies from the top of the mountain
Winning a stage in IPSC competition
Spending entire cross Atlantic flight (pre-911) in cockpit of DC-10 talking to the flight crew
Meeting Kirstie Alley in the cockpit on flight into LA
Spending 45th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor in Pearl, meeting people who were there that day
Flying SIAI Marchetti SF-260 at Air Combat USA and winning
Being bowman in a large regatta on a 44' boat heading to the leward mark surrounded by other 40'+ boats in 30 knots of breeze with the big kite up
Sunrise over Grand Canyon south rim
Sipping awesome red wine from chalet overlooking a vineyard in Tuscany
Working with my wife to design, build and finish the cottage of her dreams, and seeing the joy it brought her

@Sonicx I feel like surprise raw-dogging a stripper has a lot of potential to end up in "what's the worst thing to ever happen to you?" thread

When I was 11 years old I was the second fastest kid in my age group at the state final in track. I'm in my late 60s now and still remember the name of the kid who beat me. I still hate him for it.

Shot 67 in golf one day. I was 7 under after 13 holes with the toughest holes remaining. I got greedy thinking I could get it to nine under and went two over on the last five holes. Still a great day and I learned something.

When I was the absolute best shape of my life I ran/jogged up Rubicon Peak in the Lake Tahoe area. Made it in under an hour if I remember correctly.  I think it's close to 8K elevation and I thought my chest was going to explode. The view of the lake at the top is incredible.  

My work took many to many countries around the world, was grateful for that. I worked hard and was good at what I did.

Birth of my son. In middle school football, the coach put him in and he had three 45 yard runs during the game and then caught a pass for a touchdown. I was so happy and proud I almost cried.

Father and husband top the list
I prevented a 42' sailboat from sinking in the Florida Keys
At SHOT show I was invited to a live fire demonstration with Dan Shea. I had to find my own way back to Vegas as the guy that brought me
had to talk business which I wasn't cleared for
I've owned and shot dozens of machine guns.

How sad is it that I can't think of a single thing I've done in my life that was cool enough to brag about. I've had a shitty life. I just recently got my first AR15. That's pretty cool to me.

Reading through this thread makes me realize my life has been rather subdued.

Maybe it'll get exciting here, soon.

When I was 13 or so I was on a boat that sank in the middle of the ocean somewhere far out off the coast of Myrtle Beach. The Coast Guard found us and brought us back in. We weren’t stuck out there long, but that feeling  freaking sucked. The entire time I’m just thinking at any moment a shark is going to snatch my leg off.

The owner of the boat was inexperienced and didn’t know what he was doing.

Got chased out of March AFB airspace by a F16, does that count?  Actually I have done better.  At one point I was the youngest kid to fly a Mig17 in the USA.

Fixed. Outlook/attitude matters in these things.

I earned three incentive flights while in the AF...

OV-10C (no 2-seat A-10s, so this was the closest thing)

F-16C at Hahn (flown from Zaragosa). Got it for trying to pull a pilot (to my right) out of his burning jet after he crashed. He's the one who game me my flight.

F-15C at Tyndall

truth.

Soloing in a small airplane.
Flying in a WW2 AT-6 piloted by my grandfather
Watching the space shuttle launch
watching space x falcon 9 launch, then the booster land.
Living in a 38 foot long motorhome for 18 months with my best friend(and wife) and traveling through 23 states.
Driving a Jeep through hells revenge in moab.
visiting London

I was in the Super Bowl halftime show back in 2009 in Tampa, got to meet Springsteen and his band, I volunteered for it and we had two weeks to practice with a dress rehearsal on a Thursday before the game.
I was responsible fort steering the first stage section onto the field at halftime, it it wasn't positioned in the right spot the entire stage would have been screwed up.
Some of us, including myself, got to hold his woody guitar, I also got to hold the sax that Clarence Clemons would use during the show, I was told whatever you do don't drop it.
For just a few seconds my face was on world wide TV.

Sometimes it is the little things that gives great pleasure.

Back in the 90s I moved to a new place because of a job.  My son wanted to play Little League baseball.

The local Little League was a good ole's boy club like you wouldn't believe.

The coaches picked their teams.  We were new and my son was put on a team with all the rejects that nobody else wanted.  Talk about The Bad News Bears but this was it.

Nobody wanted to coach the rejects so I volunteered.

We had a 10 game schedule and then the playoffs.  The playoffs were round robin with all the teams participating.

During the regular season our team lost all 10 games.  We were literally the joke of the league.  No respect and and a lot of ridicule.  The boys were devastated.

However, each game the team improve a little bit.  Although we were losing the boys started to jell.

Come the playoffs we were paired with a team that had slaughtered us every time they played us.  However, we beat them!  Our first win was in the playoffs.

We won the next two games and made it to the finals.  We lost in the finals by two runs but played very well.

The boys had earned respect and that was one of the most exhilarating events of my life.    Forget about my time in the military or the successes in my job or other things.  This made me feel great.

My son stills talks about it in great awe.  It would have been even better had we won the last game but winning three games in the playoffs and the boys getting respect was absolutely great.  My prize possession nowadays is the cap I wore that season.

I've dove on the bottom of the Ohio River in the middle of winter finding dead people.

Also ran out of air underwater in the dark while learning to dive.  One of the scariest points in my life.

I wish I had a camera when Katrina hit. You guys should have been there when we were literally jumping rooftops that were on the ground to just to walk. It was unreal from the ground, and the pictures of it all don't do it justice in any way.

I’m young and got a lot of life to live but:


Fully restoring my first motorcycle with my dad
Meeting the woman of my dreams in a Puerto Rico
Graduating and commissioning from USNA
Taking a T-6 through New Orleans on a low level
Getting selected to fly Jets (still working on that)




Really cool to think how this list will grow as I get older

Redacted for opsec.

Oh well, it was pretty cool, though.

I've had three hole in ones playing golf. Never got close to shooting par in my life. I'd trade all of them for one par round on a real course.

I have been married to a wonderful woman who has put up with my shit for over 23 years.

I watched my son and daughter each being born via C-Section.

My wife and I adopted two boys that we fostered for a year.  They had been badly neglected by their birth parents, and both were preemies due to drug use by the worthless birth mother.  They are both adults now, each going through some rough times, but now I have an adorable baby granddaughter.

After my parents divorced when I was a kid, my mom took my brothers and I on a cross country road trip from California to my grandparent's farm in Ohio.  We got to see some really cool stuff along the way.  I spent my 9th birthday in the St. Louis arch on that trip.

I got to spend nearly every summer as a kid at my grandparents' farm in Ohio, and at my dad's house in upstate NY.  These experiences have made me plan my retirement home to be somewhere rural, with a lot of property and a place for my grandkids to explore, just like I did.

I got into law enforcement over 20 years ago.  My career has had more ups than downs, and I have gotten to work with some amazing people.  Last year, I finally achieved my career-long dream of becoming a department rangemaster.  

It has been a wonderful career, but I am looking forward to retirement in a few years.

Wish I could say that I banged two chicks at the same time, though

I was a Second Class Boatswain mate in the USCG in the mid 70's.
I spent several years in Boston harbor as a Coxwain in search & rescue and boating safety.
During Operation Sail 1976 our crew had the honor to escort the USS Constitution as she joined the fleet of tall ships.
I have to dig deep to find some photos but will post if I can find them.
Side note... Saved a guy that jumped off the Tobin Bridge in Boston..
He got his shit straightened out and enlisted in the CG.
He looked me up and we took him for a boat ride under better circumstances.
I was never a hero but just the guy that got things done.

Drove a Nascar 20 laps at Charlotte.

I’ve broke 80 playing by l the rules. 3 eagles but never a HIO

Multiple cars over 120mph in the street

100+ in a 1975 olds convertible. The lap belts start flapping and the carpet came up.

Walked some paths Jesus walked

RV travel a little over 5k miles with a baby and/or toddler

Own my grandfathers pistol that was one the cover of People magazine as he was Chief of Police in NYC

This month I’m taking my son fishing and will use the knife my grandfather bought to take me fishing almost 35 years ago

Double post

Yea he was asked to leave the event, due to not meeting the dress code afterwards.

For all the sign language interpreter haters on Arfcom you can feel free to blame me for being there at the beginning of it. I was the first person to interpret for the president of the US on TV. I interpreted for Nixon in 1972 when he spoke to the nation about the Watergate break-in. He was in the White House and I was in a PBS station in NY where I was superimposed in a corner of the screen.

I have also interpreted on stage with Jackie Robinson and Jack Anderson of the Washington Post, Pulitzer Prize winner and investigated Watergate.

Dying

delivering my son a close 2nd.

That's fascinating, and I wasn't aware that ASL was such a recent invention/realization.  I'd love to hear more on this--if you'd ever like to start a thread, I'd be interested.

It had a white tip to it's fin. I am not a shark expert ... the guy I was with identified it, it could have been some other variety for all I know. I didn't have my camera with me, unfortunately.
Basing the size estimate on it's size relative to the boat as it swam away past that ... again, just a guess, but more than 6 or 7 ft ... more like double that, at least.

I've been inside the London Gold Vault on Threadneedle Street, and I got to pick up and handle some of the Queen's Gold. It's stamped specifically and has it's own room. I've also been inside the private quarters of Windsor castle, the part you can't tour where the royals actually live. Had tea at the Queen's breakfast table (she wasn't there though LOL).

I’ll add some of this information to a current thread I have titled “People without language.” That thread has quite a bit of information about ASL in it but nothing about its formal recognition and the time before that. Thanks for your interest.

Done and seen a lot of cool stuff and places, but the "coolest" in the best sense of the work was seeing my young, sleeping family in our big bed one morning. Stopped there beside the bed and vowed to not fuck this fine gift up.

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Riding to Sturgis from Nashville in ‘88 when I was seventeen. We traveled the old way, the only way that didn’t get you laughed at for being a poser or a Rubbie, by strapping our stuff to the bikes and eating up the miles. No big, dumb baggers, no chase vehicles, no air-freighting our rides to Rapid City & then riding the last thirty miles.

I suppose, other than the first time I saw boobs in person, the biggest things that stick in my mind are the sights I've seen while camping, particularly the stars.